Not In Our Town

Wednesday morning, the Town of Deep River woke up to a message of hate written on our Town message board. Thankfully, one of our residents reported the offense to the Town Hall and the vitriol was immediately removed. Be assured that when the responsible person or persons are apprehended, they will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and toward that end, if you have any information that might assist us in these efforts, please call 860-526-6027.

However, that is not the difficult part of this discussion. The difficult part is where we, as a community decide how we move forward; the part where we reject out of hand the hatred that can tear families and communities and nations apart. Our Town leaders will be working with our schools, Tri-Town Youth Services Bureau, our churches, local legislators, and neighboring communities to arrange for conversations and programs directed toward education, communication, and healing.

What do we do when we are so bluntly reminded that the hatred and bitterness that we read about in the paper or see on the television exist here in our own little town? Some of us are fortunate enough to live our lives in blissful ignorance. But some of our neighbors live everyday with the knowledge and experience of this behavior always present. For some of us this seems impossible to comprehend so we tend to not believe that it is real. It is. I suggest that we start with the recognition that this type of hatred does exist and while it offends most all of us, it can and does produce very real fear in some of us, and we ought to think a bit about that.

We must remember that there is power in words. We have just experienced words used for hate. Rather, let us remember words used by Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, Jr.:

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of their skin, or their background, or their religion. People must learn to hate and if they can learn to hate they can be taught to love. You cannot drive out darkness with darkness. Only light can do that. You cannot drive out hatred with hatred. Only love can do that."