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So much has happened in just the last week in our community. The loss of a great man who was known for his community service. You may not recognize his name immediately, but his face was at so many community service events. I will not mention his name here as the family is still dealing with his loss. My prayers go out to them.

There was a recount for an election and the results remain the same as for the name of the winner. Congratulations Paul Burch for winning and having an opportunity to continue your work towards making the city of Orange even better.

Elections, national and local, do not always go smoothly and sometimes they can get rather ugly with name calling and mudslinging. Overall, generally, local elections avoid the mudslinging. Generally.

Why bother with slinging mud when you know you still have to be neighborly afterwards and work together? It is the mudslinging that is destroying lifelong friendships. It does not add to your character and does not say much for a candidate either. A good person with strong ethics can say more for supporting a candidate solely than a person slinging mud.

I have mentioned the lyrics of a song in a previous column and I will mention them again because they say so much:

“Why does kindness seem revolutionary
When did we let hate get so ordinary
Let’s turn it around, flip the script”

– Josh Wilson, Revolutionary

Add Elton John’s line from Your Song:

“How wonderful life is while you’re in the world”

It shows we all have something wonderful to offer this community. Take the time to get to know others and let the kindness grow.

This is the beginning of the holiday season and even if you do not believe in celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, it does not mean you cannot help promoting kindness and peace on earth.

Stop allowing hate to be so ordinary or acceptable.

Dawn Burleigh is general manager and editor of The Orange Leader. She can be reached at dawn.burleigh@orangeleader.com