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Originally Posted by Billcat
Hi Garinda!
Certainly it is okay to identify what needs to be improved - and there always is something in that category. BUT - the is a world of difference between identifying and attempting to take on a problem and merely complaining. Truth is, complaining is probably the number one spectator sport here in the USA, and it would not surprise me to find that the same holds true in a lot of other places. Frankly, life is too short to spend time with the whiners, especially when there are plenty of fun folks who are positive and active.
It is also vital to recognize what is good and what is improving and the folks who are making the effort.
It is my belief that if you really "care of love something," you should personally get involved addressing one or more of the problems. I was raised to give back, to try to leave the place a bit better than I found it. That's why I'm ususally pretty busy with various projects and fundraisers. It can be as simple as participating in a community clean-up day to chairing a state-wide project for Kiwanis, where 14,000-plus members are working to raise funds for part of a new children's rehab hospital.
I see way too many folks who are quite ready to identify all the problems, but who are completely unwilling to make even a minimal effort to address them. IMHO, those folks are part of the problem - perhaps the biggest part!
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I'll type out Peter Britcliffe's column, for anyone that might not have seen it in the Observer.
'My old Dad used to say you don't hear a fishmonger crying 'stinking fish' because if he did he would never sell anything. That's one of the reasons I don't knock Hyndburn, and in particular our major town centre, Accrington. If I did who would want to invest here and would we currently be welcoming businesses like Tesco, The Officers Club and Subway into town?
Those who whinge and knock the town would do well to heed my old Dad's words if they wish to see improvements.'
This is were we differ.
I call it burying your head in the sand, rather than not knocking the town.
Does Peter's schedule at the ivory tower that is the Town Hall, allow him to see what is actually happening in the town?
Did he see the fourteen empty stalls, at the already much reduced, because of 'improvements, market this afternoon?
Does he see the still empty new retail units in the town centre?
Does he see the hideous blue and white facade on Broadway, a quarter of which is the Town Hall's offices?
Barnes's furniture store still sadly empty. The Victorian Arcade in a dismal state. Numerous closed shops, and council backed new ones being added to the stock as we speak The list is endless.
Commenting on these things isn't 'whinging', it's pointing out the fact that something is drastically wrong. It isn't a nationwide problem, sadly for us it's a local problem.
Not knocking the town, thinking positively about the area, isn't an alternative to actually solving problems, like I said it's burying your head in the sand. Problems just don't go away if you chose to ignore them, anyone who has ignored a drip through a ceiling would agree, when you later have to have the whole room replastered.
Bill, everyone has a right to question those that have put themselves up for public office. It's called democracy. What that person does or doesn't do for the community is totally irrelevant, as most people I know go about that sort of thing quietly, without the need to make a big song and dance about it, and if they do that shows something lacking in character in my opinion.
Funnily enough my old Dad used to have a witty anecdote that featured Peter Britcliffe, but I'm much to loyal a son to print it.
