To the editor:

On Sunday, April 24, the Bristol County Concerned Citizens sponsored a Town Hall discussion focusing on parental rights in education. The keynote speaker was Erika Sanzi, outreach director of Parents Defending Education.

While Erika did a splendid job of presenting various viewpoints on a very hot topic in today’s climate, one aspect of the almost two-hour conversation stood above all the others. I noticed that the audience, of about 50 individuals, was not all of one mind, nor did they see the topic through a common lens.

Remarkably, in this era of contentious and sometimes combative vitriol, disparate voices blended in a give-and-take that the Romans conversing at the forum would be proud of. Attendees listened with respect and invited all voices to be heard.

At almost 70, I can remember my late teenage years, sitting at a bar, the drinking age was 18 then, having long and heated debates about sports, trying to make convincing arguments to others that my team or favorite player was superior to theirs. Win, lose or draw, we always left the establishment or street corner friends who respected each other, and no one took any challenges on facts or opinion personally.

This atmosphere last Sunday tugged at my nostalgia and made me yearn for a simpler time when respect for fellowship was never diminished by our reverence for ideology. Maybe we can’t change the world all by ourselves, but we can change our small piece of it one conversation at a time.

I want to thank The Bristol County Concerned Citizens for organizing the event, for our attendees who were willing to spend a few precious hours of a Sunday afternoon bending their mind, to our elected officials, Reps. June Speakman and Susan Donovan, and Rhode Island gubernatorial candidate Ashley Kalus. An open mind is a place where a seed of change can flourish.

David Scarpino
932 Hope St.
Bristol