It amazes me that, in an area the size of Rhode Island and Delaware combined, and with a population approximating only 35,000 people, there can be so much discontent and violence. I’m speaking, of course, of Washington County where, apparently, some people have no appreciation for the good fortune that allows them to call this pristine area home.

Racial strife and crime are facts of life with which we all must live, and every possible combination of man’s inhumanity to man has been perpetrated somewhere in America at one time or another. But wherever race relations are taught in homes, schools and workplaces, attendant lessening of racial tension has been observed, and in many instances, crime rates have dropped.

But a racially motivated brawl in Princeton? Unbelievable! Have these young people never heard of Miami, south central Los Angeles, New York, and myriad other cities? Are they blind to what racial hatred can do? Or do they think it’s “cool” to hate another because his or her skin is a different color?

Prejudice in any form is a reflection of ignorance, a disease that can be cured only by education and example, which should begin in the home and extend to the public school system. It doesn’t really matter which group started the Princeton brawl, because those who did, whether Native American or white, displayed gross ignorance.

If any of these misguided youths should read these words, I have no illusions that they will understand them, primarily because their ignorance will not allow them the luxury of knowing they were wrong. And if they continue their discriminatory beliefs, they will also continue to be wrong, and that’s scary, because the Maine of tomorrow will be inherited by their generation.

Such violent behavior goes far beyond mere youthful indiscretion and could easily escalate, unless the problem is promptly addressed. Therefore, I disagree with the contention that too much is being made of a minor incident, because that is merely sweeping it under the rug and hoping it will go away. It won’t.

Long ago, I discovered a truth: If one has a book with red covers and another with green covers, both containing identical text, it makes no difference what color the covers are, because color cannot change what is written inside. The same is true of people, but that truth is too often trod upon by the ignorance of irrational racial hatred.

Washington County’s public school districts should consider initiation of a race-relations program, one which would include parental involvement. To do less may serve to perpetuate and increase a condition that has no basis in reason. Understanding that “covers” of different colors have no effect on the sameness of the human body’s interior composition, and that cultural differences add to the richness of our society and take away nothing, can go far toward eliminating strife and demonstrating that all humanity really was “created equal.”

As Charles Darwin wrote, in “The Descent of Man,” “Progress has been much more general than retrogression.” Do the decent folks who make their homes in Washington County deserve less?

Dale L. Brown is a free-lance writer from Florida and a former resident of Washington County.