It’s a Sad World

What a melancholic world it would be if all letters to the editor and all contributions to a debate were devoid of humour, rhetoric and, yes, even sarcasm. Sadder still if it was up to the editor of the paper to filter out all correspondence with even a hint of these attributions. Yet that is just the world that Southern Highland News letter writer N Pryor would have us inhabit.
N Pryor, (stated firmly as of Bowral’s east), responded recently to my letter about proposals to re-name East Bowral to something else.

I will not re-state the various alternatives I offered, for fear of once again drawing N Pryor’s wrath. However, to respond briefly to his/her points:

• I am not ashamed of myself to have brought some levity to the debate. It is one that should be had with a twinkle in the eye as we are not discussing sending troops to war, or methods to alleviate poverty or anything nearly so serious.
• I have lived in the Southern Highlands for (nearly) all of my 26 years, and I adore it. I would not live nor work anywhere else if there were opportunities to stay and contribute. Sadly, for many people of my age, this area offers little in the way of employment or education. Nonetheless, I have stayed thus far because of the region’s beauty, safety and community spirit.
• I did not claim that any of the options to formally rename East Bowral were endorsed by all residents, and I too eagerly await the outcome of the community survey.
• If N Pryor is relying only on the community newsletter for his/her information, then he/she is as informed as I on the matter and ought not cast mindless aspersions on my knowledge.
• I began volunteering in this community at 13 years of age. I have spent thousands of hours since in activities with a wide variety of community-based organisations. Should N Pryor or anyone else be interested in further details of this volunteering, they would find Google or the search engine on this paper’s website to be a useful tool.

I look forward to N Pryor’s continued engagement through the pages of this paper, or online. However, I will not be inclined to respond again if the personal attacks, ignorant aspersions, and lack of humour evident in the first letter is still on display.