COMMENTARY
MILT THOMAS
How many good deeds does it take to overcome the hateful and ignorant ramblings of one TV star’s hyper-inflated ego as he enjoys his 15 minutes of fame?
Of course I am referring to the TV personality Phil Robertson who led the City’s annual prayer breakfast last March 20 and received a standing ovation from the audience of 2500 for his anti-racial, anti-gay, anti-atheist, anti-liberal, but Bible-praising comments. His scenario of an Atheist family being raped and murdered was a spiritually uplifting touch to the event that also received national attention for Vero Beach.
He is not the first public figure in Vero Beach to “go viral” for bad-mouthing anyone who doesn’t agree with his religious beliefs. Almost two years ago, City Councilman Craig Fletcher refused to sign a National Humanist Week proclamation because he wouldn’t endorse any person or group that doesn’t accept Jesus Christ as his/its lord and savior. That flew in the face of the US Constitution and his comments went viral in the internet.
As a result of that incident, along with numerous other examples of divisive public discourse in government meetings, gatherings, on the street and in the media, Compassion Vero was created by concerned leaders of all faiths. It soon spread to businesses, non-profits and even politicians. A screening this past February of a documentary, Kindness is Contagious, drew over 300 everyday people from the community, tired of Vero being a poster child for mean-spirited behavior.
If you drove past the intersection of Indian River Boulevard and 17th Street three days before the Phil Robertson was the featured speaker at the Vero Beach Prayer Breakfast, you would have seen people demonstrating with signs that read “Kindness is Contagious” and maybe you were one of the many drivers who honked, waved and snapped photos of the group, led by Bob Votruba and his nationally famous “One Million Acts of Kindness” tour bus. Of course, they were probably liberals, those Robertson-scorned American “murderers” he mentioned at the Prayer Breakfast.
Then this past Saturday, the Gifford “Pitch-In” Community Cleanup project attracted more than 75 volunteers from Gifford and Vero Beach, multi-racial including ministers, to pick up trash along the streets in support of a County Gifford Neighborhood Plan program to solve longstanding infrastructure issues in that community. Those folks, especially the older ones, know plenty of instances where patronizing white people like Robertson saw smiling faces but didn’t recognize the fear of retribution behind them.
While many Atheists, Agnostics and Humanists do good in the community without needing religion for a strong moral compass, they would risk having their good work devalued if identified as Atheist, Humanist or “Shintos” by bigots like Robertson in his Prayer Breakfast tirade.
If we are to graduate into a tolerant, friendly community with the values inscribed in our Constitution and the motto of Compassion Vero, “Respect for the Common Good,” then we need to stand up when people like Robertson speak – and walk out of the room.
Visit (www.CompassionVero.org) (www.OneMillionActsofKindness.org).
Indian River Guardian 
Thank you, Milt!
Ignorance is the order of the day when people without experience, even after ten years of doing it can’t always get it right. When we built the Four Chaplains Monument in Sebastian, Ernie Heaton (a survivor of the USAT Dorchester) was told by a member of the Memorial Island Sanctuary committee to build it someplace else, and we did. The lack of “tolerance” from the “Duck Master” is certainly his way of life and he is entitled to his thoughts, so the fault does not lie with him! The problem with this square peg in the wrong hole is, and remains with those “neophites” that designed the last “Prayer Breakfast” around “Bigotry” and the very thing our nation and our Chaplains Monument is against. ” Interfaith in Action” describes our nation today, any who does not believe this is an embarrassment to all of us.