We almost turned a corner these past two weeks, as the devastation from Hurricane Helene, particularly in the western part of our state, tugged at our heart strings, allowing our kinder, gentler selves to burst through the cynical facade many of us have obtained over the last few years.

Almost.

While we haven’t returned to the flag flying nation we were some 23 years ago in the weeks after the most horrific of terrorist attacks struck our nation, we were, at least, letting our guard down enough to show compassion for our brothers and sisters to the west. As the destruction replayed in our newspapers and on our televisions and social media feeds, we simply didn’t care about politics or which candidate a person was planning to vote for come November. All our concern was focused on people who were struggling, looking for family members and trying to survive what seemed insurmountable.

Here in Sampson, all the stops were pulled out within hours of learning of Helene’s massive damage, as collections sites went up and donations poured in. And teams of people, both professional responders and volunteers from area churches, grabbed chainsaws and fired up trucks, all ready to answer the call and meet the needs, wherever they were asked to serve.

We have been touched and appreciative of Sampsonians showing the resolve and heart we have witnessed time and again for neighbors in need, and we have touted as many of those efforts as possible within these pages, giving hearty and thankful applause to everyone who has been so willing to help.

We could see the bend, the turn was about to happen. And we were so thankful.

Then nasty had to rear its head. Using social media as the platform of choice, a select few decided to take an extremely tragic situation and try to make it political, campaign fodder to sway opinions with half-truths and down right lies. That was all it took to light the fires of discord again as the posts, shares, re-posts and shares became more vile, more untrue and more damaging.

We won’t give air to the untruths by renaming them, but suffice it to say that government agencies with boots on the ground across our mountains were being taunted by regular citizens, fueled by political rhetoric, as uncaring and not doing anything to help those in need. Words from FEMA applications were, much like Biblical scriptures, lifted and shared in a way that would best suit the untruth being spread.

It has become so bad, in fact, that mayors of devastated towns like Chimney Rock, Marshall and others have tried to rebutt the lies, urging people on social media not to buy into the posts, not to reshare them and, instead, to share all the good that is trying to be done.

Our own EMS director Rick Sauer told commissioners at Monday night’s meeting (see story on A1) that there was a lot of miscommunication going on, and he stressed that FEMA was there and was helping at every turn. We appreciate his willingness to clear up at least one untruth being spoken over and over again.

But we doubt his words get shared a lot, because that doesn’t play into the anger and mistrust some people are trying to spread.

We don’t care which side of the political fence one sits, what is happening in the western North Carolina mountains and beyond should not be used as the scapegoat for political gain.

And, if we aren’t boots on the ground in those mountains, observing (and, we hope helping) what is actually taking place, then we should keep our unchecked opinions portrayed as facts off social media.

Spreading untruths and stirring hate does nothing to help those suffering so much.

If for no other reason than to show them respect, let’s try to get around that bend, or, at the very least, stop short of returning to the hate-speak so many of us have come to use, hiding behind social media, as we go.