Community, anyone?

What happened to we’re all in this together? No, I’m not talking about the High School Musical hit. Although, it is rather catchy, don’t you think? Instead, I mean community. Where is our sense of social responsibility? Why are we so bent on holding folks accountable for their actions, but so much less willing to lead, mentor, and redirect those folks making poor choices?

I visit a local news channel’s website almost daily. I check the weather (I’m addicted to the forecasting) and occasionally I’ll check out the local news. I’m not a huge fan of this particular site for a few reasons, but mostly because the writing is, well, it’s terrible. Last night, I read a particularly interesting story and proceeded to read the comments that followed. I was amazed by some of the ideas posted. The remarks were full of assumptions and downright ignorant ideas. Naturally, I became angered. And, I know Virginia Woolf would not have approved, but I proceeded, in my anger, to share my thoughts. Today, when I arrived home, I couldn’t help the urge to see if my post had any responses. (I call this the facebook gene-that yearning to keep checking up on things, that need to know what’s being said) I was disappointed. The first line of the first comment triggered OUTRAGE! I found my comments polluted by responses indicating that I have no sense of “personal responsibility and accountability.” One person said, “I just can’t help you.” This started my wondering… How the heck do you know my level of responsibility (which happens to be tremendous, thank you very much) and when the heck did I ask for your help? Crazy people! If I learned anything from this experience, it is to no longer post on this particular news forum. I guess their readers are about as bright as their writers. A little harsh, I know (and I even waited a couple of hours before writing this time).

While my anger simmered down to annoyance, I continued to reflect on the comments. And here is where I arrived: I am shocked by our lack of cohesiveness as a people, by our lack of desire for working together to effect change. Why do people insist that we are only responsible for ourselves? We obviously can’t depend on every person to be a responsible member of society. Are we supposed to evict those irresponsible, unreliable, sick, and needy (and the list goes on) people from our communities? Making them outcasts only worsens conditions.

I’m no longer annoyed, just a bit sad.