This is a weekend that reminds us of the richness of our valley and our nation.
    This is Blossom Festival weekend, when a bounty of events draws many visitors to the fertile valley we call home and, with hope, inspires local residents to get out and enjoy their own environment.

This is also the weekend for a dizzying array of other events that will draw the community’s attention.

Earth Day celebrations, including Procession of the Species, happen Saturday along with the Walk for Haiti Saturday at the high school and concert for Haiti Sunday at Asbury Methodist Church.

Then there is the four-day “Challenging Robotic Warfare and Social Control” conference starting Friday and “Standing Strong for Our Heroes rally” on Saturday, April 17.

Whether events bring you to Hood River or you live here already, this is a weekend that reminds us of what joins us, more than what keeps us apart.

Clearly, Blossom Festival and the Earth Day events have in common a connection to the splendor of nature, and the two Haiti events share common cause, raising money for people of the earthquake-torn nation.

It is easy to then frame the robotics event and the troops rally as counter to each other. Blossom, Earth Day, and “competing” political events can highlight our differences, but they also serve to remind us what we have in common.

Will opposite points of view be expressed on American foreign policy? Certainly.

Will people two blocks away from each other on State Street be saying very different things about their hopes for how America pursues its international interests, including defense of our own nation? Without a doubt.

Will there be signs that provoke, T-shirts that question others’ views, even conversations with heat and passion?

Yes, and who knows, elsewhere in the valley disagreements could involve “wind turbines yea or nay,” or orchardists debating trellis v. standard fruit tree training, or one type of pesticide v. another.

Variations in viewpoints, even outright disagreements, are what made this county, and this country, a great place.

This is a county of true diversity. Hood River is a place where differences are celebrated, not discounted. This is a place where:

n timber-farming-manufacturing traditions comingle with an increasing high-tech and cyber-based work force

n perfecting the Anjou pear and airborne technology both are vital parts of what people do

n an internationally successful company makes products vegans love just blocks from restaurants serving fine steaks and seafood

n Little League and kiteboarding both are vigorously pursued

These are just a few examples of the multi-layered and evolving Hood River economy and culture. There is a spectrum of social choices and political viewpoints, brought here or adopted by new and long-standing locals. Further, Saturday’s rally and conference are regional events, evidence that our diversity is also an invitation to others.

All of this makes Hood River the perfect place to have these discussions. We have our differences, but we talk about these things here.

This community is grounded in tradition but flexible enough to take on new ideas and embrace the most basic, yet richest, American principle: the freedom to have honest discourse.