Scott Carrino called me this morning and told me his landlord was insisting that the “For Sale By Owner” signs he took down be put up again, and he agreed. He asked me to return one of the signs I brought home as a souvenir, and I did. The signs will be put up again today.

There was great relief in the town over the weekend that the signs were gone.

Last week, the Round House was closed for the Labor Day week – a holiday – and when the signs went up in the cafe windows, many people in town assumed the cafe had gone out of business. I took the signs down, sparking some praise and disagreement.

Scott relayed the landlord’s  request that I apologize  for removing the signs.

The taking down of the sign seemed the right thing to do for me, and I do not regret it.

I accomplished several things that I wanted to accomplish.

One, when the signs go back up today, at least passersby and patrons will see that the cafe is open, the rumor was all over the place last week that it had closed. This seemed to me an aggressive and unthinking, if not hostile, thing to do to an established business. I wanted to protest it.

Secondly, I did it, not Scott, and that will make life simpler for him.

And then, I called attention to the importance of the cafe, and the need to think about it and support it. It is in peril.

Any number of local merchants and people messaged me to thank me for taking the sign down and writing about it, not only were the signs ugly and intrusive, they said, but they were damaging to all of the businesses on Main street in that they suggested another empty business had failed and another storefront would soon be empty in our town.

They all said they could not speak publicly.

In addition, I called attention to the ongoing crowdsourcing campaign to help raise money for the Round House so that they can buy the building, currently listed for sale (going into the 10th year) for $250,000. The Round House is a symbol of community here, and elsewhere, people from all over the country have donated more than $60,000 to help the cafe keep it’s building.

Scott and Lisa Carrino and their landlord are entering into negotiations for the property, and while I do understand that it is not my business, I am puzzled by the logic of putting these tacky and invasive signs in the cafe window while negotiations get underway. I cannot fathom how it helps either side to be suggesting that the cafe is going out of business or might have its building sold out from under it.

It is difficult for me to believe that a building on the market for nine years on and offline will suddenly sell because a hardware-store For Sale sign is suddenly up in the window.

But that is for others to deal with. The landlord has every right to put his building up for sale, and every right to ask what he wants. I regret that he did not have the sensitivity to put his signs in a different place on the building, or put up different kinds of signs, or better yet, wait and see what the outcome of the negotiations are. Seems  like bullying to me. ( I guess this doesn’t sound like much of an apology.)

A number of people in town – many, I am sure – disagreed with my decision to take the signs down, they thought it was wrong.

I respect their feelings, but I am comfortable with mine. These kinds of things are personal, I do not see the world in a black-and-white way. I’m not running for mayor, seeking approval, eager to argue my positions with others. They aren’t me, they weren’t there, they have not seen and heard what I have seen and heard.

I have no idea if I am right or wrong, I make the best decisions I can, look in the mirror, and see if I like myself. Today, I do.

I don’t take polls or count votes, if people wish to talk to me about it they know where to find me.

This isn’t exactly Watergate, me and the signs are not going into the history books.  I am not Martin Luther King standing at the bridge, or a soldier fighting in the mountains of Afghanistan. There are real issues out there in the country. Perspective matters.

The signs came down and I think that was helpful to the cafe last week, the signs are going back up and Scott and his landlord will take it from here. I don’t think history will record this as a seminal conflict or act of civil disobedience.

I will be honest, I completely understand why Scott is putting those signs up, and I will support him in any way he asks – he is a good friend. But I confess – and I am sure he knows it – that I am sorry to hear it, I wish he gave his landlord a different response. I imagine he had no choice.

This, I suppose, is why I am not running a cafe, selling properties, working in business. I hope the cafe stays in our community, we need it – small towns and villages all over America need it.

I will say to the landlord that I am, in fact sorry that he demanded that the signs go back up.

Sometimes you have to follow your heart, not your brain. Sometimes you just have to take a stand, large or small.

I looked in the mirror this morning, and I smiled. I had no reasons to hate myself.