When did society reach the tipping point where people believe it’s OK to actively, knowingly ruin our community? Have people become so ashamed of their life situation that they have no shame left in how they treat our community?

It never ceases to amaze us that we live in an unfortunate day and age where a sad segment of our population sees nothing wrong with destroying, polluting and vandalizing.

In recent weeks, we reported extensively about cleanup efforts at Butler’s Father Marinaro Park one day, only to cover a cowardly case of vandalism the next.

We celebrated the community effort to create a public canoe launch along the quaint Connoquenessing Creek, only for volunteers over the weekend to pull more than 800 tires from that same scenic waterway.

Even a local church where dedicated, selfless members cook up a tasty community meal each week had to pause a couple weeks ago to ask attendees not to vandalism its bathrooms.

At what point did people lose that strong sense of civic pride that was once the glue binding residents of a community together? Have we become so polarized that there are those of us who see the importance of taking pride in all the things that make our towns great while a small handful feel entitled to tear it all down?

The easy answer would be that adage of “a few bad apples ruin the bushel.”

But cleaning up our communities isn’t about simple solutions. It’s an ongoing effort that must not only be undertaken, but championed, by all of us in our daily lives.

There are groups within Butler County coming together, trying to make a difference, trying to break that stereotype. They organize cleanup efforts and gatherings and civic pride in their communities.

We applaud and celebrate them. We also encourage them to keep up those efforts and want them to never forget the much larger segment of the population notices their hard work to hand off a better world to our children and grandchildren.

Celebrated cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead said it best: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Indeed, these are words to live by as our society faces increasing challenges brought on by the world in which we live.