This country has many brave citizens who have fought and died for us to enjoy the rights bestowed upon us here, as Americans. We have holidays to honor those who have given their lives so that we can have the rights and freedom that we enjoy.

Until recent years, I had not realized the impact of the gift we had been given by the sacrifice of others. When you live your life with the rights we all enjoy as a given, it is sometimes easy, though not right, to take them for granted. Because of this, the best way that I can see to honor the sacrifice and gift is to do my part as a citizen to stand firmly behind these rights and not let them be denied to others or to myself.

When we allow others to silence or intimidate us from exercising our right to vote, our right to petition, our right to free speech, or any other rights we have as citizens of  this country, we dishonor those who fought and died for those rights.

Whether we are a large group or a small group is not what matters, but that we are a group of individual citizens expressing our opinions, as is our right.

If we allow others to silence us or to take away our rights by fear, intimidation, or belittlement, we are relinquishing rights that belong to each and every one of us and have been paid dearly for.

I want to see the division and negative attention to our town end, but not at the cost of a loss of rights to some of us - or any of us.

Intimidating people into silence is not a compromise; it is a loss of democracy.