People want to moan no matter what

You know what makes me excited? Seeing those cranes on the skyline. There’s no better physical representation of investment in a city than those towering metal frames visible for miles around proclaiming, “Big businesses are investing here!”

Things are happening. It’s called progress.

Whether you’re a fan of big business or not, any investment in a city is good. It revitalises facilities, utilities, infrastructure, attracts more people who will in turn spend their own money and ultimately attract more investment. The cycle continues and grows. We move forward.

But barely a day goes by where I don’t see a barrage of negativity from Sheffield residents. The Star can’t publish an article on Facebook without hoards of people commenting with “what a waste of money”, “who needs this?”, “who do Sheffield Council think they are, spending our taxes on this?” etc.

This last one is the most infuriating as people are happy to jump on a scapegoat (usually SCC) without even reading the article. And I’m not defending every decision that SCC make, far from it, I’m just using them as an example. But they can’t seem to do right for doing wrong; they’ll never win.

You could try to combat it by explaining that, actually, the money is coming from private investment, or by saying something like, “it’s being built because there is a demand for it”, etc but it wouldn’t get you anywhere. I’ve concluded that some people just want to moan. No matter what. And it’s exhausting to be around. Reading through the reams of negative comments (something I’ve decided to avoid from now on) feels physically draining.

I’d love to see the problems for Sheffield’s homeless solved in one swoop. I’d love to see my road lined with beautiful blossoming trees. Hopefully, one day, these things will happen.

The essence of hope is positivity.

All this negativity does is reassure the moaners that they’re not alone in their thinking and drag people down.

No, our city is far from perfect, but it has a lot going for it and much more in potential.

Just enjoy what we do have, make the most of what is great about Sheffield and bask in the glorious fact that there is a huge amount of money being invested in this city and in the long run that will benefit us all.

We all want the city to thrive and be a better place for our kids and grandkids to live.

It can be. Let’s just be positive and hope for the best.

Moaning gets us nowhere.

Craig Skinner

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