The Sky is Falling Let's Go Tell The King

It’s been a month since the tornado hit our area causing three deaths and a tremendous amount of damage. I had a brief conversation regarding what has been done and what is not being done by various agencies, specifically in the town of Southbridge. We had two different opinions; you’ll be able to guess which one was mine.

One opinion is the town should be doing more, after all there are people who still can’t move into their homes and their yards are still a mess. The statement was made that the town should be cleaning up the branches and trees instead of cutting the grass at the athletic fields.

Should they? Ask yourself a question, what it the responsibility of the town once a disaster hits? Times up. The town is responsible for search and rescue operations, making sure no one is trapped or injured, and then its next responsibility is making sure the roads are accessible to fire apparatus, police and utility crews. That’s it. Everything else falls under the individual property owner.

I know, I sound like a mean person, after all how can I just leave someone out on the street. This is where the private agencies should be taking up the slack. The town isn’t responsible for finding homes for people and it isn’t responsible for cleaning up yards. Sure I feel bad someone is living in a tent, but it isn’t the government’s job to see that they aren’t. Unless you lean to the left, then it is.

So what about cutting the grass instead of cleaning up people’s yards? I know it might be hard to believe but life still goes on as normal for the rest of the citizens in Southbridge, the ones who weren’t affected by the tornado. In fact this is what makes us America, we can still function somewhat normally after a disaster, our kids still go to school and play little league games, those of us with jobs still go to work. Would it be nice to shut everything down so we can fix everything and make sure everyone has a roof over their head? Absolutely, but in the real, somewhat cruel world, this just won’t happen.

If we stopped our lives every time something bad happens, we would not get anything done. Therefore, we do what we can. We volunteer when we can, we donate when we can. There are some who can afford to do more, donate more money or spend more time, and we applaud these people. But we don’t all have the same luxury. This is why these people who take the lead, need to coordinate their efforts, they need to set goals instead of running around saying “There is so much to do”, “We have to do something” and “The town government just doesn’t care”. I learned a long time ago the people who spend their time complaining nothing is getting done are the ones who aren’t doing anything except running around complaining nothing is getting done.

Come up with a plan, set priorities and goals, gather and identify your resources, then delegate. Instead of pointing fingers, calling people names and insulting those who ask questions like what is it that needs to be done, , work with others. As I have mentioned in other posts, you’ll get more flies with sugar then you ever will with vinegar. Instead of antagonizing, try compromising.