Respect.

Speaking respectfully with another person without interruptions, raised voice, sarcastic comments, and badgering is easy and more productive.

What should have been a respectful process in the Supreme Court confirmation hearings this week of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s experience and credentials became a spectacle among some senators to challenge, to discredit, to belittle, to intimidate.

What a lost opportunity. It was cruel and needless. I felt helpless to stand by and witness this viciousness.

I speak up today to set aside that helplessness, to cry foul, and to call for more respect.

Lynn Ouellette, Jay