Shouldn’t we be grateful?

Madam – I have been living in Newcastle for just a few short years and I want to tell all the residents that they should be grateful for the way this town is run!

I come from Johannesburg and moved around to Durban, George, Pretoria and Bloem before settling here. I’m sure many people have been to one or more of these places and it still boggles the mind why so many choose to complain rather than be happy for living in such a united community.

I follow Facebook and see the daily complaints of people and I sympathise, but you guys have no idea how good you have it.

You have a mayor who is accessible, a municipality that is flawed but still tries (this is evident in the many projects that I read about and that are in the pipeline), your children can cycle safely, you have barely any traffic problems, there is constant upgrades to make life easier and better from a development standpoint, you can have a family life without worrying about driving for hours to get to a job and get back home, you have beautiful play parks, clean streets, and a safe environment, numerous shopping and restaurant places and so much more.

But you complain. Yes, life is hard for most of us. We all struggle to pay our bills at the end of the month and still put food on the table. Things are difficult all over the world and we still find small things to complain about – just go and read Facebook and you will see how the smallest things can set off massive and uncalled for debate. Why do you care so much about bringing other people down?

Shouldn’t you, we, as a community stick together and help each other? Shouldn’t we be grateful for what we have instead of complaining about what we don’t? I think the world will be a better place if people started caring more. Instead of bringing each other down, we should come together. After all, you come into this world with nothing and you can’t take anything with you when you go. Use your time to leave behind a legacy rather than notoriety.

Philosophical Panda