Editorial: Let’s put the ‘unity’ back into our community

So, I haven’t written an editorial in a while. I’ve been doing so many things between my multiple jobs that I haven’t had time for myself to reflect.

But one thing that drew me to write this is the fact that we are lacking ‘unity’ in our community.

Yes, I know I’ve written about this topic before, but now it’s to the point where it is beginning to frustrate me. Not because I am mad on the ongoings, but I am sad because we still have not learned our lessons.

Let’s face it, if you live or work in Charles City or New Kent County, it’s for a reason. But even with that, there are so many disconnects when it comes to the thing that can bring back our community. And that disconnect is because of communication.

There are so many breakdowns in our dialogue among parties and event organizers that it seems childish to even bring it up. But I am anyway. One example are how meetings with government and school groups are prescheduled but when special called meetings take place, they take place on the same day as one of the prescheduled meetings. Now, you have a situation where a person who may want to go to a government meeting because of an important public hearing has to decide if they want to miss that because their child is being recognized by the school board for an achievement. That is just one example.

Another example are multiple community events and fundraisers taking place. Most of these events are on file to be held or at the very least, advertised via social media or in the Chronicle. There could be days where you may have the county fair going on, but somebody is doing a car wash down the road for a fundraiser. Again, another breakdown.

I’m saying this. It’s not hard to pick up a phone and say, “Hey, are you all doing something on such-and-such a date?” It’s a sad sight to see banter and a breakdown in communication because of egos, self-made agendas, and a plethora of other things.

And don’t get me wrong, I am probably just as guilty, but I try to be as straightforward as possible. That is why the Chronicle has policies in place. Realistically, a staff of two writers and reporters can’t be at every place all the time. We can work our flexibility if we know, but we communicate with those requests. Also factor in that there are some things we don’t cover because it would be unfair for one organization to get coverage and another organization of the same background/business type to receive that coverage.

To wrap it up, the organizations within our communities need to talk and work with each other more. I, personally, am tired of writing of groups and organizations taking shots at other organizations within each county. I’m tired of seeing posts of why did this happen and not this?

Let’s get it together Charles City and New Kent County. If you want something done, let’s open up our connections to build a stronger network. Let’s put the ‘unity’ back into community, because the only way to strive forward is to work together and do what’s best for the future.