A Beach Bum's View by Gary Becker Treasure Island Florida

Gulf Beach News

Let's agree to disagree

First of all, let’s agree to disagree. That’s right. It’s ok to disagree. Even though I think I’m right all of the time, I’m sure you disagree with that. And that’s ok.

Every two years we go to the election polls and cast our ballots for candidates and issues we feel are right. Guess what, we all vote for different people and different issues and that’s ok.. As a matter of fact it’s more than just ok, it’s what makes this country the greatest society in the history of this spinning rock we call earth.

The Founding Fathers disagreed on what should be in the Constitution, Gilligan and The Skipper disagreed on how to get off the island and we can disagree on how this Island should be run. Its ok, it’s called being a caring American Citizen. A Citizen who cares about his or her community and is not going to sit on the couch and let others make unchecked decisions on what direction their town is being taken. Whether you voted for those who are in office or voted for those who ran against them, you have not only a right but a duty to monitor the actions of those officials and challenge their actions you feel are wrong.

You also have a duty to respect those who disagree with you and respect their views and their right to voice those views. Challenge the views and the issues. Don’t challenge the individual or his or her right to possess those views.

There are those in this Community who call people like me divisive because I openly question some of the decisions being made by our local elected officials. Now, if someone had told the Captain of the Titanic to slow down and look where he was going would that someone have been called divisive? It’s a matter of perspective. If your “people” are in office than anyone who disagrees with them is divisive. If the current government is not made up of your “people” then you’re a concerned citizen when you question their actions. I think I’m a concerned citizen but to others I’m divisive.

Those who voted for and support the current Commission would like all of us to go to the beach, put flowers in our hair, hold hands and sing “I’d like to buy the world a Coke.”. Well, that’s not going to happen. Maybe if they sing “Louie Louie” I’ll show up. In the meantime, let’s look at the issues we do need to stand together on.

The Bridge. We all better get together on this issue or we’ll all be swimming to work.

The Beach Trail. A wonderful way for everyone to be able to share the beauty of our beach that needs to be finished with a minimum disruption to our beachfront neighbors and the beach environment.

The hiring of a new City Manager. We can point fingers during the next election but for now we all need to stand together to insure the best possible candidate is hired. A candidate who will serve all of the community, not just a few.

A special project. What’s a special project? How about bringing back the Sand Castle? How about having a national sand castle competition with music, food and fireworks? How about getting together to celebrate and promote Treasure Island with some sort of special event or festival that we can all participate in and enjoy?

This nation’s population is the most diverse in the world. On a day to day basis, we all go our separate ways and have separate views on nearly every topic. And that’s ok. What’s not ok is that the only time we stand together as Americans is times of tragedy and crisis.

Let us on Treasure Island agree to disagree. But let us agree to not wait for a tragedy or a crisis to force us to stand together on the important issues that face our community. Let’s agree to get the important projects and challenges completed in a way that benefits all our residents.

Let us agree to disagree but also let us agree to not let the very political activism that makes this community so strong, tear this community apart. Let us agree to work as hard on the issues we agree on as we work on the issues we disagree on.