Michael Dardick

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of the political “attack season” and therefore, the constant messaging about everything that is wrong with the country. For those of you who know me, I don’t wear rose-colored glasses and ignore reality. I am well aware of, and acknowledge, the hurdles that our country—and humanity—has in front of it.

It’s clear that we have a lot of heavy lifting to bring solutions forward. I just believe we will be more successful doing it together, in the spirit of problem-solving. So, I have decided to start the D RealPoints Positive Message Challenge. I’ll start things off.

1. How about that great cross-state tradition of the Texas vs. Oklahoma football game? Meet halfway in between the campuses, bring 50,000 or so fans from each school, mix with long-standing family traditions of watching the game, and sprinkle in a classic State Fair with every fried food imaginable.

2. How about Big D going Big again by opening a 5-acre urban park—over a freeway! Sparked by a catalytic idea at The Real Estate Council, mixed with TREC’s seven-figure VC investment, add thousands of pro-bono hours of community expertise, sprinkle with public/private funding and 10 years of believing and, voila, the city of Dallas gets an amazing community gift.

3. How about rescuing a frightened 7-year-old … all in a days work for Granite’s phenomenal engineers! Start with a frantic call from a retail customer, learn that a young boy is trapped in a treatment room at the dentist’s office, realize the doorknob broke and you can’t get in from the outside—what the heck? Go next door, bust through the ceiling, jump down like Superman and help the little guy to safety.

OK. So here’s my D RealPoints Positive Message Challenge: In the comments section, let’s all bring forward the great things happening around us and highlight progress, good works, and problem-solving. There are a lot of things that go into success—and a positive outlook has to be near the top of the list.

Michael W. Dardick is president and CEO of Granite Properties Inc., which he founded in 1991. Contact him at mdardick@graniteprop.com.