I am becoming increasingly concerned with the growing impatience and anger that many of us are exhibiting as the pandemic drags on and on.

People seem to be getting so frustrated with the restraints imposed on us, the lack of activities available and the fact that so many restrictions mean our social lives are almost non-existent.

Yesterday as I lined up to cast my advanced ballot, there were several people voicing their anger at having to line up.

There were four lines for different areas of town and the west side lines were quite noticeably shorter than the lines from the east side. I was in the longer line and waited for about one hour.

The election workers were bringing chairs out for people waiting and trying to be chatty and pleasant as they worked. Even so, several people in front of me were loudly complaining, almost getting to the point of unpleasantness because the other lines were so much shorter.

It was a pleasant morning and, as the complainers were older people, they were probably retired and didn’t have to be anywhere else at that time. It seemed they had little reason to be angry, so why were they so frustrated?

In these stressful times, how much pleasanter is life when we can smile at those we meet along the way and try to be calm. Getting frustrated and angry is pointless and usually that frustration is directed at the wrong people.

I believe the vaccination passports will cause more stress and be a cause for people to protest outside places where they are needed for admittance. I dread having to walk past protesters, if I decide to go into a restaurant.

While I believe that everyone should be able to make their own choice about whether to get the vaccination, I do not believe anyone has the right to prevent others taking advantage of being vaccinated. If you wish to protest, go to government offices, not outside hospitals or restaurants. They have no power over the situation and are not to blame for your present predicament.

Restaurants have had such an awful time of it during the past year that they really need our support at this time, not protests that may frighten customers away. When the pandemic is over, do we not all want our businesses to still be operating? If so, we need to support them now.

The best way we can help our town and each other is to try and be gracious to others. We are all in this together, fighting is fruitless and just makes a difficult situation so much harder to bear.