Volusia County, FL, Council Meeting
6 June 2023
Angelo Parra (222 words)

Good morning, and thank you, Chairman Brower, Council Members, County Manager, and county administration and staff for this opportunity.

As a relatively new resident of DeLand and citizen of Volusia County, it’s a true honor to appear here today representing the Central Florida Freethought Community.

We are grateful to you for your long hours and for the often-underappreciated time, effort, and personal sacrifice that comes with your dedication to your constituents.

With that in mind, consider the words of physician, philosopher, and humanitarian Albert Schweitzer, who said: "The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others."

As you serve and help others, we ask that you persevere in working together to find solutions for the challenges facing our county.

We encourage you turn to away from the prevailing preoccupation with our differences, and focus instead on the similarities shared by the richly diverse citizenry of Volusia.

We hope the mutual love of friends and family and our collective hopes and dreams will continue to inspire you to deliberate selflessly.

It is through your generous commitment of time, energy, and creativity that you make a better future for Volusia.

I’ll close with one more quote from cultural anthropologist Margaret Meade, who famously said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”

Thank you.