Letters to the Editor
Quiet Type
Published Letters: 656 Editor's Choice: 32
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Born again
[Read the article: After years of being meek, I'm suddenly screaming at people!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Well, both the ecstatic seeing of light and the more earthbound versions of seeing things anew that Cary describes could be said to be born-again experiences.
So consider yourself being born again. And when you're first born, you cry real loud and flail a lot, because you can't yet speak and you can't yet walk. And then you start growing and you gradually calm down, learning to speak in clear assertive ways that get your needs met, and walking over on your own two feet to grab the things you couldn't get for yourself before.
(But try not to indulge yourself too much, during all this growing. This world is already far too noisy and irritating.)
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About that supermarket incident:
[Read the article: After years of being meek, I'm suddenly screaming at people!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]LW, you know what I suspect might have angered you most of all about that supermarket incident? The mute cashier. Remind you any of your mute mother, not jumping in to handle an unpleasant situation? The only thing is, that low-paid cashier is probably grateful for the job, has been told not to get emotional with customers, and had no choice but to keep quiet.
But here's the thing about taking up for strangers: A lot of people just don't like "scenes." Your yelling may have upset the dad (and his kid) more than the rudeness of the rude guy. Lots of people don't really want a storeful of customers turning around to stare at them. The other thing is -- and I'm a woman so I get to say this: I think most men would find it very emasculating to have some young woman in a store fighting a battle for them, even a sympathetic one. I personally think you'd have been better off offering some kind word to the father and his kid, rather than going off on the rude guy. (And to the previous poster's point, you really don't know which scary stranger is going to get even with you in the parking lot.)
But I understand you weren't really thinking this through, and that is the point of your letter: that you feel out of control. But maybe thinking through these things after the moment of heat has died down will help program your mind for better (and safer) responses in situations to come.
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Yeah, we're all "gifted."
[Read the article: I peed at my desk in third grade and now I'm afraid to sing]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Gift, schmift. If you want to sing, sing. If he tries to get in your pee-filled pants, see if you want him to or not, and if you want him to, let him, and if you don't, don't.
There. I gave you good advice, and you didn't even have to read about me, me, me and my childhood biological humiliations.
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A little 9/11 music.
[Read the article: Robertson for Giuliani, Brownback for McCain]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Can you imagine how thrilled Guiliani must be to have Robertson on his dance card? Imagine how often Robertson is going to bring up 9/11 for him!
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Prepare for attack of the dramatic.
[Read the article: My boss wants me to apologize to his wife]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]God only knows what this unstable weirdo (sorry, I mean friendly ex-boss)said to his wife about you, and/or what current crisis is befalling them. If you get triangulated into this couple, you haven't learned a thing.
Don't apologize for anything, and give yourself a w-i-d-e berth at that event. Or if the event isn't a big deal to you anyway, maybe think about not attending it at all. I have a feeling some very uncomfortable D-R-A-M-A is going to be hurled at you, especially once the cocktail hour begins.
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Each other's soul to each other's devil.
[Read the article: Welcome to the 700 Club, Rudy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I didn't think Pat Robertson had a shred of political credibility left after all his crackpot statements, at the margins or anywhere else. The only possible use to Giuliani that I can see is Robertson's guaranteed multiple utterances of "9/11," context be damned, so to speak.
Then again, I overestimate my fellow Americans all the time, so what do I know.
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@Mike Sulzer
[Read the article: Democrats in big, big trouble because of the Great Iraq War -- again]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"If you vote republican in 2008, you can do it without voting for Bush 43. That alone is worth several percentage points. A bit of good news from the war is worth some more. Smearing the dem is always a strong plus. Pretty soon it is a close elction again. Memories are short; repubs are oragnized, dems are not."
And don't forget the truly devastating passivity of the dems, either. Not only can't they make a verbal or electoral statement about things we'd all rally behind them for, they don't know how to take an opportunity on a silver platter and run with it, either. From this week alone: Do you think any of them is capable of taking much deserved stabs at Guiliani for climbing in bed with Pat Robertson, who feels that America essentially brought 9/11 upon itself and is a loud crackpot on myriad domestic and foreign policy issues?
This election's hefty helpings of Swift Boat to come will be met with more tea and cucumber sandwiches, of that you can be sure. I think that's what I find most depressing of all.
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Illinois Schools, Hotbeds of Hugging
[Read the article: Quote of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Nothing really stupid ever happens in a vacuum. This idiotic story comes on the heels of another Major Hugging Incident in Illinois, from just one month ago:
OAK PARK, Ill. (AP) - If you need a hug, you won't get it at Percy Julian Middle School. Principal Victoria Sharts banned hugging among the suburban Chicago school's 860 students anywhere inside the building. She said students were forming "hug lines" that made them late for classes and crowded the hallways.
"Hugging is really more appropriate for airports or for family reunions than passing and seeing each other every few minutes in the halls," Sharts said.
Another reason to institute the no-hugging policy was that some hugs could be too long and too close, she said.
"There is another side to the issue when a hug is either unwanted or becomes inappropriate as judged by one of the students involved," Sharts wrote in a statement to parents. "On occasion, we do deal with those incidents. The goal is always to promote safe and orderly hallways where everybody can get by, be safe, and be on time."