Bring your own ...

We all know what BYOB means right? It’s a restaurant that doesn’t serve alcohol, so the BYOB means bring your own booze. We love those establishments that have a full bar, great wines, and specialty cocktails. And when the food is as good or better than the booze, all the better. But we also love those restaurants that require us to bring our own booze. Maybe it’s because they couldn’t get a liquor license, or maybe they prefer to focus on their passion for the food they cook, and either way, they are still a BYOB.

What if we thought about this in other areas of life? Even if we aren’t a restauranteur, or even if we are, we face other situations and opportunities in life that require us to bring something else to the game in order to achieve success. What if we thought about changing BYOB to BYOK, bring your own kindness? Or BYOS, bring your own strength. Perhaps it’s BYOP, bring your own peace. As you read this you could probably ll in the blank with, bring your own compassion, grace, awesomeness, courage, hope, or any other positive, encouraging, and a rming word.

So, let’s tackle a few, shall we?

TAYLER SHAW Community Editor tshaw@coloradocommunitymedia.com

BYOK, bring your own kindness. As I did some research for this column, asking people what they wished the world would bring if they had to bring their own anything, kindness was the number one word. ose I spoke with and others who responded to a survey shared that the ugliness and negativity of the world had them wishing that the world could be a little kinder, well actually, a lot kinder. One respondent was so convicted of this that she felt that, “If we could all just show up with kindness every day, we could actually have a greater impact on the world than climate change e orts, economic shifts, and voting in the right candidate for president.”

BYOS, bring your own strength. Sometimes life deals us a bad or di cult hand. Sometimes we nd ourselves in a season of life where we succumb to our weaknesses, or we see the situation as too much for us to handle; Illness, divorce, addiction, or death in our circle of family and friends, and so many other horrible life events that can cause us to cave. BYOS means that we nd our inner strength, and if we don’t have that strength or can’t nd that strength, we need to BYOS, bring the strength of others who come alongside us, just when we need them the most.

BYOP, bring your own peace. Wow, could this be the most proli c of all BYO’s? In the agitated

SEE NORTON, P13

A publication of

750 W. Hampden Ave., Suite 225 Englewood, CO 80110

Phone: 303-566-4100

Web: EnglewoodHerald.net

To subscribe call 303-566-4100

MICHAEL DE YOANNA Editor-in-Chief michael@coloradocommunitymedia.com

THELMA GRIMES South Metro Editor tgrimes@coloradocommunitymedia.com

NINA JOSS Community Editor njoss@coloradocommunitymedia.com

ERIN ADDENBROOKE Marketing Consultant eaddenbrooke@coloradocommunitymedia.com

AUDREY BROOKS Business Manager abrooks@coloradocommunitymedia.com

ERIN FRANKS Production Manager efranks@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Columnists & Guest Commentaries

Columnist opinions are not necessarily those of the Herald.

We welcome letters to the editor. Please include your full name, address and the best number to reach you by telephone.

Email letters to letters@coloradocommunitymedia.com against the resolution. Both said while they do not support the bill in its current form, they would rather the city adopt an “amend” position rather than opposition.

Deadline Wed. for the following week’s paper.

“I wish that we were coming to the table with solutions of how to make this bill better,” Nunnenkamp said.

“I will say on the record and emphatically, I do not support this bill in its current form. But I also do believe … whether we like it or not, it’s going to pass. And I would like Englewood to be part of the solution and I would prefer that we’d take an ‘amend’ position and bring our ideas,” she added.

Nunnenkamp said she is currently working with state legislators on the changes she would like to see in the bill, as she has some “grave concerns” about what is in it currently.

Anderson said he is in a similar position as Nunnenkamp. He does not support the current bill and has concerns regarding its impact on local control.

“I have problems with the bill, not only, you know, with some of the aspects of the land use but also some of the contract preemptions that come into play with regards to the disallowance for private property owners to enter into contracts to put covenants on their property and form HOAs (homeowners associations),” Anderson said.

“It’s an anti-freedom of free association, I believe,” he continued. “But I do think it’s prudent to look for a way to amend this bill to enter into that conversation.”