[Editor's Note: I am recycling this editorial from 2017, because I feel it should be shouted from the rooftops! And note: The hurricanes mentioned are from 2017 or before.]
Why do so many people want to destroy what is good in our community?
Public input has become a weapon to dis-incentivize anyone from doing anything constructive or thinking about a new way to approach an issue or even working for a living. Why must a new idea bring out the worst in people?
No matter what a well-meaning person does, someone has to come in with a complaint about how much it costs, how much it might hurt the environment, how much it might inconvenience the person whining, or how it doesn't fit the agenda of the complainer.
What ever happened to working together in harmony? How about looking for common ground?
Don't let your words become swords that hurt someone else. Think before you say in public what might hurt someone else. This is not political correctness; this is respect and courtesy for your fellow human beings.
A person carries a sign that says: No hate here, which almost anyone can agree with. Yet someone who agrees with the sign spews forth false invective and threats toward those who might have a different point of view, even yells at them. Banish hate and hate speech.
One speaker calls for organizing and protesting against something that "might" happen.
Another doesn't look at history and says: "but it costs too much."
Remember the old saying about penny-wise and pound-foolish? No, maybe not, it's too old-fashioned.
Why don't we work with our neighbor?
Well, actually, Americans, in general, are good and generous when it comes to a disaster, such as the recent hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. People in Silver City certainly came together to address the disaster that some of our neighbors suffered in the Quail Ridge Fire.
Why can't we work together all the time? Why does it take a disaster to bring us together?
How about thinking positively about what you hear? Look for the good in everyone. Maybe, just maybe, you can find a kernel of something that fits your idea of how the world should run. Take that little kernel and build on it with the person sitting next to you, who might have a totally different point of view on the main topic, but can agree on the little bit of information that was just gleaned from what that "idiot we were just listening to said." The latter is not productive.
Cut it with the name-calling. Cut it with the issue bashing. Listen and read with an open mind.
Forgive your neighbor for something he or she said to you that riled you up and you had a shouting match over it. It's not useful and certainly doesn't make for good neighbors.
Try positivity for a change. Smile a lot. Get the wrinkled brow off your face. Smile with your eyes, too, not just spreading your lips in a grimace.
Next time you have a negative thought, banish it. Say to the thought: "away with you and your temptation." Tell yourself: "I'm going to think the best about this person, even though he/she voted for so-and-so." Leave off the last part. It doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.
Don't lapse into the idea that because someone doesn't agree with everything you say and think, that person can't be a friend. Hey, spouses don't always agree, yet they can love one another with true ardor.
Think nice. Find the good. Positivity wins the day every time. I'll forgive you, if you forgive me.
Let's all work on banishing negativity.