A Letter to the Editor in the Sept. 22 issue of the Greene County Daily World pretty much sums up today's society.

Robert Weyer of Linton writes:

"Is it a 'sign of the times' or what?

"It seems that every facet of our lives is confronted with a negative force. Being our religious life or our secular endeavors, everything we try is met with stubborn negativism. Neither Christianity nor Americanism is a negative concept.

"Have we forgotten what we were taught or has the teaching been subverted somewhere along the line? Progress is the fruit of positive thinking and positive action. Negative thinking seems to be the prevalent practice.

"Much of our political rhetoric is rehashing past mistakes instead of concentrating on positive solutions.

"Try being positive about something and see how quickly you meet with negative resistance. Shouldn't we accentuate the positive and expect a positive result? How many of you know what I'm talking about?"

Weyer makes a great point.

If a school teacher, principal or coach tries to do something positive, someone is always right there to shoot them down.

If an elected official tries to "think outside the box" to help their community, someone is always willing to offer a negative comment.

Our society has become the negative force that Weyer writes about.

The next time you gather with a group of friends, or even one person, make an effort to time how long it takes before someone makes a negative comment about a person, school or something in the community.

Just think what we could accomplish if everyone used that negative energy in a positive way!