Scott Swanson
I was walking along the sidewalk on Main Street to our office Wednesday morning, Aug. 24, when I encountered a group of folks clad in some really loud orange garb, masks and balloons and other paraphernalia.
They were school district administrators and faculty members who were out to spread some good cheer.
I was actually headed to Steelhead gym to deliver something that my wife had forgotten as she rushed out of the house that morning to teach her aerobics class.
“You have to come in,” one of the school folks informed me at our office door.
O-kay… I went in.
They unleashed balloons and tossed little stuffed orange frogs on our counter and desktops as our front office staff stood, well, kind of open-mouthed. (I suddenly realized I should be snapping photos, so I shut mine and got busy. See page 11.)
They explained what it was about: the Orange Frog.
Later that day I was in Eugene, stopped at a traffic light behind a couple of other cars. When the light changed, the front car didn’t move and when it finally did, an arm shot out of the window, with a finger in the air. Not sure what happened there, since my air conditioner was on, but maybe the driver in front of me honked.
Fact is, it was one of those really uncool performances that we see a lot of.
My wife was getting something out of her car, which was parked on Main Street, and she had her door partially opened when someone yelled at her from a passing car, “Shut your door!” (Remarkably, literally as I write this, a driver just blasted his or her horn at one of our customers in front of our office as she tried to get into her car, as that driver rocketed past – with an open lane on his or her left.)
What happened to basic civility and simple consideration for other people?
Of course, these sorts of things happened before COVID edicts shut people into their houses for a year. But they seem more frequent now. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like pure self-centeredness, selfishness, has become a sort of pandemic.
I can’t just point the finger here. I’ve noticed that I’m less patient, maybe a little more short-tempered, overly opinionated, than I remember being in January 2020. This is something I need to work on too.
That’s why I’ll be interested to see what results, locally, from this Orange Frog effort that’s been implemented in the school district, which we report about on page 1. The basic premise is that people choose how they behave, how they react to things.
While this might seem to be just another fad – and maybe that’s what it will turn out to be, I think most of us would agree the goal is good.
The Orange Frog philosophy, that “happiness is a choice,” is a reminder that we live in society with other people and even though we’ve been through a tough time, being patient and kind can benefit not only others but ourselves.
Being a jerk isn’t healthy, as my mother used to remind me in so many words.
As Supt. Terry Martin points out in our story, returning to “normalcy” after our COVID experience has been tough and this provides a framework for thinking constructively about how we relate to others and setting goals to improve.
In my 17 years in Sweet Home, I’ve seen many evidences of grace in this community. There has been a strong sense of personal responsibility, of common decency. There’s been a strong strain of volunteerism, willingness to step up to meet needs, to help others, especially when the chips are down for someone.
Those are qualities that help make Sweet Home special, to residents and to visitors who notice the effects, and if this Orange Frog effort can focus our attention on getting back to “normal” in our community, it’ll be a success.