Hugh Fisher

Last Friday I went out to Village Park to interview people at the movie being shown there, and I struck up a conversation with several longtime residents.

After a little while, one woman said, "Let me ask you something. Do you think David Murdock will really do everything he says he's going to do for Kannapolis?"

That was a tough question, coming right out of the blue. Journalists are trained to deal in facts, not maybes and what-ifs. And I didn't have my crystal ball handy.

So I said something to the effect of "I'm sure he will," a safe and easy answer, and I left it at that.

It's tough to judge a man you only know through what you've heard and read. I was always told to judge a person by his actions and his own words.

More than that, my father always said you could tell by the way a person looked you in the eye if he was trustworthy. I've found that to be true on several occasions.

On Monday, I had the opportunity to see and hear Mr. Murdock when he visited the town for the events which you may read about elsewhere in this newspaper.

Several times that day I heard him speak. I heard his address to teachers, where he quoted a favorite proverb: "Get wisdom, and with all thy getting get understanding."

He spoke of his own beginnings, of his struggles to educate himself, to overcome dyslexia and build his fortune. I found his story inspiring, especially the memories of how he was once a young man trying to make his way in the world.

And several times he spoke of the doubters who did not believe in the project he announced last September.

There are a lot of doubters in Kannapolis. In six months, I have heard everything possible by means of an opinion regarding the N.C. Research Campus and the slow death and quick removal of the textile mills.

I've heard people cast doubt on every aspect of the project, from the number of jobs it would create to the type of climate it would foster. One man at the smokestack demolition proclaimed loudly that Kannapolis would be "full of jackass liberals" when the research campus is complete.

Another man told me he was sure that Murdock had somehow engineered the closing of Pillowtex so that he could buy the site.

It's the way of the world today to doubt everything, to question even things that seem positive. And it's my business as a journalist to ask questions and cast doubts on a daily basis.

Yet even I believe that doubting can be taken too far. At some point the bitterness over lost jobs, or even the innate human desire to find a crack in someone's armor, has to give way to reason. The conspiracy theories and the what-ifs have grown stale.

Still, I find it hard to judge a person whom I have never met. I got my chance to meet David Murdock at Monday's topping-out ceremony.

After most of the dignitaries had left, I asked his assistant for a moment of his time and soon found myself looking in the eye of the man I had seen cast in so many different lights since I moved to town.

I introduced myself and said that I knew some people in town still had doubts about his project, about whether he would do what he promised. What would he say to those people who still had doubts?

"I would say, seeing is believing," Murdock said, pointing at the structure under construction behind him. "Right before us a building is going up. And all that money that was spent was my own. Not the bank's, not the state's, not anyone else's. Seeing is believing."

I thanked him for his time and shook his hand. He looked me in the eye.

Will Mr. Murdock do for Kannapolis all he said he would do? I am reminded of another proverb, a Shakespearean maxim from the first act of "Hamlet":

"This above all — to thine own self be true, / And it must follow, as the night the day, / Thou canst not then be false to any man."

Eleven months, a substantial investment and countless partnerships across the state and the nation have shown that David Murdock has been true to his personal vision and to his word.

With all that we have seen, I believe that the time for any doubting has passed. The time of anticipation is here.

Hugh Fisher is a reporter for the Kannapolis Citizen.