The outspokenness that destroys relationships
By Canton CitizenDear Editor:
In respectful response to Alice Brown’s letter, I would like to point out that sometimes “Silence is golden.” Although there are times when we must indeed speak up, the mature adult measures those moments carefully and determines whether the outcome will be worth the outburst. In these contentious days of extreme incivility and polarization, silence truly is golden because some people simply cannot debate an issue without declaring a war on anyone who disagrees.
I find Ms. Brown’s comparison of our country to Nazi Germany to be extremely offensive. I would respectfully suggest that if she doesn’t have a firsthand source of information regarding life in the “Fatherland” under the Fuhrer, she may want to read carefully some of the library books to which she referred. I am sure she will find no comparison to the checks and balances in our government or to the freedom we experience, including having opinions such as these published. She might also want to look at the Obama era, which included an extremely rapid change in our societal policies, numerous presidential edicts later overturned by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional, and the recently revealed weaponizing of our Department of Justice, FBI and IRS, factors that undeniably are more in keeping with Nazi behavior.
I also fail to understand her point as to why it matters that Donald Trump’s grandfather changed the family name from the Germanic Drumpf. Many have changed their names in order to assimilate better into American life and to avoid discrimination or harassment. Regardless of from whence our ancestors may have hailed, most became U.S. citizens, and they passed that citizenship on to us. In this “melting pot,” we became Americans, as did our president. Therefore, I don’t understand Ms. Brown’s point in referring to the POTUS’s origins. Has collusion with the Russians now morphed into collusion with the Germans too?
I agree with Ms. Brown that our students need to take courses in the humanities; however, as currently presented, far too many of those courses omit the sweeping, broad overview of all religious and philosophic thought, instead focusing on an extremely narrow moral relativism. The public-school curriculum shies away from what once was “the moral of the story.” That curriculum also often omits economics upon which our capitalist society is based. A university course of study should lead to making a living, not student loans with no repayment possible.
The U.S. has always provided economic opportunity for the countless millions who arrived here with nothing and who went on to flourish financially through hard work. We must be charitable, caring and giving, but we also must bear in mind that though sometimes needed, a handout does not provide a hand-up. As the old adage goes, “Give a person a fish and they’ll eat for a day; teach a person to fish and they’ll eat for a lifetime.” Finally, I have found that the definition of “truth” is not an easy one, and is never to be found in hysterical hyperbole.
Carole Anne Scott
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=39569
Posted by Canton Citizen
on Aug 4 2018. Filed under From One Citizen to Another, Opinion.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
