Why is it that people seem to be so negative all the time?
About seemingly everything.
It’s exhausting.
I’ll give you a few recent examples.
When a Campbell River mom recently had her iPhone stolen from her car while at a hospital in Victoria, people online responded, saying she probably shouldn’t have left it in the car.
Or, equally helpfully, they asked, rhetorically, if the photos that were on it were so precious, why hadn’t she downloaded them onto something more secure and permanent?
Not one “I feel so bad for her. Hope her husband will be okay after almost losing his leg in a work accident!”
When the B.C. government touted the imminent end to MSP premiums, reminding people they would have more money in their pocket next year because of it, people were quick to point out that they’ll just be needing to find that lost revenue somewhere, so something else is bound to increase.
Not one “Thank you,” or even “It’s about time!”
On the story I personally wrote that came out of the recent City of Campbell River financial planning sessions about next year’s planned consultation about the Sportsplex needing a bunch of money for renovations, the range of comments went from “Why haven’t they been taking better care of it?” to “How about they fix this instead of installing a roundabout?”
Not one comment about the wonderful addition the facility was to the community 27 years ago or how much people enjoy going there for the multitude of purposes it serves.
Heck, even the commentary on the nice, happy story about an under-weight black bear being rescued and rehabbed by a wildlife shelter in northern B.C. had comments on it about how people shouldn’t be interfering with nature.
I just don’t understand.
Because the first thing I thought when I read all those things is “Awe, that sucks. I hope it gets better. How can I help?”
“It sucks that the Sportsplex needs millions of dollars in work done to it. I hope the city can find a way to improve the facility without it impacting the rest of their infrastructure plans,” I thought. “I’m going to go share my opinion on it when they do the public consultation!”
“It sucks that Shyanne Palmer no longer has the photos of her late son, Corbin, and the recordings of his heartbeat. I hope things get better for them and that her husband recovers fully from his injury. Is there a GoFundMe page to help them with expenses?”
“It sucks that a young bear was orphaned and couldn’t get enough food to thrive in the wild. I hope it will be okay after it’s brought back to health by the wildlife rescue and released back into the wild. I should see if that place has a ‘Donate Now’ button on its website.”
“It sucks that we’re one of the last provinces in the country where we had to pay medical services premiums. I hope they can find that money somewhere else so we don’t lose much-needed services like teachers and educational resources for our kids, conservation officers protecting our natural world and road improvements.
“Sure won’t vote for them if they can’t.”
Life’s too short to spend it trying to decide who to blame about things sucking.
Instead, I’m going to focus on what I can do to make things better.
Even if it’s just a little bit.
miked@campbellrivermirror.com
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