The recent resignation of a local official in Montgomery County provides several different learning opportunities.

            The official faced a heavy backlash after posting, on social media, a video of themselves making a gesture that some felt resembled a Nazi salute.  That video has since been deleted and the official, as mentioned above, has resigned.

            Folks need to realize that posting something on social media, especially performing an act that others may deem offensive, is just plain stupid.  If you were mocking somebody else, it wasn't funny.  If you didn't mean it as an offensive act, why or how did you not know that it could be offensive to others?  If you did it on purpose then you deserve all the hate and criticism sent your way.

            You may have deleted it but many others have grabbed a screenshot or downloaded it before you did.  You just made social media not so social.

            Your resignation was a must, but an apology and explanation is also due.

            Local officials officially accepted the resignation at a special meeting a little over a week after it was submitted.  Special meetings are just that – special.  They didn't wait for their next regularly scheduled meeting to take action.  They went through the process of calling a special meeting to take official action.

            But, to some, that wasn't fast enough and local officials faced criticism and calls to resign because there were people who wanted formal action taken when the resignation letter was submitted.  It was, unofficially.  Unfortunately, there are laws that require a special meeting to take certain types of official actions and there are laws that outline how to schedule and hold those types of meetings.

            The other local officials condemned the video at the special, public meeting.  There were some who felt it took too long for them to do so.

            The point I am trying to make is that way too many people feel that everybody lives and breathes on social media and therefore should see, believe, and react to everything immediately.

            Sorry folks, that's not true.

            Please forgive those who don't "log on" every day.  It may seem normal to many but there are still people who don't have access to the internet so don't hold that against them.  Don't hate the people who want to verify the authenticity of the post before they react to it (there are plenty of users on social media who have had their accounts hacked).  And, thankfully, there are still folks who fact-check posts through other sources before they post their replies.

            Our outrage can be justified but sometimes we need to be patient with officials, at least in the short term. 

            Wrongs need to be righted as quickly as possible, practical and legal.