Parasiliti: Where's the noise?

In fact, travel 15 miles north to Greencastle or Waynesboro, and people — young and old — fill the stands for high school events. Twenty miles south in Martinsburg, it’s the same story.

But here, in Washington County, the motto is “Apathy? Who cares?”


There was a time when the stands were full.

There was a day when these events weren’t to go out and back the athletes as much as it was civic pride. In older days, people looked forward to these games as an inexpensive opportunity to see friends while publicly backing their town and local school.

Now, for some reason in this county, people are too busy to care.

But when the wheel squeaks in that positive fashion, things have a habit of getting done.

It’s called progress.

The psychology of it would suggest that positive encouragement sustains positive actions.

Maybe our youth wouldn’t be as disgruntled about their lives.

Maybe parents would be more relaxed.

Maybe we wouldn’t go to work and live our lives expecting the worse.

Maybe our government would see this and actually do something to move this area forward. All they get is negative energy because people only turn out when they disagree with something.

Maybe …

There are two problems with the positive view on the squeaky wheel analogy, though.

First, it’s never reported nor does it cause a stir.

And, grease sales at hardware stores would slip dramatically.

Bob Parasiliti is a staff writer for The Herald-Mail. He can be reached at 301-791-7358 or at bobp@herald-mail.com.