“Summer is hot. Winter is cold. God made it all.”
That was the response of a man, not originally from this country, when I made the banal comment - “Sure is hot, isn’t it?”
It has been hot, but isn’t it every summer here?
When we don’t know what to say, we often resort to hackneyed phrases.
The weather here is changeable, but we can’t change it. Many people profess to have moved here to enjoy all four seasons without the extreme winters or summers of areas further north of south of here.
Ironically, it has been more humid here several times this summer than in my hometown of Shreveport, La.
Why do we complain about things we can not change?
There are times to criticize and complain. But, the goal should be to improve - ourselves or situations. But it’s futile, even detrimental, to complain about that over which we have no control.
The weather is one of those things.
Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) is purported to be the author of a prayer now commonly known as the Serenity Prayer, believed to have been written in the late 1930s. The text is:
God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.
The prayer became more widely known after it was adopted in the 1950s by Alcoholics Anonymous and is now used by other groups including Narcotics Anonymous.
How much energy do we waste complaining, gossiping over things we can not change?
This is an election year.
Throughout the year, people sit over coffee complaining about the government, the weather, the economy, but seldom do they attempt to make a difference. There are estimated to be between 4,300 and 4,600 residents of Pea Ridge. But, many times there is a vacancy on a board, council or commission and few if any applicants to fill the seat. There is a committee organizing the annual Mule Jump. There are severalthousand people who attend and apparently enjoy the event, but not enough volunteers to organize it.
“Many hands make the work light,” my great-grandmother used to say. The more people who volunteer, the less each individual has to do.
There is an open City Council seat available for appointment by the mayor and current Council.
The mayor’s seat and two council seats are up for election.
There are several boards - the Planning Commission, the Library Board, the Parks Commission - on which residents can serve. The Mule Jump Committee is in need of more volunteers.
Don’t just sit there complaining to your neighbor that you don’t like something, get up, get involved and make a difference.
***
Speaking of complaining and gossiping, last week there was a perfect example of the Pea Ridge Rumor Express gone wild.
By mid-morning, at least two people had posted items on Facebook about a purported kidnapping. I received telephone calls from several people asking about the kidnapping. CENCOM received calls from concerned citizens worried about the safety of the children in town. All had varying stories centered around a kidnapping with reports of the victim ranging in age from 6 to 16.
Actually, there was a report of a kidnapping of a young adult female, but the investigation proved it to beerroneous.
There are good thigns about living in a small community where everybody knows everybody’s business, but it can also be troublesome, especially when people don’t stop to verify facts and pass them on anyway.
A mayor of a small town has a sign in his office that says something to the effect of “Welcome to small towns - home of small minds and big mouths.”
If there had, indeed, been a kidnapping, it would have been helpful to have many sets of eyes watching for the suspected vehicle and perpetrators. But, we must stop and check out our facts before passing on information which could be more harmful than helpful.
I’m reminded of the day of the big bomb threat at school a couple of years ago.
Before it was over, there were reports of a man with a gun holding children. Panic ensued and could have made safe-keeping of our children even more difficult. Thankfully, the most exaggerated rumors were unfounded, as they often are.
So, before you open your mouth, take a minute, engage your brain, check your facts with an authoritative source, and speak only what is necessary to whom it is necessary.
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Annette Beard is the managing editor of The Times of Northeast Benton County. A native of Louisiana, she moved to this area in 1980. She has nine children and one grandchild. She can be reached at [email protected].
Opinion, Pages 4 on 08/11/2010