Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Every Little Thing by April Jeppson

I went to the state Capitol this week. Every year at this time, YMCA executives from around the state gather at the Capitol to meet with our area representatives. We share with them the good work that we do, and discuss how any pending bills may impact our communities.

This is my second year attending and my first time meeting with my representatives. I’m pleased to say that both of the meetings went well. There aren’t any bills currently on the docket, so I didn’t sway any pivotal votes. However, I had some time to just sit with these people in their spaces and converse. After each meeting, I left with an overwhelming sense that they are genuinely good people.

They serve in the Minnesota House and Senate because they care about what happens in our state. They know that positions like this require listening to voices from all sides. It means that sometimes we need to bite our tongue and other times we need to stand up for what we believe, even if our voice shakes.

They are regular folks who have taken on an important but often criticized calling. It really doesn’t matter how much research, time and thoughtful discussion has gone before casting a vote, there will always be someone to ridicule them. No matter how many calm discussions are had, the critics will blast them for that one time they were short tempered.

Can you imagine coming into work each morning to read a newspaper article about the work you did yesterday? Honestly, that wouldn’t be the worst part. It’s the people who comment online. The amount of name calling that grown adults participate in is wild.

According to Paul Graham’s Hierarchy of Disagreement, name calling is the lowest form of argument. Meaning that instead of actually using facts to break down the opponent’s point, they get flustered and call little Bobby a stinky face. I tend to picture these name-slinging adults as children on a playground — probably in need of a hug or a time out.

We all deal with our own share of critics. The child who’s facial expressions let you know, in no uncertain terms, that they do not like the food that you lovingly prepared.

(At this time, I would like to formally apologize to my mother for my involuntary responses to her zucchini hotdish.) Or the person who loves to complain. These people boast incessantly about what they would have done differently, and yet never show up to a meeting, join a committee or come in early to help.

With everyone so quick to call people names and cast judgement on what everyone else is doing, it’s no wonder that sometimes, we just want to unplug and hide under a blanket. However, there is much work to be done, and we need more good people in the arena.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” — Theodore Roosevelt

Albert Lean April Jeppson is a wife, mom, coach and encourager of dreams. Her column appears every Saturday.