An Act of Kindness

Saturday, January 4, 2020, is the day Rafael Ciordia chose to suggest that he himself would perform some "act of kindness," and he suggested his neighbors might do the same.  He made a number of specific suggestions as to what acts of kindness might be, and he imagined that the Village might be abuzz with residents performing their own individual acts.

I thought this was a nice idea, although if Village residents are individually going to perform kind gestures, not in coordination with each other, there's no reason they should all choose to do this on the same day.  In fact, Rafael might better have suggested that Village residents simply strive to be kind people, and do kind things all the time.  But that's not what Rafael chose to suggest.

Rafael gave no indication as to how or why he chose the idea of people performing kind acts, and how or why he imagined Village residents performing these kind acts on Saturday, January 4, 2020.  I suppose it's a puzzle.

Rafael presented his suggestion in a post on Nextdoor.  And he closed his post with a curious comment.  He reminded Village residents that the Village is having an election on Tuesday, January 7, 2020, and he encouraged Village residents to vote.  He said there were "three great candidates."  Presumably, that means he considers himself a "great candidate," but he also reassures that his two opponents are great candidates.

Rafael's declaration of candidacy to be a Village Commissioner does not, on the surface, make any sense.  It doesn't seem to be about anything, at least it's not about anything evident.  Rafael moved here in 2012, he has had no activity or visibility in the Village, he knows nothing about the Village and its problems, and he never even came to Commission meetings until he decided to run for Commission.  One of his opponents has been very visible, and very involved, since the day he moved here, and the other has been here longer than has Rafael, and she's been on two ad hoc Village committees.  If Rafael considers these two candidates to be "great" choices for Commission, I wouldn't argue with him.  The fact is that apart from Rafael himself, they're the only other Village residents who declared candidacies.  So, if these other two Village residents are the only two other Village residents who wanted to be Commissioners in this election, and Rafael thinks they're "great," then it could easily appear that the Village has solved its immediate problem, without any help from Rafael.

And I'm not sure, frankly, that I would agree with Rafael when he says all three candidates are "great."  Rafael himself is frankly sketchy as a Commission candidate right now, and his offerings at the Meet the Candidates event were very concerning.  Rafael has clearly adopted understandings that are shared by almost no one, and they're not reality-based.  But Rafael, who is starkly uninitiated regarding the Village and its functioning, has allowed himself to rely on input from very, very few people, has apparently ignored input from others, and winds up parroting positions that are undermining to the Village.  Rafael hasn't seen much in terms of what's been going on, even at Commission meetings, but what he's seen should have allowed him to recognize what's breathtakingly wrong with the picture someone painted for him, reproductions of which he then peddles himself.

The Village is currently suffering from a disease.  Rafael has seen it.  He's seen two Commissioners, out of only three who are left, force through approval of Ordinances of which no one except those two Commissioners approves, over the objection of the remaining Commissioner, who suggested these Ordinances be put on hold for one month, until the two new Commissioners are elected, and they do it without even acknowledging the concerns of their neighbors.  And it is the momentum of these two Commissioners that Rafael is apparently seeking to join.  It is their non-reality-based assertions which Rafael repeats.

It may be too late for Rafael to perform a real act of kindness, and mercy, or maybe it's not too late.  If Rafael was feeling genuinely kind, and considerate of his neighbors, and dedicated to the best functioning for the Village, he would drop out of this race now.  Frankly, he would have done that weeks ago.  Rafael can deliver to the Village and its government two "great" new Commissioners ("great," by his own estimation), and he can save the Village $16K.  And the best result of this kind and merciful act Rafael could perform is that it will stop the Tracy Truppman, once again supported by Will Tudor, majority that is so badly damaging the Village and its functioning and finances.

If Rafael did that, it would be better for the Village than his raking a median, or bringing soup to one of his neighbors, things he could have done, and could do, any time.  Rafael might still be able to do for the Village something "great."  I hope he does it.