EDITORIAL: Simple respect not too much to ask

We love letters to the editor. 

We love it when we receive longer submissions for a My Turn opinion piece. We love to hear from our readers, whether they be commenting on the latest City Council decision or want to sound off on an issue close to their hearts. And yes, we even welcome it when a writer responds to what someone else had to say.

But there is something we could do without: Personal attacks. Insults. Name-calling. Some commentaries we receive are filled with hostility and frustration. Rather than a point of view based on reason, it is one based on emotion.

Emotion, mind you, is fine. Unless it is anchored in anger.

Now, don't get us wrong. The vast majority of those who submit commentaries to The Press do so with good intentions. They are respectful and thoughtful. We appreciate them taking the time to put words on paper and send them our way. 

A strong opinion page in a newspaper is a sign of a well-read paper. It is a sign of a community that is paying attention to what is happening; a sign of citizens who care about the place they call home. They believe they have something to say that others will find worthwhile, even come around to a different point of view, see things from a different perspective.

So here is what we are hoping.

Continue to send lots of letters to the editor. Continue to share your thoughts with us. Keep offering insights that may benefit our community.

Don't send mean-spirited commentaries. Don't cast aspersions on another. Don't belittle someone to make your point. Let's be better than that.

We received a phone call from a reader the other day, concerned that she was seeing angry discourse in too many letters to the editor. But the caller also went on to say they were not part of the problem, that they were perfectly reasonable, that they were fine. The problem, the caller said, was with those around them.

Hmmm. Perhaps without realizing it, the caller expressed belief they were right and others were wrong. It was that simple.

That is an unfortunate point of view.

We believe that with basic respect, common courtesy and good old-fashioned civility, a letter writer can make the same points and in doing so, raise the level of our discussions. 

Let's stop thinking that one side is always right and the other is always wrong. 

Who knows. We might even find some common ground along the way.