What a month September has been. Natural disasters. Rockets flying from North Korea. The budget mess in Hartford. There seems to be a toxicity in the air. People are stressed and people are vocal. Even some local issues have taken on an unnatural amount of rancor. We hope people will take a deep breath and remember that we all live in and love the same community.
We are all suffering from what seems to be an unintended by-product from last year’s elections. Regardless of who you voted for, because each side bears responsibility, what was unleashed was unedited dialogue, no filter as my mother likes to say. A return to school yard antics, bullying and name calling. We have accepted and re-created an atmosphere in which if you disagree with someone you first vilify them instead of practicing the art of compromise.
Of course, the national media helps to feed the frenzy daily. Several major news stories were not adequately reported this week to ensure we were told every nuance of the NFL protests over the weekend and on Monday. No matter which side of that issue you believe is right, we believe civility is an important part of the discourse rather than ruining people’s lives or vilifying them. Simple restraint, using a filter might be in order.
One of our most thoughtful founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin cautioned, “Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.” Right now people are very angry.
Instead of the protest of disruption, instead of vilifying our opponents, can we not find a way to make our country, our state, our community stronger? Where is the desire to negotiate a budget in Hartford, especially since the Governor says he will veto the one that has passed? Where is the desire to follow a process and for neighbors to talk and work together to find common solutions? Someone needs to be the grown up in the room.
The worst examples we see are when this anger spills over into social media, a place that has become an echo chamber.
We talk to our children about cyber-bullying and how damaging it can be to young people. Perhaps we should be addressing the behavior of our contemporaries as well. It is far too easy to say something on social media to a person or about a person that we hope would never be said if they were standing right in front of us. Judging others seems to be the thing to do.
We are tired of watching everyone be against everything. We want to see more people stand up for what they believe in a positive way. In a way that builds a healthier community, state and country. In a way that can be inspirational to younger people. It is not too late. And it begins right here at home.
Mother Teresa once said: “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” We are not advocating, in the current environment, literally picking up stones – please don’t do that.
What we are suggesting is that it does not take much for each of us to have an impact. If we can all take a step back, listen again to our internal monitor so that our dialogue is a little more reasoned, a little more understanding, a little more compassionate then those are ripples we can live with. And it does not take much for those ripples to spread. Greek fable writer and story teller, Aesop said: “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”
We agree.
