Do we sometimes get what we ask for?

Sitting around complaining about the lack of opportunities for children in the area has been en vogue. We complain about the lack of recreation and the lack of “things to do,” but how many times do we really want to do something about it?

Hertford County is in the process of trying to assemble countywide recreation. It has been the goal of the current board of commissioners for a long time. They have worked hard and gotten grants to start the process of making it a reality.

As part of the countywide recreation process, they sent out more than 3,000 surveys to county citizens asking for input as to what is needed in the county.

Unfortunately, only 208 of those surveys were returned. The number is more than upsetting, it is truly appalling. If we really want recreation for our children, it seems it wouldn’t be that difficult to fill out a survey and return it.

The countywide recreation plan may be right. It may be the exact things the children and other citizens need, but if it is, it is only by fortune because more than 80 percent of the people who were given the opportunity to have input, chose not to.

Sitting around complaining doesn’t get things accomplished and neither does apathy. When those two things are abundant, maybe we are indeed getting what we ask for.

– The Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald