The Northampton Pride March, held on May 4, could not have come at a better time. I have marched with my family since my son was little, and he is now 36 years old. It is a part of our spring tradition. But this year, the march felt especially poignant, and the timing felt like a life-saver.

There has been so much pain and division in Northampton recently that I barely recognize the city I love and have lived in since 1980. The hurtful comments tossed around casually and seemingly relentlessly about the city budget and the proposed cuts to the school budget have left me deeply troubled and filled with sorrow. Is this the Northampton I moved to so many years ago? What has happened to our level of civic discourse?

Then there was the Pride March, and everyone — and it seemed like it was everyone — was out there in all their glory. The march broke records for attendance and participation, and it certainly broke records in sheer volume with all the cheering, chanting, singing, screaming, and outbursts of total delight.

This is the Northampton I know and love, I thought to myself as I pushed my granddaughter in her red jogging stroller. This is the city I know.

There we were, all God’s people, marching, holding banners, pushing strollers, waving flags, throwing candy, tossing beads, dancing, wearing costumes, playing instruments, and riding motorcycles. There we were — babies, young kids, and old people like me, folks of color and white folks, people walking along and people mobile in wheelchairs, LGBTQ folks and heterosexual allies, drag queens and clergy in collars.

People were hugging friends they knew and strangers in celebration.

There were activists holding signs about the war in Gaza and they also received recognition and respect.

We held each other. We cared about each other.

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We were proud together and delighted in our diversity and our strength. We were there as people empowered to throw off the cloak of oppression and people there in solidarity pledging support by our mere presence.

The Pride March was Northampton at its finest. The divisions, shaming and misinformation circulating on neighborhood list serves, in our local paper, and on Facebook needs to stop. Northampton, we are better than that.

Truth matters. We know that. Facts matter.

Trust facts. There is much to learn about the city budget, how it is created, where funds come from, and how they are allocated. It is tedious to get down into the weeds and learn the truth about the fiscal challenges facing our city, but it is worth it. Then you can say to your neighbor, or to fellow parents when picking up your child from school, or to your pew-mate in your house of worship, or in a letter to the editor: I get it, funds are tight. But let’s be adamant about one thing: we all care about the kids in this city, we all care about giving them a good education. There is no special group “advocating for our children” in opposition to others in the city. That’s just not true. Let’s pull together and work together to find a way forward.

Times are hard in our city. Let’s listen to each other with the ears of our hearts. Let’s remember how we felt at the Pride March. Let’s recognize that our diversity is our strength, let’s celebrate the specialness of this beautiful and progressive city, and let’s stand shoulder-to-shoulder to solve the challenges facing Northampton.

Hooray for the Pride March this year. I think it gave us all a renewed sense of hope and some confidence that we will get through this difficult period with vision and compassion for one another.

The Rev. Andrea Ayvazian, Ministerial Team, Alden Baptist Church, Springfield, is also founder and director of the Sojourner Truth School for Social Change Leadership.