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I THOUGHT I KNEW YOU

I’m sorry. I thought I knew you.

I thought that another senior would understand how many of your peers are at dire risk when our conservative Congress cuts Social Security.

I thought a veteran would care about the lives of our troops thrown into needless wars by warmongers who never served themselves.

I thought that your disabled child made you care about other children and the disabled.

I thought that your United Way giving or your coins in the red kettle showed that you cared about the poor and the hungry.

I thought your immigrant grandparents and relatives in the old country gave you compassion for immigrants and refugees.

I thought your refraining from racial and gay slurs meant that you believed in equality.

And I thought your church attendance and activities meant that you had a moral and ethical code.

But then you voted from hate and bigotry and your white skin.

I thought I knew you.

Charles Clark Tallula

THE TRUE WIN

Surely we can at least agree we’ve all experienced the same unprecedented fear over the past months. We’ve been afraid for different reasons, but the fear is the exact same fear. In elections there are always two sides who blame one another. Had the other side won, we’d see other protesters with their own brand of apocalyptic fear.

The more afraid we are, the more cornered and angry most become in the attempt to feel safe. We blame the other side, mimicking our leaders’ examples. All fear feels incredibly real, much less the apocalyptic type. Of course it takes time to calm down after an extended experience of such tremendous fear that brought out the very worst in some of us on both sides (the bigger the fear, the worse the behavior). But fear and its disguise of anger only yields more of the same.

However, when we see and own how scared we all are inside we realize just how alike we are. The only antidote for fear is God’s love that knows us as one and knows all is eternally well in spiritual truth. Once our fear teaches us to give it to God, we can then feel the resultant inner peace that always and surely comes. Only by going within and doing this on one’s own, without any blame, is one able to allow God to usher in peace to oneself as well as indirectly into the rest of this temporary world/school. This is the only true power, the only true win. Michelle Sullivan Springfi eld

ON POLITICAL EXPERIENCE

Much has been made of President-elect Donald Trump’s lack of political experience and acumen coming into the presidency. As a comparative contrast, the members of Congress have a combined total of 8,700 years of experience, and look at what they have accomplished to earn their vaunted 6-percent approval rating.

Twenty-eight Democratic Senators have to stand for reelection in 2018, and hopefully much absquatulation will take place afterwards. Bill Klein Springfi eld