Andover native and up-and-coming performer Will Dailey will return to town for a special concert on May 1 at Old Town Hall to benefit Andover's A Better Chance program. It's a nice gesture by the singer-songwriter who performs with the likes of Elliot Easton (The Cars), Kay Hanley (Letters to Cleo), Tim Brennan (Dropkick Murphys) and Tanya Donelly (Belly) on his latest album. And it is not an unusual gesture by those who grow up in town.
While most teenagers talk about leaving town for a busier place, as they get older many return to town to live. Some of those who do move away return and pitch in to help make Andover a special place, as Dailey is doing. Just last week in this space we were righting about the generous contributions of Tonight Show host Jay Leno, an Andover High grad. Last year Michael Chiklis seems tickled pink to return to town, receive a key to the community and reminisce with former classmates and coaches about his days on the football field and high school stage.
Most people recognize Andover as a special place created in part by what the town offers but also by what the people offer each other.
In the coming weeks Andover should make important decisions about what it can afford. Leaders, with the help of residents, need to prioritize spending to keep the things that we believe make Andover, Andover while cutting some nice-to-haves. But though it all, we should remember the most important element of any community is the people themselves, and the way they treat one another.
Patriots Day unique
Monday was Patriots Day. While the rest of the nation treated this as just another Monday, in Massachusetts we could take pride that there was something special about that day.
It's not always easy to be from this state. In many parts of this nation the people of Massachusetts are lumped together and considered the loony lefties, out of sync with common sense. Others shun us because of our "Taxachusetts" label. We purportedly have the rudest and worst drivers in the country, rather than people anxious to get things done. And our contribution to American cuisine? Baked beans.
That's enough baggage to fill Logan Airport.
But this week we celebrated something that no other state, and none of our critics who live beyond our state borders, can claim title to. On April 19, 1775, Massachusetts rose up against the tyranny of the British crown and declared open war against the mightiest military power on the planet at the time.
Some of the colonies fell in line with us, while others looked on in disgust at all the problems that odd-shaped colony was causing. Indeed, while our state's citizens took up arms and fought, our state's most talented political minds - John Adams and John Hancock - waged an uphill battle to convince the rest of the colonies to join with us.
Before the war had even ended, the concepts of democracy that Massachusetts had championed were written into our state constitution - the oldest functioning constitution in the world. That document served as the model for the U.S. Constitution and its values are the basis of "The American Dream." Without Massachusetts, our nation and its founding principles would not exist.
Maybe we are a bit loony in Massachusetts. But sometimes it's the radicals who get things done.
