Our town seemed to fill right back up this past weekend. Parents busily preparing their students for the return to school. Students are procrastinating in a vain attempt to hold onto summer for as long as possible. And those inevitable summer romances that blossomed when college let out in May are planning how they will see each other at Thanksgiving.
In short, the lazy hazy days of summer are coming to an end and we are back to our lives at full speed.
We enjoyed our two-week break. It allowed us to clean out the shelves of unwanted clutter that accumulates over the months. It also gives us an opportunity to plan for the remainder of the year and beyond. Putting out a weekly paper is a labor of love, but it is time consuming. So much so that often there is not a lot of time left over. These past weeks, free of printing the paper, has allowed us to review recent articles and topics in depth. We do this periodically so that we can learn and grow as paper and provide you, the reader, with coverage that matters to you.
One thing we certainly did not enjoy were the violent rallies that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia. Yes, we are strong believers and supporters of free speech and the right to assemble. They are our bedrock. However, we unequivocally condemn hatred and racism. This is not a topic that we would normally touch on in this page. It may be hard to see how it directly affects Greenwich, but it does. It affects each of us.
In some ways, this could be an opportunity to strengthen our community and to celebrate the diversity that makes Greenwich such a wonderful town. We hope that the Fellowship of Clergy, here in Greenwich, will lead us in that effort. We need to discuss and understand what happened, while not just focusing on these revolting acts. We also need to move the dialog forward for the betterment of our community. Without dialog, effort and prayer we say, without saying it, that we are tolerant – and we are not.
Hatred and racism do not define who is a democrat and who is a republican. We do not need that kind of rhetoric in our community. We need a community of compassion and understanding and one that will stand together to combat hatred and racism. If we allow partisan politics to dominate the discussion, there will inevitably be just two sides when surely there should really only be one.
Too often we focus on the problem and not the solution. That makes it difficult to actually affect change. Granted, there in an unease about what is happening throughout the nation. Often made worse by the national media. However, that is not happening here, in our local community. We have strong leadership throughout our community who are working hard to improve it.
We see it in our leadership, in our houses of worship and the numerous faith traditions that are celebrated through our town and in our neighbors. We honor, applaud and will promote these efforts.
And now we call upon them to help us, as a community, move beyond political rhetoric, and grow as a community to ensure that racism and hatred have no place in our lives or in our community.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.” We agree. Together as a community we can hasten that daybreak.
