Tales of a coffee-holic: On the good side

There’s a lot of hate in the world.

I can admit that some of it lies within myself. I have very little patience for lazy people and those who are needlessly rude. Some people say that hate is growing and that the world is becoming a worse place than it was back in the good old days. I’m not sure this is true.

I doubt those living in the south during slavery would say there is more hate in the world now than there was at that time. I also don’t think victims of the Crusades or any of the other past religious wars fought in various parts of the world would agree that hate has heightened recently. Surely Israelis and Palestinians have been faced with hate for thousands of years. Many Americans, as well as those in other countries hold a hatred of Muslims in their hearts in place of anger against only the extremists in that religion, even when countless more people in the Middle East have died in terrorism attacks than in the U.S.

While there is still an overwhelming amount of hate in the world, there is also a balancing force of kindness out there, quite a bit of which I think is present in Sidney.

Although when I first moved here, I was overwhelmed by the friendliness of many in this town, I think I’ve finally gotten used to it—even if I’m often unable to return the same level of friendliness that is shown to me. For the most part the people of Sidney have welcomed me, helped me to get to know the area, supplied me with story ideas and have mostly thanked me for my work, for which I thank you all in return. I’m very grateful for all the help I’ve been given from city officials, law enforcement, organizations and groups in the area.

People have been accommodating to my newness, have had patience in explaining things to me and most of the people I’ve met here have been very kind. Although a few people have gotten angry with me for reporting the truth or misunderstood a few of the jokes in my columns (if you don’t get that I’m joking by now I don’t know what to tell you), I believe the people of Sidney are generally kind and helpful to newcomers, which bodes well for the rise in population that we seem to be expecting.

While I’m attempting to live up to your expectations and to inform you about everything that’s going on in Sidney at the moment, even though I’m sure at times I fall short, I’m also working to be a little nicer, in return for all the kindness shown to me.

Giving directions in the courthouse and not yelling at people who deserve it are as far as I’ve gotten at this point. I guess I need to stay in Sidney a bit longer and maybe some of this niceness will catch on.

I hope so.