I saw a movie once where a doctor in the military was examining a recruit and he asked the recruit, “So, where are you from boy?” “I’m from Brooklyn!” was the recruit’s proud answer to which the doctor replied, “Hmm. Any other disabilities?”

It seems that many people outside of this borough seem to have a negative connotation about Brooklyn. For example, I was in a club in London, England in 1988. A girl I was dancing with asked where I was from, I said Brooklyn at which point she proceeded to place her arms in a machine-gun like position and started firing. Why? Is this what Brooklyn looks like to the “outside world?”

I was born in Brooklyn, and I plan to live here for the rest of my life. My blood, sweat, tears and memories are all over this borough. If I were a tree, I’d have planted a root that was twenty-five years old and would be impossible to re-plant somewhere else.

I think that everyone shares just a little pride in their “hometown” and my feeling is that I have taken from this borough for twenty-five years, now it’s time I give back.

Some people may feel that Brooklyn is not worth it, that we have started a downward spiral and will soon crash. I disagree.

We are living in an age where more has been invented in our lifetime then ever before. When I was born on Monday, January 24, 1972, there were no such things as the VCR, Compact Disc, computer, cellular phone, microwave, minivan, fax machine, virtual reality or beeper, and more are being invented as we speak.

If you can incorporate all of these new devices with the life you have already planted here in Brooklyn, the possibilities are endless.

Let’s look at the past. When people think about Brooklyn in the 20th Century, what do they think of? Steeplechase Park, Ebbets Field, Nathan’s, The Cyclone, and many more wonderful places that are either with us in fact or in spirit.

What do you want people to think of when they think about Brooklyn in the 21st Century? There is a question that you can help answer. If we all strive to make this borough a better place, by either helping to clean a park, volunteering for a local community organization, becoming a tutor or a big brother to a young child, then we have all made a difference.

Let me show you what I mean: If you had a day at work where you did everything right, the boss said you are doing a good job, and you’re even a little ahead of yourself for tomorrow. So you leave the office, and as you walk toward the subway, you spot an elderly woman asking for donations to a local charity, and you reach into your pocket, pull out fifty-seven cents, and drop it in her bucket, which gets you a smile and a “God bless you” from the appreciative woman. Where did you make more of a difference? Now take the same scenario, but now it has been a horrible day at work. If you see the old woman and you give her the fifty-seven cents, aren’t you still making a difference?

Industry in Brooklyn is changing as well. More companies are coming to Brooklyn now then ever before. From K-Mart to Renaissance Plaza to Price/Costco, new businesses see the growth and the opportunity that is here in Brooklyn. Now it’s time for us to see it.

Brooklyn has it’s share of “things to do” as well. There’s amusement parks and arcades and movies and floating casinos and fishing boats and horseback riding academies and more is on the way.

My point to this whole story is that you are a product of where you were raised. Despite what everyone else thinks about this borough, I am a proud Brooklynite, are you?