Maine City Council Meeting Overrun by Loud Attendees

I truly believe that it's important to take a step back, simplify our lives, and remember the golden rule: treat others the way you wish to be treated. Yelling never solves anything, and it's important to distinguish between passion and rudeness.

Recently, I attended a Maine City Council meeting, and was shocked by the lack of decorum displayed by some attendees.

If you didn't know,

City council meetings consist of a legislative body. This authoritative council is responsible for the development and betterment of the city and its citizens. – Pick Time

So to me, these meetings are for folks of a town to have an open forum, give opinions, listen to the latest votes, discuss certain topics, and be heard.

I won't go into the specific topics of this council meeting, because it’s beside the point.

What matters is what I watched, because that's the only thing I remember. A couple of attendees were excessively loud and rude, to the extent that they had to be addressed.

I was sitting nearby, and because of the interruptions of their intense emotions, I couldn't concentrate on what was truly happening.

This is so counterproductive, guys. I understand that meetings such as these can get heated because the topics are important, but regardless of beliefs, it didn’t work. It wasn't passion, it was meaningless. The yelling and anger were ineffective.

As a hardworking mom, going to these meetings is important for me to be involved in my town. However, it's frustrating when someone overpowers everyone else just because they can yell louder. This behavior undermines the purpose of the meetings in the first place.

Can you tell I am passionate right now?

Take me, for example. I don’t go these meetings much, but the only thing I remember was the rudeness, not the point that was trying to be made. Their message was completely lost in the anger.

We all know that there are so many issues in our cities that impact our lives. We feel powerless to change them, and a lot of those decisions impact our personal lives. And in our free country, we have every right to express our feelings and make our voices heard. But in order to make change, we should maybe re-think our approach.

Have you been in a similar situation? How do your city council meetings go?