Russ's Ravings: Preliminary Fall Plans Are Here. Be Supportive

Editor's note: The following is Patch Field Editor Russ Crespolini's, hopefully, weekly column. It is reflective of his opinion alone.

The last six months have been terrible. There really is no way to deny that. I began the year with brain surgery to remove a tumor and returned to work just in time for the pandemic to strike.

In the months afterward we’ve all had to deal with overwhelming uncertainty, fear, reduced income or loss of wages on top of the strain distance learning and loss of activities did to the mental state of our families.

We’ve had to see in public and private groups people harangue and stir up guilt by showing their own version of the numbers, false equivalency comparisons and competing articles.

If you wore a mask, you were a sheep being controlled by the government. If you didn't, you were a selfish science denier. If you needed kids to go back to school you didn't care if faculty, staff and children were sick. If you wanted to homeschool you were overreacting and acting paranoid.

There was no respite from it. Everywhere you went you were made to feel guilty for not conforming one way or another. You were being told your local officials were, at best, incompetent, and at worst actively trying to destroy your lives.

Now, as we stand on the precipice of another milestone I am going to ask that everyone try something new: be supportive.

Right now our municipalities and school district are faced with a near impossible task of trying to make everything work as best it can in a post-COVID world.

And they are doing it with the concerns we all face personally on top of knowing they will be shredded no matter what they do. Already people are crawling all over social media attacking what they THINK their officials will do. They are copying and pasting quotes with questions assuming no one in charge has them on their radar.

I know they are assuming, because they don't ask.

What happens so often is someone jumps on with something they heard happened elsewhere, a comparison is drawn, a complaint is made and suddenly that assumption becomes fact. Here is an amalgamation of several conversations I have seen and heard in the last few weeks.

PERSON 1: I heard NEXT TOWN has hired all their coaches for the fall. I see practices.

PERSON 2: Are you sure they aren't volunteers?

PERSON 1: No idea. I just heard they did.

PERSON 3: Unbelievable! Our kids deserve normalcy! This is so irresponsible of the town!

PERSON 4: I think the Board of Education does that hiring?

PERSON 5: I am writing to the mayor.

PERSON 6: How could they ignore hiring coaches and do this to our kids!

PERSON 7: Our kids deserve better!

PERSON 8: We will remember this at election time!

And scene.

It happens constantly and it happens on a wide variety of topics because people don't take the time to ask. And they assume the worst. So I am going to ask something of all of you readers (and I know if you do it because I am on town social media boards in three counties even if I only interact in my own, non-Patch town).

When your school district releases the fall plan...

When your governing body adjusts the budget...

When the recreation programs try to start up games...

Be as supportive as you can.

Don’t assume the worst of everyone involved in the decision. If you have a question? Ask. Don’t know who to ask and Google can’t help you? Ask me. I’ll help you find the person to ask.

But try to avoid hitting public and private social media with criticisms without at least trying to see why these decisions were made. Maybe there is a reason you are unaware of, a constraint you haven’t considered. Or maybe you have a helpful idea that they can use.

The point is, communicate your concerns first.

So assume the best, prepare for the worst...and communicate. And share the results of said communication. I think we will all be better for it.

The last six months were difficult and divisive. The next six don’t have to be.

Russ Crespolini is a Field Editor for Patch Media, adjunct professor and college newspaper advisor. His columns have won awards from the National Newspaper Association and the New Jersey Press Association.

He writes them in hopes of connecting with readers and engaging with them. And because it is cheaper than therapy. He can be reached at russ.crespolini@patch.com