I believe that some very simple practices would go a very long way at providing not only a better society for we adults, but also provide a teaching/learning experience for young people.
How about we concentrate on what we can agree on rather than continually obsessing on the issues where we disagree?
Case in point that I can speak to from personal experience: As anyone reading my submissions can see, I am a conservative on almost all issues — always have been and probably always will be. However, in my work on the Veterans Memorial Committee here in Santa Clarita I got to work with Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo and her staff on last year’s Memorial Day event where we honored our local Purple Heart recipients. When Ms. Schiavo was elected I contacted her through email and told her that, while I did not vote for her, I was willing to give her a chance and asked to be placed on her mailing list. I have dealt a lot with her wonderful staff here in Santa Clarita on veterans issues (they call me “Grandpa-Rick” or “Pa-Pa”) and I can honestly say that unless all of us are incredible actors we have a mutual respect for each other even though we probably disagree on the majority of issues.
All of we veterans out here are very fortunate in having Rep. Mike Garcia and his wonderful staff fighting for veteran issues on the federal level, and Assemblywoman Schiavo and her equally wonderful staff fighting for us at the state level to address the issues important to us.
Bottom line here is that focusing on the areas where we agree and accepting and respecting each others’ views on those where we don’t is very rewarding for us all, and hopefully our younger people will see and learn from this to help make this a better world in the future.
Rick Barker
Valencia
