There seem to be a lot of people out there who like to bash Butler every time something bad happens in town.

But one question — or maybe it’s a challenge — remains for all those naysayers: What are you doing to make Butler a better place to live?

There are groups and pockets of individuals all over town working to return Butler to the vibrant, engaged small-town America of its glory years.

But none of us can do this kind of work in a vacuum, and constant belittling and bitter remarks that appear on our social media channels every time we post about something bad going down in Butler doesn’t help further those causes, it only serves to discourage and distract people, while detracting attention away from the great efforts undertaken across this city and county.

It only goes to set us back. It’s like that old saying about two steps forward and three steps back — especially every time there is a drug bust or any kind of crime in town. People jump into the social media comment section and say “See, not the Butler I grew up in.”

But the reality is this: none of the small towns where any of us grew up in Western Pennsylvania are the same in 2020 compared to 50, 25 or even 10 years ago.

That was before the economy took a significant downturn, corporate greed imploded the housing market and big Pharma flooded those same quaint streets with a whole host of medications aimed to help people forget their problems and not face the hard work and reality that lie ahead.

Now, here we are years later looking around, scratching our heads and wondering what happened to our small towns.

We’re trying so hard to figure out how things went so terribly wrong, and too often find it easy to blame all of the outside forces and influences that affected our lives. But at some point, we definitely need to shine that light of examination inward as well.

And that’s exactly what several very dedicated and hardworking groups of citizens throughout Butler, the county and Western Pennsylvania are doing. But instead of looking for people and forces to blame, they look to find an inner strength and commitment to bettering the communities they call home.

All across America right now, while still struggling to reinvent themselves in the 21st century, these tough, tenacious towns are making a comeback and it’s high time somebody stood up and noticed.

Once quaint, vibrant, engaged small towns and communities like Butler and several others in the Ohio Valley region are actually ripe with work, from cutting edge factories to downtown’s wonderful shops and restaurants with locally-sourced food.

So, to all the Butler bashers trolling the Web out there — instead of discouraging words, how about encouraging those on the front lines of making our communities better places to live?