Too many in our communities have grown addicted to harassing public officials and public workers for both not doing enough with our money AND spending too much of it. Meanwhile, there is an element of troublemaker that just wants to cause problems for all sides.

In Belpre, city officials have, indeed, worked hard to listen to residents’ needs and concerns. They have tried to address what they can, make repairs and improvements and generally improve quality of life in the community when, and this is essential, it is in their power and within their budget.

Nonprofit organizations do their best to support the city’s efforts, too; and one put a lot of money and work into supporting efforts toward new, inclusive playground equipment at Civitan Park that is enjoyed by children of all abilities while other modernization and improvement projects go on all over the property.

Last summer, as city officials were announcing the master plan for revitalizing Civitan Park, there was much excitement.

“Our goal is to make Civitan Park a more relevant and accessible space for current and future generations,” Mayor Susan Abdella said at the time.

Now she’s forced to deal with someone breaking a musical instrument that was part of the new playground equipment and stuffing a shirt down a toilet, which caused a backup.

“It’s part of our community,” Abdella said, regarding the playground equipment. “We’re working hard to provide activities for everyone, and all this does is require us to spend more labor and money to try to fix what has been damaged.”

Regarding the shirt stuffed down a toilet, she said what most of us are probably thinking: “I don’t understand it.”

It is probably best that most of us CAN’T identify with the thinking of the kind of person who would do these things. But Abdella and the rest of Belpre’s city officials and workers are left to deal with the consequences of their actions.

Money will have to be spent to fix it. And somewhere down the line, when that money is not available for something else, there will be social media wailing about what a poor job the city is doing of serving its residents.

It’s too much to hope, perhaps, that those whose vandalized Civitan Park would feel ashamed of their actions — maybe even pitch in a little toward fixing the damage they have done. But barring that, the rest of us must remember that while no elected official is perfect, most of them are trying their best. Maybe it’s up to us to think more responsibly about our own public speaking when it comes to them and the job they are trying to do.