By Mary Fahnestock-Thomas, Hamilton
I reacted rather hard to two of the letters in your issue of 2/5/20 and had to remind myself how unhelpful that is. In response, though, here are some of the things I wish for all of us:
I wish we all felt free to get our news from first-hand sources instead of from sources that have to consider ratings and therefore dumb down important issues and turn them into sound bites;
I wish “freedom” did not so often seem to mean threatening or hurting others on the personal, national, or international level;
I wish our politicians felt free to base their actions on good sense and experience instead of on fear of reprisal;
I wish our President felt free to value the advice of our own FBI, CIA, Pentagon, and Congressional investigations instead of that of Russia;
I wish we could free ourselves from the idea that everything depends on money and we can never have enough;
I wish we were all free to work a mere 40-hour week and still make a living and be able to afford comfortable housing;
I wish we all paid more attention to what people do than to what they say;
I wish we were all free from the worry that a freak accident or an illness could basically wipe out everything we have;
I wish we were all free to get the kind of education we are interested in without going into insurmountable debt, and then take a job in that field and not have to worry about not earning enough to support our family or keep us in good health;
I wish we could remember what our parents tried to teach us so long ago, that yes, some things are definitely mine, but I need to share a lot so that we can all get along;
I wish we could realize that if we don’t take care of our planet, it will be unable to continue taking care of us.
These things all make sense to me, and I grew up believing that since we human beings tend to be too caught up in our own personal lives, democratically elected government should be able take care of a lot of these issues to our general benefit.
No one has to agree. I just wish we could listen and try to understand each other without being afraid or preaching or hating. We would all win.