This year, let’s “find the good” and not be so divisive
Who remembers the book Eat This, Not That?
Somehow our community and others like ours have decided that telling others how to live their life is okay. Sharing is important. Sharing thoughts, feelings even opinions is part of how we communicate. Our community page has become a tool for which many are using to yell, belittle, or ridicule others. So many are visiting this page to learn about our tiny town by the sea and instead what they are observing is that if you decide to live your life differently, or do something that goes against what others think is right, or even question the weather, well then there is a good chance you will end up on “Manchester the What, When, Where, How” most likely engaged in a tit-for-tat discussion that always ends with someone hurting another person.
Many, including myself visit this page as somewhat of a voyeur just to watch some of these arguments unfold, and that’s not healthy either. This page was originally set up to expose people to the past, present, and future of our community through recommendations, stories, and shares. We have so many wonderful things happening in this town, so many people who could use advice and support, and meaningful stories from yesterday and today that should be told and shared so we never forget how lucky we are to live by the sea.
Our world is very divided right now, but our community does not have to be. We can do better. Life is hard, times are frustrating, and we are all feeling the fatigue of this pandemic. What if we changed one small thing, what if we all agree to use the community page to build community? Replace the argumentative commentary with support, advice, and recommendations that could help people get through this hard time.
One small phrase. My family adopted one small phrase a few years back and to this day it helps reframe our narrative. “Find the good”. A few years back my husband and I found ourselves focused on one small issue, around us there were great things happening but every night we would sit down to dinner and belabor this one point, it became exhausting. One day he said, enough, we have spent so much time on this one point that all the good is getting neglected. He said, “we must find the good”, and we did. It’s not to say the nagging issue did not creep in but now we had a tool to combat it. It sounds too good to be true but as a community perhaps we can try in 2022 to FIND THE GOOD.
