Friendship for the win!

The dust has cleared. In the end, Friendship won. Well, not really the concept of friendship, but rather a small group of people who live in a historic area called “Friendship” near Apex, North Carolina.

What did they win, exactly? The naming of a high school being built in the area. The new high school, opening autumn of 2015, was to be called “West Apex High School.” However, residents in the area where it is being built petitioned for a name change to “Apex Friendship High School.”

Some people liked it. Others, not so much.

I’ll openly admit I signed a petition to have the school be named “West Apex High School.” Why? Am I against the concept of friendship? Not at all. I think the world would be a better place if people were friends. Do I have an issue with the people who live in the Friendship area? Again, not even close.

My feeling is that the name “Friendship” simply isn’t appropriate for a High School—a place whose primary purpose is to teach students skills and knowledge to help them earn a living. 

Also, students take a sense of pride in where they go to school. Think I’m wrong? Look how many people have stickers on their cars of where they went to school, especially universities. I have my doubts about "Friendship" garnering the same fervor as other school names.

The word “friendship,” in and of itself, has a broad meaning—much broader than a historic area in North Carolina. That's precisely the point that people against the name were trying to make.

Some of those in favor of the name took the challenge as a personal affront. According to reports, (which I won’t quote or site so I won’t get sued, but you can look it up by just doing a Google search) one person who lives close to the area said the people in the Friendship area felt like those against the name were doing it out of other reasons—racial implications were brought up.

As of the posting of this blog, the smaller group got their way: the school was named for an area close to where it was built, regardless of the meaning of the word. This isn’t unheard of—many schools are named for the streets where they are built.

To that end, since this precedent has now been set, I not-so-humbly propose the following names for buildings and such based on REAL streets in Apex:

Apex Barbecue Road Kill Removers

Battery Bee Home for Abused Women

Battlewood Pre-school

Bright Beginning Funeral Parlor

Buena Vista Landfill

Burnt Hickory Fire Department

Cabin Wood Apartments

Care Free Psychologists

Cash Street Homeless Shelter

Castleburg Mobile Home Park

Country Hearts Divorce Attorneys

Deep Gap Surgeons

Elm Street Dream Center

Flippin Bird Sanctuary

Forget Me Not Retirement Home

Gentlewoods Prison

Grazing Meadows Public Pool

Gumdrop Dentistry

Hickory Bottom Weight Loss Center

Leisure Fitness Center

Lone Eagle Bird Sanctuary

Modest Lingerie

Peace Haven Gun and Pawn

Penny Investments

Poets Corner Auto body Shop

Prince Dead End Midwives

Rabbit Walk Taxidermy

Rocky Mountain Yachts

Secluded Acres Public Park

Timber Cut Arboretum

Tobacco Farm Cancer Treatment Center

Weeping Oak Cemetery

Xanthacarpa Spelling Center

Yellow Rainbow Septic Tank Services