by Phyllis McCrossin
Summer continues to wind down.
The weekdays at the campground are very quiet. I think there are maybe eight of us staying here during the week. Weekends continue to be busy and in the leadup to the closing of the campground for the season there are a lot of fall activities planned.
King and the maintenance person at the campground have been decorating for Halloween as there are, in fact, two weekends planned for Halloween Fall Festivals – the weekend of Oct. 5 and again the weekend of Oct. 19.
There are lots of activities for kids, including Trunk or Treat, a scavenger hunt, costume parade, hot chocolate and smores, a kids friendly outdoor movie etc. etc. A bags (cornhole) tournament for adults is scheduled for Oct. 5. The activities keep those of us on the staff busy – but it’s a pleasant busy.
I will confess that King, who is a retired school administrator, distances himself from the activities. He’s more than happy to help setup and cleanup, but since retirement he has kind kept away from people. I suppose as an assistant high school principal (i.e. disciplinarian) most of his interactions with kids (and unfortunately parents) were not of the pleasant variety. Without him actually saying so, I would imagine he’s probably burnt out for life. That’s OK. Isn’t that part of the reason people retire?
For those of you who may be wondering. David Young and I met almost 39 years ago when we both worked for the Allegan County News and Gazette. I admire his tenacity in keeping up with news reporting. Apparently he hasn’t hit the “burnt out wall.”
I have to admit after 40-plus years as a reporter, when I hear a fire truck or see the aftermath of an accident, my first thought is: get a photo, the second thought is: call the dispatcher and happily, the third thought is: oh yeah, I don’t have to. Yeah, I was burn out.
That feeling of relief is amplified when I scroll through social media posts and see people arguing about a current event, I take great comfort in being able to happily scroll past said arguments and gleefully think to myself: relax, you don’t have to try to fix misinformation any longer.
An incident at the local middle school here in South Haven last week brought those thoughts to the forefront. I won’t rehash the incident because, quite frankly, I have no idea what the truth is. I saw a report from a local TV station that only presented one student’s account and did not include statements from other students. Of course the student interviewed had the most incendiary remarks. No, I’m not saying it was “fake news” I’m saying it was “incomplete news.”
Anyway, comments on social media were harsh. There were long posts with “facts” that I have no idea if they were true or not, but were being passed along like Gospel.
Those types of posts used to make me want to throw things, but now I’ve taken to shrugging it off and moving along. Besides after being told I was “butt hurt,” or that my ideas were “ridiculous folly,” or (my personal favorite) I was “a sorry old lady who wore designer masks,” (you can guess what that argument was about, right?) I simply decided it was not worth my precious energy to engage.
Which brings me to political posts.
I do wonder sometimes if those stupid memes on Factbook ever help anyone decide anything politically, or if they are simply posted as a means of self-righteous indignation. Surely the poster can’t think they will change anyone’s mind. Mostly, I simply suspect that most are retaliatory in nature as a response to someone else’s post.
And that’s pretty sad.
Be kind. Don’t kick sand in the sandbox and don’t forget to vote.
