Dear Sagebrush Sally,
It seems like anytime people in Tecopa have a disagreement, the first response is to ban each other from their businesses, bars, events, or even just their front porch. I get that in a small town, tensions can run high, but this whole “you’re not welcome here” approach feels pretty immature, more like feuding than problem-solving. Shouldn’t we be finding ways to work through our differences instead of just cutting each other off? How do we break the cycle of banning and start actually dealing with conflict?
— Locked Out in Tecopa
Dear Locked Out in Tecopa,
Ah, yes—the old Tecopa tradition of banishment. Someone steps on a toe (or an ego), and suddenly, they find themselves persona non grata at the saloon, the bathhouse, or the next potluck. In a town this small, it doesn’t take long before folks start running out of places to go.
Now, I understand the impulse. When tensions rise, avoidance feels easier than hashing things out. And sure, some situations do call for drawing a hard line—if someone’s being physically harmful or threatening you online, setting a boundary, or even calling in Officer Ryan, is necessary. But when banning and threats become the go-to conflict resolution strategy for every disagreement, all it does is splinter the town into feuding factions, where nobody talks and nothing gets solved. This could not only jeopardize otherwise thriving businesses but also deepen community divides, potentially discouraging government investment and oversight if neighbors can’t find common ground to advocate for Tecopa.
If Tecopa wants to stay strong and have nice things, we have to learn how to coexist, not exile each other at the first sign of trouble. That means addressing issues directly—talking things out, calling a truce when possible, and realizing that not every disagreement has to end in lifelong grudges. The best strategy might be to live and let live, and agreeing to disagree is always a possibility. A little more patience, a little more dialogue, and maybe a shared drink (or at least a nod in passing) could go a long way.
At the end of the day, we’re all living in the same desert together. So unless we’re all planning to build competing bars and bathhouses, we might want to start figuring out how to share the spaces we’ve got.
— Sagebrush Sally
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