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A friend sent me a link to a blog post written by John Pavlovitz.

John Pavlovitz is a writer, pastor, and activist from Wake Forest, North Carolina. In the past four years his blog Stuff That Needs To Be Said has reached a diverse worldwide audience.

A 20-year veteran in the trenches of local church ministry, John is committed to equality, diversity, and justice—both inside and outside faith communities.

His blog post, Hateful People Are Exhausting speaks on a national level, but much of what he wrote I could relate to the confines of West Easton.

I’ve received printed copies of comments on Facebook, made by a resident malcontent calling our new memorial to fallen military personnel a “patio” and the lie that it cost more than twice the amount it actually cost.

It doesn’t seem to matter that the cost of our new memorial fountain was covered by a grant. This particular person has publicly stated her disdain for grants. However, be aware that didn’t stop her from being among the first to claim a new recycling bin – bins that were provided to West Easton through a grant.

Another post claims West Easton taxes were raised 18.4 mils and further claiming $417K was “taken from surplus.”

Yes, these and other bizarre comments are to be expected from our hateful, insulting resident, but are they exhausting?

Only in the sense that every time one appears it can be exhausting in wondering how someone can be such a narcissistic failure, who doesn’t realize her credibility is non-existent and her opinions are fodder for jokes about her, among residents.

Now, along with the printouts of these FB comments given me, is the question, “What are you going to do?”

“Nothing,” is my answer. She is irrelevant, other than being an embarrassment to our community.

If others want to respond that is up to them, but I advised against it. I stopped feeding our Internet troll.

I’ve seen the responses she has gotten on Facebook, when I’m given the screenshots. People obviously recognize her for what she is and what strangers tell her on FB is far more damaging to her, than anyone she knows could tell her.

She counts on strangers, those who don’t know her, to follow her. The problem is she is not a leader. Never will be.

She is looking for attention and she needs to impugn others personally, or criticize their accomplishments in order to feel better about herself.

A narcissist needs that. It helps them believe they are accomplishing something.

When they attempt to pull someone down, it tells you they know that person is far above them, or they wouldn’t try. They will never rise to the level of the person they are attacking.

Mayor DePaul and most members of Council have worked hard to improve West Easton. Residents are seeing the fruits of that labor. More has been accomplished in the last three and a half years than was done in the previous ten. It’s appreciated when they tell us.

Taxes haven’t risen, a police department is close at hand, grants are being obtained, infrastructure is being addressed, a public works building is up, and the budget isn’t blown – though, with this particular resident’s frivolous lawsuits and vexatious RTK requests, we may find she has caused our Solicitor costs to be higher than planned for.

My advice to the Mayor is to let our common scold flail away.

Ignore her. Everyone else is.

Don’t give her the attention she craves by responding to her postings of faux concern for borough resources. It’s all about her, not what’s best for the borough.