Take a walk in their moccasins next time

I am writing this Publisher's Pen with a bit of a red face this week. The topic relates to an act that I caught myself committing without realizing its painful consequences... until it was too late.

I left the Gulf Breeze City Council meeting and Town Hall Meeting last Monday both proud and sad. I attend the meetings each week and have done so for years and though I work hard to remain totally "fair and balanced," as we say in the industry, I cannot help but feel respect for these volunteer leaders - even when I disagree with them at times.

Though I am only at the meetings to observe, I feel that in a way, I have "taken a walk in their moccasins" as the old adage goes. I watch them labor each week to try to do the best they can to represent their community and serve it well. I'm there for the ride.

They received a lot of praise during the Town Hall Meeting about storm recovery, parks construction and even beautification and they also caught some flack last week, as such is the heart of democracy. I had to quell my human desire to encourage the complainants to attend every meeting before they jumped to conclusions over one issue.

The very next day, I engaged in passionate debate with a civic leader over a topic that caused me concern. We ended well, but I must admit that in the course of the conversation I did not stop to wonder what meetings I had missed, or what hours the boards and committees had debated before they had come up with a conclusion that did not reflect my own.

Times are hard, and civic, business and government leaders are all having to make some tough decisions. I learned last week that I did not necessarily have the full picture, and I had really grabbed on to one issue.

Maybe we all need to spend more time praying for and encouraging one another before we tackle an issue that is frustrating us. If the economic battle is as real as we are all starting to fear, we better face it together!