People are angry. We have never seen it like this before. Emails, phone calls, letters; they have all been increasingly negative over the past week. Earlier this week we made the mistake of looking at a community blog, we were shocked. It was filled with negative comment after negative comment. And then came the personal attacks. We could not understand how it is a benefit to our community to have such a negative public forum.
Often the incivility is coupled with untruths. By its very nature when people are mean and overly aggressive, uncivil, they lose sight of the truth. They may not mean to do so, but in their haste to make their point they do and that is unfortunate.
Words matter. How we use words matters. Ruth Bader Ginsburg said: “You can disagree without being disagreeable.” We agree.
We understand life is busy. Life is stressful. What is happening today in our country and our state is creating a sense of uncertainty that affects us here in town. The war in Ukraine, inflation, politics, even local politics – it all adds up and that can be overwhelming, especially at this time of year when we want to be celebrating the holidays. Instead we are watching an ever growing list of negative comments and personal attacks.
It is because of this stress and uncertainty that we should all make an effort to be a little nicer.
Being nice can take practice. Will Rogers said: “Most men are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Being nice is the same. For some it’s an effort. They may feel that in the middle of a busy stressful day, saying hello to someone they do not know will not make a difference, but they are wrong. We challenge you to say “hello” to someone you pass on the street as you are running your holiday errands. Watch their face. See if you can see the smile and then notice how that makes you feel. Being nice makes you feel good. Literally.
According to “Psychology Today” being nice and doing nice things for others boasts your serotonin. Serotonin is the neurotransmitter that gives us the feeling of satisfaction and well-being. Most anti-depressant medications work by increasing the amount of serotonin available to your brain. What this means is that being nice and doing nice things for others changes your brain in a way that makes you feel better. Best part? No side effects.
We do not expect that next week everyone in town will be blissfully happy. That sounds like a creepy episode on the “Twilight Zone” from the 1960’s. We do hope that folks will turn the “nice” dial up a couple of notches. Is there really a need for four cars to honk their horns simultaneously because someone is struggling to turn against the traffic? That just adds to an already stressful situation. Hold the door for the person behind you, say “thank you” when they do the same for you. These are little things we can do.
Life is stressful and uncertain. Many are concerned about what is happening nationally, economically, internationally, and even locally. There is anger and fear being hurled at us from all directions. Let us not let that consume us here in Greenwich. Let us, as a community, try to be a little nicer to one another. After all, it will make you feel better and you don’t want to be on the naughty list this holiday season.
