&uot;Anyone can become angry &045; that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way &045; this is not easy.&uot;

&045;Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics

It’s no secret that Dan Belshan is not my favorite person. He ranks right up there with Bill Gates and George Bush on my list of anti-heroes, mainly because he refuses to compromise on anything. Appointed by God, apparently, to his current position, he makes it clear that it’s his way or no way. His talents are wasted here in Freeborn County; he should start working for the Bush administration, where he could antagonize people to his heart’s content (especially if they weren’t Americans).

Apparently he makes others angry, too, as we saw during last week’s budget meeting. I think Ron Gabrielsen probably should read Aristotle’s advice about how to be angry. He might find ways to neutralize Belshan’s poison without having to break things. Offering this advice is easy, of course, after the fact. It’s easy for me to go on and on about how letting our anger take control of our behavior is a bad idea. But this also is true: If I had been in Gabrielsen’s place at that meeting, I doubt I would have acted any differently. Sometimes people can only take so much abuse from someone before the lid blows off their temper.

Dan Belshan, of course, doesn’t lose his temper in public; he’s usually in control and in the spotlight. On the other hand, he is someone who pushes people into anger. Acting in his role as the taxpayer’s messiah, he often treats county employees as if they’re idiots and does his best to alienate himself from the rest of the commissioners. Unlike those who might think Gabrielsen is &uot;out of his depth&uot; in his current position, I challenge anyone who has been singled out by Belshan to not be pushed past the edge of frustration by his grandstanding and nitpicking. He’s an obstacle to good government, not its true defender.

Last week Belshan made sure to point out that had Gabrielsen been a member of the public, he would have been banned from future county board meetings. Unfortunately, he neglected to point out that had the same standard been applied to Belshan’s own behavior at many other meetings, it might have lead to the same punishment. Belshan picks and picks at people, until they are left with the two basic instincts: fight or flight. He may not go around messing with other people’s tape recorders, but there’s nothing noble or praiseworthy in his own behavior.

But focusing on Dan Belshan as a problem misses the point. He was elected by people in this county, with whom he is still pretty popular. So I think it’s only fair to start asking questions about why they think his approach is worth supporting. Are we to assume that the people of Glenville and the surrounding countryside are more-or-less like him, unable to compromise and interested only in their own ideas? Do they really see civil servants as their enemies? Is the price tag the only thing they pay attention to when paying for something? If the answer to these questions is yes, then Dan Belshan could leave the scene, only to be replaced by someone just like him.

For me, the issue isn’t that Dan Belshan doesn’t know how to get along with others. The real issue &045; or problem &045; may be that a significant number of Freeborn County residents don’t know how to get along with others. If that is true, then their attitude is making the county commission’s work more difficult, may eventually destroy the Glenville-Emmons school district and will only lead to the slow decay of Albert Lea and the surrounding communities.

Pretending that we agree about everything is not healthy, but neither is constant discord and bickering. We need to strike a balance between the need to debate and the need to live together as a community. Once decisions about the things that matter have been made, we should move on together and confront the next issue that needs to be resolved through discussion and debate. As I tell my students at the beginning of each new semester: In this classroom &045; or community &045; we can disagree without being disagreeable.

(David Rask Behling is a rural Albert Lea resident. His column appears Tuesdays.)