I have watched with some bemusement the debate-of-the-day regarding the proper name for the decade that came to an end three days ago.

There are those who want to focus on numerology and play off the concept of the oughts or the naughts or simply call it the zero decade.

Others like to focus on achievement, noting that the decade rang in with a now quaint collective holding of our breath in the form of something we called Y2K and that it grew into a decade dominated by technological advances and therefore should be called the Digital Decade.

For me personally, there’s little debate.

I moved to Waco one year into the decade, just after the horrible terrorist attacks in New York and outside Washington.

National unity was still the order of the day. This part of the world, where President Bush’s ranch was located, proved one of the focal points of an unsure world.

The community, I found, was welcoming with a dizzying array of community and business leaders calling on me to invite me out to lunch.

Invariably, they all wanted me to give them my early assessment of Waco — not to pass the time politely, but in an exercise where they seemed to be seriously listening.

Each had a theory of how this community could be improved. In fact, many offered extremely well-developed visions for this community.

Beyond the introductions, I gradually adapted to the rhythm of life in Waco and Central Texas.

I took note of hidden jewels in the community such as McLennan Community College and Texas State Technical College, and I stood in awe of the cultural and intellectual influence that is Baylor University.

I also became familiar with the challenges, with hidden tensions and with outright inequities that existed in our midst.

I fell in love with its characters and grew angry with some of its attitudes.

I initially delighted in pointing out some of its hypocrisies and soon learned of its sensitivities.

I watched a county that saw its share of the state sale tax allocation rise from $9 million to more than $12 million annually.

It was a county whose average wage per job rose from $27,000 to $34,000.

In either case, it wasn’t the best, but at least there was forward movement.

Perhaps most important, I saw a community that influenced and shaped my young children almost as much as my wife and I have influenced and shaped them.

Through their eyes we have gotten to know much of the region swimming pool by swimming pool because they fell into a sport they loved after an adult swimming coach shared with us her experience of living with attention deficit disorder, a condition newly diagnosed in one of our children.

I have experienced the wrath of many people in this area, only to have that tempered by the goodness of many others in this area.

The close of the decade last week forced me to reflect on the years that I have spent in Waco.

Incredibly, I realized, Waco is now the community in which I have lived the longest in my adult life.

Washington ranks second in the span of time in which I have lived in one community. It’s a wonderful contrast to my experience here in Waco.

Washington acts like the very center of universe — and even with that level of certitude about itself, Washington is a city fraught with tension.

You’ll find racial tensions, political tensions, professional tensions, cultural tensions — all teeming just below the surface and emerging with some regularity.

Waco certainly has its share of tensions. But it’s also a community marked with a greater sense of optimism.

There’s a constant spirit of “We can do better.” There’s a constant hope that, collectively, we are improving our community. And there’s a constant work ethic to achieve that spirit.

What to call the decade that began with our new millennium? That’s easy.

For me, it’s the decade of Waco.