Put up or shut up

When it comes to community events, there are two types of people. Those who step up and get things done, and those who complain about the people doing those things.

I have a lot of respect for people who do things and make things happen in their communities. People like the Romig family in Gilman who have used their business leadership in the community for the past 85 years to bring success to the entire Gilman area.

There are people like that in every community. If you have lived in a place for any length of time, you can pick them out. They are the people who get things done.

They may not do it the way I would, or may not even go in the same direction as I would take it, but I respect that they got up off the couch and got to work. That says something in my book and I will raise a cold beverage to any of them.

Social media brings out the worst in people. There is something about the relative anonymity of sitting behind your computer monitor or staring into the screen of your smartphone that turns people from being reasonable adults able to express empathy and understanding to the trolls out of some fairytale nightmare.

I have noticed this particularly around community events. People on social media are very quick to point out all the ways the people who actually did the work to put on the events “should have” done it better.

Because of the social nature of social media and computer algorithms intended to ensure we all live in echo chambers of people who share our world views, biases, blind spots and outlooks, it doesn’t take long for a single comment to become a lengthy thread expanding into questioning the minutia of an event, activity or performance before going into the personal lives of the people involved and how we would all be better off if they just quietly fled the country to live in the Canadian Rockies with the grizzly bears and that one really freaky serial killer from that podcast — as if there were other kinds of less freaky serial killers.

In all fairness, it is within human nature to want to complain about something. In past generations, this would have been accomplished by gathering and gossiping over cards, or tea or over cold beverages at the local watering hole.

In the process people would temper some of what they said with some sense of decency or social awareness or risk being bopped in the nose or shunned from their group if they went too far. Regardless, there would be a delay in the time between when you had your epiphany about something that irked you and your ability to broadcast it to the world.

Social media has eliminated those barriers, providing a platform for ignorance and rudeness to shine with all the glory of a flaming bag of dog poo being tossed onto your front porch.

This would be fine, if the people whose sole contribution to society is to complain, would do so among themselves. It really is a kick in the pants to be one of the people who are doing things and have the comments shared to you detailing all the things that you did wrong and how your actions brought shame not only upon yourself and your family, but upon the greater community if not the entire region and state.

When you are tired and sore, and more than a little grumpy about things not having gone entirely according to plan or having been thwarted by Mother Nature, the last thing you want is a gripe session from the armchair event planners.

There is always room for improvement or different, and sometimes better, ways to do things. There are also ample opportunities for people to get involved and be part of solutions.

When it comes to making our smaller corner of the world a better place, we all need to do better, and be better. That starts with logging out of social media, putting down our phones and offering to lend a helping hand.

Brian Wilson is News Editor at The Star News.