With Christmas 2021 now here, I try each year to write what’s on my mind in this special holiday season. My thoughts this year center on something Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness told me on a podcast recorded December 1st.
As is my custom when interviewing nearly anyone on a podcast, I provide a minute or two at the end to have my guest talk about anything I didn’t think to bring up myself. On December 1st, the mayor made his case that, in his view, Fishers “is doing very well,” and cited a number of points made in his recent State of the City address. But he slipped-in another point in his response to me – “As a community, we have some work to do on how we treat each other.”
The journalist in me motivated a follow-up question – just what did you mean by “we have work to do on how we treat each other?”
The mayor again referred back to his State of the City address. He argues that most Fishers residents do not even realize what COVID has done to them. “I don’t think people have come to grips with just all they’ve gone through in the last year-and-a-half,” Fadness said.
He senses that people continue to be on edge due to what COVID and dealing with the pandemic have done to all of us in some shape or form.
“We’ve got to get back to the ground game of looking each other in the eye and having an honest conversation,” said the mayor.
Fadness believes we can become a better community if we recognize that most of us are on edge because of the pandemic and what it has done to us. He envisions a better sense of community where we interact in person and see that human beings may have differences, but we have more in common.
So, as my Christmas message, let’s make a concerted effort to connect in a positive way to our fellow human beings. We have differences, and that is part of being human. Making personal connections is important and a genuine effort to find and build on those relationships is certainly part of the Christian Christmas message. Again, we have more that unites us than what divides us.
Once COVID hit, I changed the sign-off on all my podcasts to a new phrase – “Be safe and be kind.” I wanted to emphasize that we all should follow practices to keep ourselves and those around us as safe as possible. I also firmly believe that kindness spreads as each person practices it. In this time of pandemic, being safe and being kind are both so important.
Let’s think about that as we spread the cheer of the holiday season to one another.
Be safe and be kind.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!