Letter: Don’t let social media divide Langley

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, June 30, 2026

Editor,

I find this the commentary online about the potential construction of a gas station in Langley incredibly disappointing. For all the talk of Langley’s precious character (and it is precious), this sniping at each other is unproductive, vitriolic and frankly, entirely antithetical to Langley’s ethos.

This potential new business would be a big change and we can handle big changes if we need to make them, but what we do not do is insult or talk down to each other in the process.

No, we come together. We make our voices heard in council meetings and public forums. We practice kindness and understanding. What we cannot, nay, we must not allow ourselves to do is retreat into social media spaces that are designed specifically to fuel a nastiness that isn’t who we are at all.

Langley is loving, open, fun, delicious, welcoming and most of all decent to the people and creatures that visit it and call it home. The very last thing we should be doing is tearing each other apart over something that, for now, is just an idea. Whatever happens with this project, will the fight have been worth it if we’re left with anger and animosity?

Whether it’s a good idea or a bad one is something we’re going to have to determine together with civilized, in-person dialogue, warm scones and coffee in biodegradable cups, not on this cesspool of toxic online misunderstandings Where reasonable debate and civility go to die. We’re better than this, folks. And now it the time to prove it.

William Harper

Everett