Being Disagreeable

Complainers like the poor will always be with us. It is a fact of life. They do not need our help to enable them or nurture their negativism. They will do that all on their own.

I state this because local elections are next week. With them complainers emerge with their tales of woe, causes for concern and outright forecast for ruination. When asked for details they may be able to hold forth for a while on a narrow issue; but when placed within context of all other issues and routine operations of local government, they are not offering anything of substance.

Meanwhile others have volunteered personal leadership and have worked long and hard to make sense of problems and public needs, invented programs to address those problems, and implemented the solutions with success. Not perfection, but movement toward a common goal that makes sense. In short this is the story of a local community working together to build a good community that is sustainable for the long term.

It takes effort to develop shared definitions of problems or pitfalls to avoid. More effort is needed to define shared goals. Still more work is required to find resources to use in developing the programs that solve problems long term. Not everyone in the community will agree with everything all the time. Disagreements will naturally occur.

That is not the problem. The problem is disagreeable behavior that destroys comity within the community. Differences of opinion become personal attacks. Choosing sides becomes sport at local diners and barber shops.  Leaders are maligned and belittled.

This may come with the territory in leadership positions. But it doesn't have to. If leaders are discouraged to do their work, new volunteers and leaders will be discouraged to step forward. The long term issues of the community will likely go unchallenged and the community suffers accordingly.

America likes a good fight! So the commentators say. Truth told, however, most citizens do not like the fight. They like collaboration and cooperation by which community needs are addressed well and fairly. Bickering wastes time, talent, patience and resources. In time bickering deters positive actions toward solving community problems. 

Cooperation empowers volunteers and citizens to support solutions and enjoy community solidarity at the same time. The whole sense of community is enriched.

Local political environments are described above. Now take it to the county and state levels. Then to the federal level of government. See the parallels? Understand why Congress doesn't get along and actually shoots their collective feet with their own gun? Nothing much gets done. Nothing.

At the local level we can have better results. It takes being agreeable and polite. Civil. Much is to be gained in this operating environment. The opposite behavior produces very little and at very high cost.

How much of this can we put up with?

April 4, 2013