The West Virginia Strawberry Festival is here, and so is the rest of it — the traffic creeping down Main Street, the parking spots that vanish just when you turn the corner, the forecast that portends cold and rain.
None of that is news.
Something goes wrong, someone gets annoyed, and within an hour, there’s a long poorly punctuated paragraph about it for the public to read, with a comment thread stacked up underneath.
It doesn’t have to be this way. When you get that urge to start blasting on social media this year, ask yourself two questions.
The first is whether a public post is actually the right place for what you want to say. A Facebook post collects applause from the people who already agree and arguments from the people who don’t. A direct message gets you a conversation. There’s a big difference.
The second question to ask is whether you’d say it to a person’s face. Picture them sitting across the table from you. If the words wouldn’t come out of your mouth, they probably shouldn’t come out of your fingers.
When you are frustrated, remember that no one in this story is a villain. No one is out to get you personally. These are the same folks you run into at the grocery store. Everyone is doing their best with what they’ve got.
The festival works because we share it, because we come together as a community. So, as you drive to town Friday night, remember that the traffic will pass. The weather will warm up. By Sunday, the festival will be over, but your neighbors will still be here.
