Letters to the Editor
MWilson
Published Letters: 46 Editor's Choice: 11
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Homeless
[Read the article: I wish my stepchildren would go away]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"I can't stand sharing my home with my two young stepchildren."
"It is only when they are gone that I feel comfortable in my own home."
"like having permanent, irritating houseguests."
"constantly inconvenienced in my own home."
"most of the time I wish they would just go away."
"I just want them to go away. "
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The language in this poor woman's letter could not be more clear. I tried to imagine who "they" would be had I written it, and realized that these would not just be people I didn't love, these would be people I could not stand.
So I support the writers who found this letter to be deeply disturbing, to represent an emergency for some children somewhere. It calls up archetypes of stepchildren left deep in the forest with pockets full of breadcrumbs.
I hope Stepmother and her husband seek and receive good help. There is a safe path out of there, and with it comes a different story.
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Wisdom in Weird Packages
[Read the article: I wish my stepchildren would go away]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This letter haunted me all day, so I read up on the subject. It seems that it is not unusual for stepparents to favor their biological children, in many cases strongly favor them, over their stepchildren. Likewise, stepchildren are apt to reject the most loving, caring stepparent in favor of any old sort of biological parent. Even the really crappy kind.
The Roman Catholic Church does not ban divorce, it bans remarriage after divorce. After years of thinking this was an insane doctrine, today I am left to wonder if it might not reveal some thread of ancient, now lost, wisdom.
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Demonic Economics
[Read the article: The carpet guy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Many people have figured out that there were other routes for Ms Lamott to choose from in her dealing with the carpet guy, including small claims court and the Better Business Bureau. She never said there weren't. She said she was stricken with rage.
"The door to the most primitive place inside me opened, then, where the betrayed child lives, terrified, wounded, murderous."
She flailed around in that hellish place for awhile, and then, just when he screwed her again with a bad check, she was released from her anger and started to laugh.
I recall a similar feeling when my rage at my ex-husband was finally spent. In that moment I would have signed over every piece of property we shared, just as a gift, I was so giddy with relief to be freed from my hatred. I guess practical people might say it was fortunate that the legal part was over and I had a little cash and some pretty good sheets, towels and dishes.
But I tell you I would have handed it all over to him in a heartbeat, along with some Safeway daisies, if that were the price of freedom. Ms. Lamott, that shrewd business gal, may have bought even more than her freedom. Some part of me chooses to believe that her $50 investment may help rescue the carpet guy from dark places only he can describe.
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Letters Editor:
[Read the article: A walk on the ice]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Please spare us all the anonymous drivebys, the drivel and potshots (see above by "Anonymous"). Locate your Exclusive Master of the Blog Delete Key and use it - civilization may be at stake. Please reference your policy below, specifically the excessive use of rudeness and violation of common decency clauses:
"Salon reserves the right to delete any letter at its discretion; for example we may remove letters that are far off-topic or excessively rude, or that violate the law or common decency."
Thanks in advance.
PS - Mr Keillor - enjoyed your work.