Dear editor:
I have always championed our right to make our opinion known as given us by the First Amendment regardless of whether your opinion agrees with mine or not.
However, I do find that the way some use to express their opinion can be quite lacking in decency and at times even harmful.
This fact was driven home to me as I watched some video of a couple of town hall meetings that took place in our state and the scene took my mind back to the time I used to transport cattle.
Please be aware that I tell you this not to be derogative toward anyone but to explain where my mind went from the scene depicted there.
The sound of people booing in attempt to voice their displeasure over various things sounded much like the cattle’s mooing at their displeasure with being loaded on the trucks.
The other similarity my mind came upon was that the trip the cattle were headed on could have been good or bad. To greener pastures or the sale barn, they knew not which.
The trip our country is on may come out good or bad and, though we may have our opinion, we cannot know the future either.
Then I began to wonder how we humans seem to have forgotten how so much can be accomplished by simple discussion and drifted to a point where we feel that the one that is most disruptive or makes the most noise is the only way to be heard.
A debate class many years ago showed me how well humans can communicate their opinions if they only give others the same respect they would like to have themselves.
Unlike a sports contest, in a meeting you can make your opinion known by a simple show of hands for or against what is said.
Even in sports though I often wonder how much more positive our lives would be if the fans energy was focused more on urging their own team toward a win rather than booing every call the referee makes against them.
If we all would treat those with whom we disagree with the same respect we would wish to be treated so much more could be accomplished.
But if you answer every challenge sounding like a herd of cattle what kind of respect can you expect from others.
Sincerely,
Wayne Dick, Riverton
