I would like to applaud Brenda Kaliviankis for her opinion in the Aug. 23 edition of The Fountain Hills Times Independent. She is right, we all “deserve to be treated with love, dignity and respect”.

In my lifetime many of the racial epithets and slurs have fallen out of common usage. The use of many demeaning terms for folks with disabilities or mental illness have also fallen away from our conversations. That is progress, but we have to do more; there are many among us who are still suffering indignity.

As the Bible and every other holy book maintains, we are admonished to “Do unto others whatever you would have them do unto you.” So, keyboard warriors, before you make that social media post that is going to live on forever, think, is this how I would want to be treated? Am I practicing inclusiveness and treating those who may not believe as I do with love, dignity and respect?

The Trump era has given permission to be angry, punch down and slur everyone that doesn’t agree with you at a very loud volume. If you aren’t for us, you are against us, family against family, neighbor against neighbor. Fly a pride flag, get shot in the face! Again, in the Bible, my favorite, Matthew 7:5, “First take the beam out of your own eye, so that you may see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

Let’s work together to bring honor and respect to our community. As Brenda says, “working together builds camaraderie, fellowship, brotherhood.” Maybe then we can support our schools, grow our community and accept that our difference is an asset. Our community comes with many colors, our inclusiveness is what makes the beautiful rainbow.