Chrissie Bascom said this column was prompted by a series of intemperate emails and letters to the editor about volunteers. Bascom, of Marion, serves on the Trees and Parks Committee, the Friends of the Council on Aging and works on volunteer projects in New Bedford.

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, 
there is a field. I'll meet you there."

Rumi – 13th century Persian mystic

For me that field is civility in both personal and public discourse.  And we seem to be losing it – in Marion as well as in the country.  We are a small town of neighbors and friends and no matter whether we agree or disagree, we owe it to the community and each other to show respect, enter into dialogue and first and foremost, listen.

We all have our individual passions – hopefully in service to the greater good of the community.  Many of us are volunteers – citizens who give their time and funds to make Marion a wonderful place to live.  We come together at committee meetings and not for profits to address a task and someday, we hope, to complete it.  We gather together at Town Meetings to chart the course for the rest of the year.  We put forth our opinions, argue their merit, listen to the other side and vote. Or do we?

Acrimony, personal attack and inflammatory language seem to have invaded our discourse.   Ill-founded outrage is substituted for one-on-one communication.  Editorial comment is no longer limited to the Opinion page of the newspaper.  Reasonable discussion takes a back seat to self-righteousness.  Every issue assumes catastrophic proportion!  Why would anyone want to volunteer and subject themselves to such hostility?  What happened?

Are we all so fear-based that we are afraid to entertain opposing ideas or the possibility that we could be misinformed?  Is the only news fit to print controversial?   Is it too much trouble to pick up the phone and ask questions?  And what in the world has happened to our sense of humor?  We take ourselves so seriously.

I certainly don’t have the answers.  What I do know is that the volunteers of Marion are doing a great job and in so many ways, they are unsung heroes.  Imagine Marion without them – no Art Center, no Historical Society, no Lands Trust, no Natural History Museum, no maintained parks, no tree plantings, and not much town government or schools or library.

Let’s all try to meet in that field.