Truth, Lies, Rumors, and Anniversaries

Today is the two year anniversary of this blog, well at least this version of this blog. On this wonderful anniversary I want to remind everyone that the internet is generally full of crap, and often so are people. For every piece of reputable information there is countless rumors, misinformation, and downright falsehoods. Separating truth from fiction is equal parts a mental battle and diligent research. These truths are in fact why this blog started in the first place. People like McCampbell, Stachura, and Godziszewski gave us that lesson for years. Endlessly having their misinformation called out and proven to be lies.

As long as words are hitting the page, news and facts are filtered through someone. Sometimes this is a ludicrous rumor that somehow morphs into a fact. Filtering out the junk from the actual facts is hard, but it’s not impossible.

We should also quickly talk about how and why misinformation travels so quickly. A number of reasons for this exist, but two are more prevalent than others. First off, we have belief perseverance, which is described as:

Belief perseverance: maintaining your original opinions in the face of overwhelming data that contradicts your beliefs. Everyone does it, but we are especially vulnerable when invalidated beliefs form a key part of how we narrate our lives.

Essentially, once an idea becomes a “fact” in our head, we have a hard time believing that the opposite is true even when it’s disproven. This is how myths and rumors gain steam.

Belief perserverance also plays well with cognitive bias: flaws in judgement where we make statistical or attribution errors based on patterns. These biases include confirmation bias, where we tend to ignore information we don’t agree with, and the bandwagon effect, where we tend to go along with what other members of a group are doing.

Essentially, both make spotting misinformation difficult because we believe just about anything if we want it to be true. The only fix is to acknowledge that we all do this. Once we do, it’s time to start digging for truly reliable information.

Misinformation is everywhere, and although it’s tough to find the truth, it’s not impossible.

Happy Anniversary to all those that have contributed to the spreading of the truth through this blog. Looking forward to many more.

 

The Rumors

The rumor beast rears its ugly head, In honor of some of the more recent ones, I would like to share a few very valuable posts from this blogs past.

Man runs for school board while faceing eight felony counts of theft and four felony counts of official misconduct?

McCampbell Getting 21,000 a month pension

In the news again

Do they have no shame?

Let us not forget this gem – Directive Breakdown

here is the entire breakdown of anything relating to the subject of some of the recent rumors – LInks

You might also notice a few other commonly occurring names in all of those posts.

What is the deal with rumors like the ones that many of us have heard again? We are all very aware of Roy F McCampbell, and his “alleged” past less then honest activities. A grand jury indictment accuses him of stealing more than $500,000 from the west suburban village of Bellwood, in part by manipulating his employment contracts and deceiving the Village Board about them. Why do people openly align themselves with him? Why did Patricia Godziszewski so directly and openly defend him?

Patricia Godziszewski always has been an advocate of Roy F McCampbell (again an individual who is under indictment for theft and official misconduct), and consistently voted in favor of anything related to Mr McCampbell, she has supported his complaints and accusations since the beginning. She was consistently hostile, and evasive with respect to answering questions directed at her during board meetings. She was regularly unprepared as the Vice President of the Board, and has displayed great contempt for the teachers and staff of School District 81. She was the co-author of the very unprofessional and “private” letter written to the school board legal council in regard to her and Mr Stachura’s disapproval of the very competent and capable superintendent.

Patricia Godziszewski was one of the driving forces behind the hiring of a long ago replaced law firm that represented Schiller Park School District 81. A law firm that has had some bad press as far as the representation of other school boards, and has had questionable connections to Mr McCampbell from the beginning. Even with all the questions to that subject being asked of Patricia Godziszewski by her fellow board members the law firm was voted in. As it turns out that was the begining of what became one of the most costly legal eras in the School District’s history. With legal fees skyrocketing, and what one could only refer to as bad legal advice, Patricia Godziszewski played her part in costing the tax payers of this community 100s of thousands of dollars. The law firm resigned on the eve of their removal by the School Board members who had had regained a majority vote on the topic, and that same resignation letter was released by Mr McCampbell shortly before that Board meeting ever took place. When it was released by Mr McCampbell, to the best of my knowledge it was not yet public information.

So not to feed the rumor beast more then it should, let’s keep these two names fresh in our minds as we move closer to the upcoming election season.

 

 

Hail, Hail,the Gang’s All Here

Or should we say “Well, Well, the Gang’s All Here”?

The typical cast of characters seem to be connecting in such a happy way with others of like minds. Is this a sign of things to come? Are we seeing the beginning of a political power house (I joke)? Did they find a new person to follow, or has it always been this way?

On the 17th of June 2016 a fund raiser was held at the 4 Points by Sheraton Chicago O’Hare. It was posted as “A Fundraising Event for Mayor Barbara Piltaver” – Loosely translated it means ~ the early start of the next campaign season.

This event has brought the return of someone we have not heard from in a while, and a few that finally just left after many months of not fulfilling elected duties. Although many have made guesses that Patricia Godziszewski would return this election cycle no one knows for sure, now thanks to KGK we have a little more information pointing in that direction. I do not have confirmation that Kathie Janis was in attendance, even if she was I am starting to believe we will be seeing more of her as we get closer to the voting booths.

Things are very soon going to start getting interesting.

Disclaimer – all images posted above were found publicly, and shared publicly..

Congratulations Schiller Park, You Made a Difference.

I can not deny how unsurmountable the obstacles felt that had been blocking educational progress in Schiller Park’s Public Schools, and that there has been true progress over the past few years. Not only for the betterment of the children of Schiller Park, but for the entire community.

September 26th 2014 at 3:16 pm two hundred and twenty posts ago we made the first installment of the current blog. With the help of a community that was sick of the destruction we stood up, and spoke out against those who would do our kids harm. The first post was titled “In the beginning there was a comptroller! well almost the beginning” and it set the tone for all that followed. “The ‘Robin Hood of potholes’ or ‘The pothole Vigilante’“, and “Pre-career change job training? Getting ready for the work crew in the big house?” followed shortly after. Some times I look back at these posts, and think of how much simpler this blog was. There was so much to share, and everything was new news to many of us. There had been such a destructive and dark blanket of negativity surrounding everything, that I didn’t have to look very hard to find something new to share.

Back then we were talking about harassment “Is it a pattern of harassment? Someone should contact the authorities!” and  connections between a small few board members, and one family in the community. We talked about how these connections so blatantly produced bad, and biased choices on the part of David Stachura, and Patricia Godziszewski. (Example). We talked about abuse of the staff and one persons past job titles in “The many jobs of McCampbell! Job (Jobs) well done!” There was topics that have carried through to recent posts. Like “Pension fund scoundrel!“,  and more recently “21,000 a month!“.

Yet some things have remained the same. We are still waiting on a resolution to the indictment of our local infamous “Accused” criminal, and some of the McToxics still feel the need to spread bad information.

Through all the negative aspects of the last two years the quality of educators our children have in Schiller Park School District 81 has only grown, and there has been many good changes. A pretty big one is the recent swearing in of two new School Board members that have replaced the cowardly lion David Stachura, and Mr. talkative John Kowalski. The expansion of Kennedy School, and an Ipad initiative both helping to keep the Schools technologically and educationally current. Schiller Park School district 81 has an award winning Superintendent, School Board, and staff that cares about the children and community that they serve. These talented professionals are now free to do their jobs unhindered by bad, self-serving personal agendas, and can focus on educating the children that will make our future great.

Are the McToxics gone? No, but we will continue to fight the good fight, and with the continued contributions of so many of you there is nothing but good times on the horizon for a long time to come.

 

The Twilight Zone

 

“You’re traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That’s the signpost up ahead – your next stop, the Twilight Zone.”

 

This has truly become a twilight zone moment, or moments. For the record some of you may not want particular people being your spokesperson. This also may end up being a lengthy post so consider yourself forewarned.

This is not a post about personally shaming anyone or making fun of anyone. This is a post about a very serious topic to me, a topic that has hit close to home on more then one occasion. It is the beginning of what happens when the twilight zone meets reality.

Facebook is a fascinating place. It allows all of us to participate socially on a level never before seen by the human race. There are some great aspects of Facebook.

• Connecting with those who live far away.
• More social interaction
• Keeping up-to-date on friends’ lives
• Opportunity to meet new people
• Ability to create large social networks
• Lots of great resources and information
• It gives everyone a platform

Then there is some of the bad side.

• Connecting with those you don’t really need to
• Less face-to-face social interaction
• Opportunity to lose all privacy
• Potential to be addictive
• Overload of information
• It gives everyone a platform

You may have noticed that the same item is listed in both categories. Something that is both a good, and a bad part of Facebook. It gives everyone a platform, and it is very successful at that aspect. Often it is a platform for change, to sell something, or in my case a platform for sharing information, and a place I can express my opinions. For me this is a positive, but what about the other “platforms”? The people who really should not have one, and have completely taken a dive off of the high board into the shallow end of the pool?

As we have discussed before this greatly depends on what side of the fence you are standing on, or is there more to it? That type of thought is also dependent on a few things. Mostly a difference of opinion is what divides the two sides. What then happens to the person who’s platform preaches their opinions based off of something else all together. like an inability to understand any of the different opinions, or the inability to properly interact with people socially, or to even comprehend what is actually going on in almost all aspects of life. That changes things from a simple opposite sides of a fence concept to something all together different.

It is very well known that I disagree with a few people in Schiller Park almost to an obsessive level. Roy f McCampbell, David Stachura, Patricia Godziszewski, and Kathy Ewanio Janis, to name a small few. We disagree strongly both politically, and personally on more then a few topics, but it is by no means personal. They have a platform from where they can preach their opininons and beliefs also. My side of the fence thinks they are very wrong, and very destructive to this community, but I am sure their side of the fence feels the same way of me.

What if that proverbial fence has a third side? An imaginary side that doesn’t exist in any known reality, Its a bit Like the twilight zone.

Why do I call it the twilight zone? The particular posts I am talking about are truly from another dimension, a dimension of the mind (A mind that I am incidentally very worried about). To read the Facebook posts I am referring to is a journey into a wondrous and terrifying land whose boundaries are that of imagination. An imagination rivaling the greatest of fantasy novels (if you can decipher the text). Coincidentally an imagination that seems to be unraveling.
This persons platform is of great concern to me. Not the subject matter of the individuals posts, but the way they are formed. It is like the uninhibited flow of a confused mind onto digital paper. It is confusing yet intriguing to read. The flow and format of the words should be a case study, and an example of what not to do, or how not to interact with people.

Examples: I don’t even want to approach the subject of David C Stachura responding to KKG while ignoring the entire community for many months.

Just to try and be as clear as possible the above screen capture is suposed to be the response from David Stachura to KKG. The next screen capture was posted by KKG and appears to be the actual response from former School Board member David Stachura

This was sent to me by another of the many concerned residents 

We should not only focus on the difference in his response when compared to her version of it, but also on the structure, and flow of the way it is written. It should be of concern to all of us that an individual that did not write this way during the couple political campaigns now does.

Then we have an example of imagined events, communications, or activities that present themselves in a manner that should also cause great concern like the difference in email versions posted above. A perceived importance beyond family that increases the arrogance to a point that becomes increasingly difficult to maintain.

This is a small taste of what happens when the “twilight zone” starts to meet reality head on and it often ends with a grand explosion of personal self distruction that no one wants to see happen.

I am not a medical professional and only express my opinion based off of the real concern I have for this community. Please be cautious in your interactions with those on the verge, and be aware that what is shared as truth is very possibly not.

 

 

 

Truth and Lies

Or lies and truth depending on what side you’re looking at it from.

It’s really and truly very sad that both of those exist in the world we live in, always has and always will. Truth should be the only thing anyone ever hears, but we all know that’s more then a pipe dream. The really sad part is that for every truth there is at least two lies, and even though the truth is often very easy to find (it generally is sitting right in front of our face) it’s much easier to discount when compared to the lies. We Schiller Parkers seem prone to believing the negative, or at least that was how it used to be. There seems to have been a flip a few years ago and people I feel are starting to wake up to the possibility that much of what has been said in the past may not have been accurate.

That is the part of the human personality that some people take advantage of. People who write pages on social media with the sole intention of spreading discontent by using lies as a stepping stone to their end goals, and more often then not simply for the purpose of doing it. When people don’t stand up for the truth and the lies go unanswered for so long they start to become their own twisted reality.

I have mentioned in previous posts that it is very easy to except what we read at face value and to not dig slightly deeper. Many people don’t read deeper then the first few lines, and this almost without fail starts to attract more people to the “liars” cause. Allows him to build his army so to speak, and that “army” will continue to spread the lies. In their defense they may be an unwitting accomplice in the organizers plans because they didn’t search out the truth and accepted what was said at face value, but the same end goal is accomplished.

Let’s face it, the residents of Schiller Park have been down this road before. It’s nothing new with the same players on both sides, and it goes in cycles often revolving around election seasons or when some new item that the main culprit feels goes against his designs. Key words there are Against his designs.

Tomorrow night there is a Public Hearing and then a Regular Meeting of the School Board of Schiller Park School District 81.
(Wednesday, February 17, 2016 at 7:00 PM). The public hearing is concerning the intent of the Board of Education to sell 16,000,000 in working cash fund bonds. This is in my opinion the reason for the peak in misleading information being spread by Roy F McCampbell. (Again I can not prove he is he owner and administrator of the Facebook page and main dissemination source for all the bad information being spread, but when compared to all of his other postings to social media the signature is almost exact). Things have wound up lately but ask yourself why.

Has Roy McCampbell, and David Stachura been recruiting attendees for the meeting? Is that the reason for all the sudden interest? Will Dave Stachura actually attend a School Board meeting? I believe that this is all in an attempt to vilify the Administration and remaining School Board Members of School District 81 with the community. For what purpose I could not even begin to guess, but this has been his goal for a very long time, and why should he change it now.

The hot button of taxes is a perfect catalyst for sparking more negative energy directed at those who many feel were elected to lower taxes. In reality they were elected to do exactly what they are doing now. Protect and grow the education of children in Schiller Park to the best of their abilities while doing it with as much financial responsibility as possible. Protecting both the students and the tax payers.

These attacks are in actuality incredibly counter productive especially for this individual in particular. Doesn’t the School System he is attempting to maliciously destroy service his family? I realize he has taken the personal stance of advocate to everyone in the District to a new level of wrong, but at what point does a person realize that he is doing absolutely no good at all?

I do not believe that someone like this is capable of seeing what they are actually doing to the School System that is so important. In the end his actions not only hurt education in Schiller Park but they hurt every single resident without exception. This is something that everyone can see plainly if they just open themselves to the possibility. Yet there are still people who’s families are directly affected by the outcome of all of this activity that continue to try and tear it all down despite the affects it has on them or those they care about. Kathy Ewanio Janis is one good example. I have no personal issue with her, but I can’t understand her reasoning for taking the positions she has in the past. The undying support for those so clearly doing wrong.

More then a few people have come forward explaining to me how Kathy Janis was telling people at the information meeting at Kennedy that she was all for the expansion of the building. “That it was needed”. Doesn’t this expansion effect her family directly, and now she changes her toon to support Roy McCampbell’s crusade of destruction on Facebook? Is there something in it for her? What am I missing here? Maybe she is going to run for trustee again?

The purpose of this typically long rant is to try and get people to understand the importance of getting to your own thoughts by researching the truth for yourself. I do not want anyone to take my word for it or at face value. Start with the source and go from there.

Attend the next school board meeting and introduce yourself. Share your feelings with people, but do it with respect and a general benefit of the doubt. If you open your mind to the possibility that there is another side to the story then Mr McCampbell’s version then you are half way to the truth.

 

Missinformation Part 3

 

I’m going to jump ahead a little and share some of the more recent postings to this page. I apologize for bouncing around but some things just can not wait.

February 15th 2015 – updated

The page quoted by the Facebook page I am now fondly calling the McStachura page can be found here. I am picking that name because it so closely resembles their campaign of destruction.

This says it all, identical to Schiller Park School District 81 in reference to the District administrators

This is downright insulting, and a blatantly typical attack by people who have been doing the very same things for years now. I have no doubt in my opinions that the main culprit of this page is Roy F McCampbell, David C Stachura, and the ousted Patricia Godziszewski may still have some involvement. It fits with David C Stachura’s complete lack of knowledge on the situation, and matches directly the attacks of the past perpetrated by all three of the above individuals on such pages as the Shiller Park Blog. Now mix in the comments of one Kathie Ewanio Janis, and its a deja vu moment like we have not seen for some time now.

The Administration of School District 81 couldn’t be more child centered. They have put up with the career focused attacks by the likes of those named above, and the harassment of the past by the rest of the McCampbellites for year after year. Yet they continue to work towards the best possible education they can provide our children, and grandchildren. They have sat through complaint after complaint with not so much as a negative word in their own defense. They could have just as easily left the district to pursue a career in another district then deal with the abuse aimed at them by a very small few.

I also can not forget the wonderful comments by one Kathy Ewanio Janis.

Edit: A resident recently commented on my Facebook post about this “I personally was in that room with Kathy and she said she was NOT against the expansion and that she knew it was NEEDED”.

I would like to know when Kathie Ewanio Janis has witnessed these things first hand? Of course she is entitled to her opinion as much as the rest of us, but Kathie “feeding the flames” Janis has never had what I consider a constructive comment ever. Maybe that is my fault for thinking that constructive comments should come from someone who recently made a run at a village trustee position here in beautiful Schiller Park. Edit:A resident recently commented on my Facebook post about Kathy Ewanio Janis’s thoughts on the School expansion “I personally was in that room with Kathy and she said she was NOT against the expansion and that she knew it was NEEDED”.

I personally challenge Kathy Ewanio Janis to attend the next School Board meeting and repeat her comments to the Administration and the Board of School District 81, but she wont because that’s how these people operate. I was told that not one person has made a single complaint or asked even one question of the people at the School District offices. Only one person has ever expressed his concerns directly towards the people who have the answeres and I had the displeasure of sitting behind him that day. We wont go into the words he was mumbling under his breath.

This just in….Kathy Ewanio Janis called me a coward because I choose to remain anonymous to protect myself from people who can not stand the truth being told and have proven to attack those who stand up against them. I do think it is sad though that she herself doesn’t have the fortitude to stick to the same story. Is this also the same Ewanio family as School Board member Ewanio? IS she calling her own family Egotistical? 

P.S. I wouldn’t spank you if David C Stachura was begging me to.

Just another miserable attempt at spreading more misery and anger among a community trying to grow and prosper. I wonder how many people have put together that maybe Schiller Park will never achieve the greatness so many of us feel it can as long as these happy people remain involved.

Moving on to another February 15th 2015 post

I want to start off with a question. Why does the McStachura page focus on tax related posts that only cover one of the many taxing bodies that have an effect on our property taxes? Because the authors do not really care about the taxes, just tearing down the wonderful Public School district we have in Schiller Park.

Simple math? The biggest lesson that I am learning with this series of posts is that there  is nothing simple about the math involved with School District Finances. For the McStachura page to suggest such a thing adds more evidence of their actual lack of knowledge on this topic. Does this project, or any school project for that matter cost the tax payers money? Yes, it absolutely does. The job of the School Board is to mitigate those costs as much as possible. Education costs money, and lots of it if you want to properly educate the children of this country. Part of those costs are spent on the buildings those children are educated in.

I feel safe making the statement that every member of this community wants Schiller Park to grow, and with that growth comes more children. Those Children will need to be educated at some point, and the better the education the Schools can provide the more people that will want to move here. Its a cycle that with a prospering community will never stop. A school system has to grow with the population, and that costs money. A primary source for paying for that cost comes from taxes. Let me say it again, and I am sure I will many more times. A School Board that is able to continually improve on the education of a community’s children, maintain a stable budget, grow with the community, and stay modern all at the same time is a School Board that we should all want to remain in office for as long as they can. Despite what the McStachura page is trying to portray, this is what your current Schiller Park District 81 School Board is currently doing, and anyone who says otherwise either simply doesn’t understand, doesn’t want to understand or doesn’t care.

Bad sources of information

 

David Stachura is not a good source of information as he has not attended one meeting that would have given him that information. He has not attended one meeting since June in general. Someone should submit a F.O.I.A. request for all emails from David C Stachura to any staff member of the School District offices. I would be very interested in the results.

Patricia M Godziszewski in fairness has been very silent in the months since she lost her run at reelection. I only mention her at all because so much of what has been discussed recently was the main argument her, and Dave Stachura ran on in the first place.

Roy F McCampbell in my opinion is possibly the worst source for this information out of the entire bunch. I feel this person along with his spouse have had a vendetta against School district 81 for many years. It is also my opinion that they have had a vendetta against the Administration specifically for some reason that I can not explain. This has been going on for years. I have written about it on many occasions. One of my many posts on the subject found here.

Any McCampbellite

More on the McStachura Page in the very near future. Until then please get your information from a valid source. Ask yourself if what you are repeating or doing is factual. Ask yourself if it is something that will help grow and build this community or just continue to drag it down. I know that if you spread truth you will be one of those helping to grow this town. Schiller Park can be great, and I believe it will be, but we need to continue to raise awareness to the source of its troubles, and bring the truth to the surface.

STAND UP AND SPEAK OUT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Missinformation Part 2

Lets dig in a little more into the fine source for examples of what is not actually happening in School District 81.

November 8th 2015

This post made me chuckle just a small amount. I had never heard of the Edgar County Watch Dogs before this and I like what they are doing. The part that made me chuckle was the insinuation that the Schiller Park School District 81 is doing something that would interest the Edgar County Watch Dogs in the first place. I am more then sure that the McToxics made an attempt to contact the Edgar County Watch Dogs, and to the best of my knowledge they have not shown interest in the districts activities. Why would they as the School District is not actually doing anything wrong.

You can find the Edgar County Watch Dogs on Facebook here, or on the interwebs here. I contacted the group a few month ago to notify them that someone of ill repute was using them to validate his continued miss-information campaign against the School District.

November 24th 2015

This is one of the many examples on that page that simply shares links to other sites. In and of itself it does not say anything bad. In fact the article does not list Schiller Park School District 81 in either the top 25 deficit or surplus spending categories. The article by itself could be reasonably interpreted as a good thing for School District 81. I would imagine that not being in either of those two categories casts a favorable light on School District 81. It says to me that the School Board and Administration are being financially responsible.

Link to full article found here

December 24th 2015

Any attempt to explain to taxpayers what is going on by any taxing body is a fantastic thing. Even more so when it can be verified and backed up. This School Board and administration has done more to increase transparency then the previous leadership ever even tried.

In a previous post I talked about getting your information from a source that is legally responsible to tell the truth. This is a perfect example of a source that is “legally responsible” to share the truth.

I would like to see the information that he authors of the Facebook page making the claims of “bogus” information have used to come to their conclusions. This is something you will never see because anything they would try to share can be disputed, and proved incorrect.  In reality the claims of the stop overtaxation Facebook page is the truely “Bogus” attempt at misleading people away from the truth.

Full article found here

This is just a few more examples of what I believe to be a sad example of a group of people trying to mislead people into following their lies.

So much more to come on that Facebook page.

 

Constant Complainers

TOP 10 REASONS WHY CONSTANT COMPLAINING IS TOXIC

There is in Schiller Park a trend that seems to be everywhere these days. Only to have been made worse by the introduction of social media.

Constant and endless complaining. So much of it that it has become toxic.

I was reading a topic about taxes on one of the many Facebook pages for this town, and could not help but notice it’s always the same individuals doing the complaining. These individuals refuse to properly Understand the subject, but continue to spread their toxicity. This kind of chronic complaining, justified or not, leads to no good. In fact, it can be downright toxic and can make any situation considerably worse.

Here’s why constant complaining is so bad:

1: It makes things look worse than they are
When people complain, they focus only on what’s wrong. Things may be mostly fine, or better but complainers only talk about the problems, annoyances and peeves they perceive.

If things are 80% good and 20% bad and you spend most of your time thinking and talking about the bad 20% the situation will look a lot worse than it really is.

2: It becomes a habit
The more you complain, the easier it gets. In the end, everything is bad, every situation is a problem, every person is a jerk and nothing is good.

The more you focus on the negative, the harder it gets to switch into a positive mindset.

3: You get what you focus on
According to Wikipedia, Confirmation bias is:

…a tendency to search for or interpret new information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions and avoid information and interpretations which contradict prior beliefs.

In other words, what you already believe influences your perception of everything around you. That’s why constant complaining makes you see everything in a negative light, because your subconscious mind tries to make new observation fit with what you already know.

4: It leads to onedownmanship
A complaining session might go something like this:

The other day, I had to stay two hours and missed my football game.

Yeah, well my boss told me to work this weekend AND the next.

Hah, that’s nothing! My boss…

This type of interaction rewards the person with the worst story who can complain the loudest. Not healthy!

5: It makes people despondent
Not only does constant complaining make you see everything as worse than it really is, but because you’re constantly hearing stories of how bad things are and how they’re constantly getting worse it also destroys all hope that things can get better.

This of course makes people less likely to take action to improve their situation, because everybody knows it’s doomed to fail anyway.

I think this is one of the biggest problems here and in most towns. I am guilty of it to a point, but I always try to give a solution, or a differing viewpoint. I guess I consider it a difference between raising awareness to a situation, and non-constructive complaining.

6: It kills innovation
Because the situations looks so hopeless, people become less creative and innovative. What’s the point of coming up with ideas and implementing them, it’s never going to be accepted anyway.

Also, chronic complainers are the first to shoot down any new idea. This is one of the downsides to Facebook. It gives the “chronic complainers” a soap box.

7: It favors negative people
The way to get status among complainers is to be the most negative. To be the one who sees everything in the most negative light.

Any attempt to be positive or cheerful will be shot down and optimists will be accused of being Pollyanna, naive and unrealistic.

8: It promotes bad relationships
People who complain together unite against the world and can create strong internal relationships based on this. But these relationships are based mostly on negative experiences. That’s not healthy.

It also means that you can only continue to be a part of the group if you can continue to complain, miring you even deeper in a complaint mindset.

9: It creates cliques
Being positive, optimistic and appreciative makes you more open towards other people no matter who they are. It becomes easy to connect with people.

Complaining, on the other hand, makes people gather in cliques with their fellow complainers where they can be critical and suspicious of everybody else.

10: Pessimism is bad for you
Psychologist Martin Seligman showed in his groundbreaking research in positive psychology that people who see the world in a positive light have a long list of advantages, including:

They live longer
They’re healthier
They have more friends and better social lives
They enjoy life more
They’re more successful at work
We sometimes think that pessimists and complainers have the edge because they see problems sooner but the truth is that optimists not only lead better lives, they’re also more successful because they believe that what they’re doing is going to work.

The upshot

Constant complaining is toxic. It can drain the happiness, motivation, creativity and fun from any situation. Wherever it’s going on it must be addressed and handled properly.

I’m NOT saying that we should never complain quite the contrary. If you see a problem, complain to whoever can do something about it.

What we should avoid at all costs, is constant bitching and moaning, where we’re always complaining about the same things, to the same people, in the same way, day in and day out.

So what can we do about it? Well first of all, each of us can learn to complain constructively. This means learning to complain in a way that leads to the problem being fixed rather than to more complaining.

Secondly, we need to learn to deal with the chronic complainers we meet. Unfortunately, our traditional strategies like trying to cheer them up or suggesting solutions for their problems don’t work because complainers aren’t looking for encouragement or solutions.

Finally, we can train our own ability to be positive. Just like complaining can become a habit, so can being appreciative, optimistic and grateful. We could declare today a positive day, you could take a few minutes at the end of every day to write down five good experiences from that day or you could praise Someone for a job well done.

Try it or don’t, but it’s our own individual choice, and it will improve your life and those lives around you.

Your take

But what do you think? Do you know any chronic complainers? What is their impact? How do you complain when you see a problem?

McCampbell Getting 21,000 a month pension

McCampbell, middle, walks with attorneys Craig Tobin, left, and Sean Sullivan through the lobby of the Hon. George N. Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago on Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012. (José M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

“Five years after the Tribune exposed a suburban official’s questionable $472,000 annual pay — and three years after he was indicted over it — the official continues to collect a lucrative pension as his case lingers in court.” – Joe Mahr of the Chicago Tribune

In an article posted this morning the Chicago Tribune shared some personally very disturbing information about one of our most controversial residents Mr Roy F McCampbell. Full article found here

More then 1.4 million in payments, that came out of an already strapped Illinois. Tax payer money that the state simply can not afford to keep paying if in fact he is found to be guilty. That’s the issue here. Acordong to the article the IMRF could decide (If McCampbell is found guilty) that his pension is directly related and then by law stop payments. In the meantime he has received and continues to receive 472,000 annually.

Whether McCampbell deserves such a high pension is a discussion for another day, and whether he is guilty of any crimes is up to the legal system. I know what I think, and personally find it disgraceful knowing how many hard working people struggle every day in this town, state, and country just to make ends meet. Seeing an individual under indictment for so many different things still continuing to receive close to a half a million a year in state pension funds to just sit back and pretend to be a community dogooder makes me a bit nauseated.

So while he state of Illinois continues to drag their collective feet on a case that costs the state tax payers not only legal expenses, but almost half a million a year in pension payments this person gets to just go about his day.

So when the next election winds up pay close attention to who supports who, both at the state level and the local level. Pay attention to what some people that may (or may not) run for positions in Schiller Park say they will do for you. Will they continue to scream about our tax money and how it is being wasted, but at the same time accept support and assistance from one of the most notorious “pension fund scoundrels” in Illinois?

Illinois is in trouble none of us will dispute that. Alleged activities such as the ones McCampbell is accused of, and the actions of those in this town who have supported him will only make things worse for all of us. We all need to educate ourselves as to who is behind who, and stop them from continuing to affect our daily lives.

Stand up, and speak out in defense of your rights, and in defense of the truth. Don’t just listen to what people tell you as being the truth check the facts for yourself.

Related articles:

• http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/watchdog/chi-met-0630-bellwood-pension-story.html
• Details of Indictment http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-roy-mccampbell-proffer-20120821-pdf-htmlstory.htm