OPINION: Let's put some love back in Salina

By April Decker

I wanted to write this letter because of the plague of negativity I have seen across our country—and increasingly, in our own community. Salina has a number of fantastic things happening, yet it often seems that the negative gets the most attention.

Social media gives us the perfect outlet for that, and the keyboard warriors are always ready.
Salina is currently facing a variety of issues. Every issue is the most important issue to someone.

For some, it is the animal shelter. For others, it is the Cozy Inn mural. For some, it is the need to replace aging water pipes. Some are still bitter that the park had electricity before they did after we experienced what was essentially a Category 3 inland hurricane. Others are frustrated that it took time to get branches picked up after the storm.

Some are still upset about the logjam at Bill Burke. The list could go on.
And through it all, people seem content to sit behind their computers and complain about these issues on Facebook.

So, I want to take a moment to remind people of something: our city commissioners and city employees are not nameless villains sitting in a remote castle, looking down on us and trying to find ways to make life more difficult or make our city worse. They are members of our community. They live here. They work here. They are people trying to do their best within the responsibilities and limitations of their positions, while dealing with a tremendous number of issues at once.

Could they do better? Yes.
Could we all do better? Absolutely.
There are things we can do to create real change, and those things don't involve being relentlessly negative or going on Facebook tirades without knowing all of the facts.
Is the animal shelter your top concern? Offer to foster an animal while the building is cleaned up and decisions are made about its future. Help an animal in need. Donate money, if you are able, to help get the facility back to where it should be. Ask how you can help. Don't simply tell people they are doing a terrible job and leave it at that.
Is the Cozy Inn mural your biggest pet peeve? Go eat at the Cozy Inn. Talk to the people who work there. Talk to your city commissioners about your concerns. Have a conversation. And while you're at it, support the businesses in our downtown.

Are the water pipes creating frustration for you? Work together as a community. If you can, donate bottled water to organizations collecting it. Talk with the people who are directly affected. Learn about the plans the city has for water-pipe replacement. Visit with other communities and find out what they do to maintain their water systems. Offer helpful suggestions to our commissioners. Present data. Present facts. Have conversations.
Yelling gets you nowhere.

Anger by itself gets you nowhere. Talking about how to address a problem—and finding ways you can personally help—can actually make a difference.
And I get it. I really do. These are big issues, and they cost money. There are complicated decisions involved, and while everyone may believe they have the perfect solution, the reality is that there rarely is one.

Do I have solutions? Yep. There are ways I would handle all of these issues. Some would align with what the city has done, while others would differ greatly. I have frustrations just like everyone else.
Being frustrated is okay. Being angry about something you care deeply about is okay. What isn't helpful is stopping there—complaining without learning, without listening, and without doing anything to make the situation better.

Telling someone they need to do a better job is not near the same as saying “how can I help?” Personal attacks on those that are just doing their job in a public forum are not helpful to anyone.
We have enough negativity already.

So let's put some love back into our community.
Help each other. Lift each other up. Ask questions. Listen to the answers. Offer your time, your ideas, your resources or simply a helping hand. Get involved. Put yourself out there and be part of the solution.

Salina belongs to all of us. If we want it to be better, we all have a role to play in making it better.