LETTER: HAVE YOUR SAY OR SAY YOUR PIECE — BUT DO IT PEACEFULLY
Letter to the Editor:
I, for one, have benefited from social media. It has brought into my life old friends that perhaps I’d never see or talk with again if it were not for this new avenue of communication.
Our daughter and her family live in Kansas, and oh how we miss having her cheery personality with us. But thanks to FaceTime we can see her instantly by clicking a mouse.
Anyone reading this will have their own wonderful stories and experiences because of the internet.
As all of us are aware, there are two sides to every nickel. It’s the other side of that five-cent piece that deeply upsets me. Actually it makes me boil, and there’s nothing I can do about it.
Many might rightfully say, “save your breath to cool your porridge.”
Here’s my beefs:
Example 1: There are many who will spew off and complain about a certain business because of the attitude the check-out lady had that day. They’ll say something like, “I’ll never shop in that store again.” They will accentuate loudly the name of the store, but they don’t have the intestinal fortitude to make their complaint to the manager, instead of on Facebook. That lady with the poor attitude perhaps just learned that her teenage son or daughter just got themselves involved in something regarding the law.
Example 2: This one happened to me this past year. A gal I’ve known from childhood boldly posted on Facebook about her experience at her doctor’s appointment that day. She in no uncertain terms told her FB friends that her longtime doctor gave her the feeling that day that he had little to no interest in her health problems and that he came across as rude.
If this doctor was so uncaring, why didn’t she get rid of him years ago? No, she had to do all she could to ruin his stellar reputation by calling him by name and the town where he practices. Wouldn’t the proper thing to do, is to sit down (on another day) with the doctor and kindly and softly share her feelings? Maybe, just maybe, the patient the doctor was meeting with just before her had the heart wrenching job of telling a someone they had a terminal disease and only a short time to live. That job never gets easy.
Example 3: No one will argue that our elected officials are accountable to the taxpayers. What bothers me greatly is the way that many try to make them hold to that accountability. Those that take on the oath of office know well ahead of time that they can’t please everyone. I for one will never run for office, but I do admire those who let their names stand to serve.
But when I start reading online, I see people saying horrible things about elected individuals. It seems they find joy in their actions.
Why not meet face to face with the elected one and express your feelings in a civil manner? These elected ones have spouses and children and aging parents who read the same news where these remarks are made.
Don’t even get me started about those complainers who hide behind an anonymous name. I would love to see the media not publish anything that doesn’t have a legitimate name attached.
I worked for a man who first looked at the end of a letter before reading the letter itself. If it wasn’t signed, it went directly into the trash.
I will close this way: “Say what you mean, mean what you say, but don’t say it mean.”
Rusty Draper
Orillia
