Sometimes it’s not the action of the person but the manner in which they react to your questions about it.
I did something horrible yesterday. I asked a question. I thought it was a simple question, an innocuous one. Several people I know in my area asked the same question. But I dared to ask it on Facebook in a group dedicated to my town.
It’s going to sound silly to you because you haven’t lived where I live for over 40 years. But, considering the way our town is evolving, I had to ask it.
See, every year on the 4th of July, American flags were put out on the lawn of every home in town. It was always a nice touch right before the fireworks display that occurred on or before the 4th. This was a way of promoting patriotism and community among all areas, all economic levels, etc.
Yesterday, during my morning walk, I noticed that some homes got flags and some didn’t. The flags were placed in the yards of those on the main road into town and on roads that led to the main restaurants. In other words, in the wealthier sections of town. And, it wasn’t just one flag per yard, it was many flags in those yards. I thought it was weird, but then several others in my area asked about it. It seemed the placement of the flags stopped once a certain imaginary line was crossed. So, I asked about it on Facebook in a citizen’s group for my town.
I was told it was a supply chain issue and they didn’t get as many flags as they thought, so they were unable to place a flag in every yard. I commented that it appeared that they only placed flags in areas tourists would pass through. I said it was a shame. ( Side note, it seems there might have been enough flags for everyone in town had they only placed one per house. I know, common sense. I need to stop that.)
There were the usual mild responses. Some people had their own flags and didn’t need one ( which, by the way, I do.) But one gentleman, who lives in a different part of town in a million dollar home really got angry. He immediately pointed out that I was trying to claim victimization, that I was trying to divide our town, that I was promoting a “deep state” theory and that it was part of our town disregarding another part of town. He claimed that he and ” his boys,” whoever they are, placed those flags at NIGHT for goodness sake and that they did that as volunteers and HOW DARE I question it.
I’ll admit my response to him was not the kindest. I objected to his characterization of me as a “conspiracy theorist” and a divider for asking a question. I think I might have called that an asshole tactic. I don’t know the guy and he doesn’t know me, but he resorted to name calling immediately, without even attempting to give a logical answer. If he had said, ” Hey, we ran out and so we considered it more important to put flags where tourists would see them,” I might have respected the answer even though I don’t agree. But, as I have been told, he is a California liberal Biden supporter who moved here. So, he had to insult me, a person who asks questions, and portray me as a nut job. I have also been told that he had nothing to do with actually planting the flags. So he is also dishonest.
But, the bigger picture, which I always think is revealed in the smaller picture, is that there is a tyrannical attitude that exists among volunteers who are rich liberals. How dare I question him?
I have been a volunteer for many organizations over the years. My husband and I were volunteer coaches locally. I volunteered as a state/regional/national officer for a large sports organization for over twenty years. I’ll never forget when the paid President of that organization said that he wished he didn’t have to deal with volunteers because they are the most demanding, entitled people he worked with and that you could NEVER question their decisions or performance. We were all insulted, but when you think of it, he was right.
While most volunteers are good people with good motives and intentions, there is always that group who will use their volunteer status as a shield for arrogance and poor behavior. They will put themselves on a pedestal and use the phrase, ” I’m not getting paid for this,” as an excuse for all kinds of incompetence and exploitation. Their motives are self-serving as they wait for the numerous accolades for their service.
( I know what you are thinking. Didn’t I just say that I had been a volunteer for years? Does that mean I acted like that? I don’t think I did. I won’t lie, there were times when I questioned why I was doing certain things for free, but I loved what I was doing enough to get over it. And I and the volunteers I worked with, focused on the spirit of what we were doing, not the accolades. )
If you add “liberal” and ” rich person” to the lable of volunteer, well then you have the toxic trifecta. When the rich liberals ( and, yes, even conservatives sometimes) volunteer for something, they make sure EVERYBODY knows about it, praises them for it, and kneels at their generous altar of superiority. To be honest, it bothered me every time Trump reminded everyone that he donated his salary as President to various causes. I felt it was self serving. Besides, did he really need the salary?
But the liberal rich make a vocation out of pointing out their volunteering and donations to causes. Funny, because some of the best volunteers in our town, the members of our local fire company, are the most humble, dedicated people I know. They don’t get enough thanks, but when they do, they take it all in stride and keep going. They don’t get on their high horse even though they easily could. And they probably spend more money on volunteering than they can afford.
The attitudes of these liberal, rich, volunteers mirror so closely the current ruling elite in Washington. How dare we, the great unwashed, question them, their motives, their tactics, their actions? Why, they only do this for the good of all! They paint us as the problem merely because we ask the questions. They call us dividers while they claim to want unity. They plead their “public service” while they reap financial gain and the accolades of their “toadies.” Their actions and attitudes during the Covid scam are a prime example. How dare we question their faulty data, their tyrannical mandates, their destruction of the Constitution? After all, it’s for the “good of the country.”
And their acolytes have the same attitude.
There once was a bumper sticker that said, “Question Authority.” I’d like to have a new one that says, “Question Everyone.” When you do, you will find out so much about the people volunteering, “serving” and running for office in your town, state, and country. If they can’t handle legitimate questions about their actions, if they have to resort to calling you names because of them, their motives are purely self serving.
I’d like to believe that people have decent motives, but like Reagan said, I am going to have to “trust but verify” from this moment on.
