After reading the op-ed section of the July 23 Phoenix I could only reflect on the demise of our society with profound sadness. What has happened to our civility, our tolerance, our understanding for each other?

We have been blessed to live in a country that chose to make the first amendment to the Constitution a protection of free speech. The brave have protected that right since its ratification in 1791. Do we want this time in history to be remembered for discarding what has been most sacred to us?

All words have specific meaning attached to them, and those meanings should not be conferred by the listener but by the speaker. This constant beating of the drum designed to normalize self-interpretation of what another individual means by the words or symbols that they use is destructive. Our civil discourse, which is key to an orderly society, has been lost.

So my ask to all who choose to read this letter is simply, please stop calling each other names, stop using identity politics to label everyone, start engaging in thoughtful compassionate dialogue that is focused on improving our collective spirits instead of trying to destroy them. 

I hope these comments land equally hard on all sides, because all of us need to improve, including me. So, before you type off a hateful comment and press send, ask yourself this. What part of my heart is so dark and full of rage that inspires me to strike out with hateful rhetoric rather than engage in constructive conversation?

Let’s start to talk TO each other instead of talking AT each other.

David Scarpino
Bristol