Editor’s Note: The Reverend Scott Alexander of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Vero Beach offered the following invocation prior to yesterday’s City Council Meeting.
Dear God –That faithful-yet-fragile spirit of life and love that breathes so faithfully through this complicated world of ours,
Be with us this hour as we do our fair city’s business…
Help us (this morning) to bring the right human “tone and tenor” to our proceedings…
May all who speak or act here this morning be unerringly courteous and kind — treating all other persons (counselors, citizens, media and staff alike) with the dignity and respect they deserve…
May no one — of any standing or station — feel in any way dismissed, disregarded, or disrespected…may courtesy be the law of our hearts…and the ruler of our tongues.
May everyone hold and share their own ideas and perspectives modestly and maturely (and even with a healthy measure of self-suspicion) even as we seek to truly listen to (and strive to fully understand) the ideas and perspectives of others, even if they diverge radically from our own particular way of seeing things…
Dear God, help us to make courtesy and kindness the FIRST business of the day.
Indian River Guardian 
Imagine if that invocation was given two years ago and Fletcher and Carroll had actually listened!
Well it is never too late for good advice, that is if previous actions of “Bigotry” have not already taken place!
I certainly must compliment INSIDE VERO for making a difference in yesterdays election, these words certain have been a format here:
” May everyone hold and share their own ideas and perspectives modestly and maturely even as we seek to truly listen to the ideas and perspectives of others, even if they diverge radically from our own particular way of seeing things…”
Thank you, Scott Alexander, for this most beautiful invocation. Your messages in recent months have offered much to those of us trying to make sense of what has been happening. Thanks to Inside Vero for providing a look at the “other side of the coin”. Vero Beach forever!