Letters to the Editor 06-05-2006
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
- Children Are Special - Just 'Gist' - Colonization
Children Are Special
Editor, Times-Union:Spring is here. After being on earth 92 years, I feel it is the prettiest time of the year. I think people often neglect to see, realize and appreciate what is really happening. Out of the dust of the earth seeds grow, leaves from the trees come out after the tree has been sleeping a time. All makes the earth resemble a paradise.
I also think we are living in a very strange and unusual era. Things are happening these days I don't recall happening 50 years ago. It makes me ask, why? Many disasters, fires burning thousands of acres, raping and killing of beautiful girls, earth-quakes intensifying, mud slides, AIDS, starvation in some countries, one out of two marriages splitting up, so many one-parent families, teens going to jail for life and so on.
When a business has troubles, the leader usually does something to improve the situation. It makes one wonder if our God (owner) isn't expecting better attention from us. John Adams, second president of the U.S., said, "If everyone at a region would abide and live according to the Bible, what a paradise the region would be."
When we purchase a new car, the manufacturer gives a manual telling how to get the best service from the car. We do not own the bodies we live in. We only loan them for a time. Our Owner has given us a manual telling how to have an "abundant" life on earth.
What do you think needs to be done? If you were the leader and owner, what would you do to better things on this earth right now? It is my opinion we are not living right. I think we must start with our children. I have said often, "Plant potatoes and you get potatoes. Plant corn and you get corn." Why are teens going to jail for life? That is terrible. Why do they do the things they do? What is being planted in children? My confirmation pastor said, "We must pray that God will fill us so full of His holy spirit that there will not be room for any bad to enter."
Our Owner's manual reads, "Train up a child in the way he should walk and when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6. Our cars are not made to run on kerosene. Could it be our children are expected to run on something they are not created for? Our God is a "jealous owner." Exodus 20:5. He expects to be first in our lives. I think parents need to do a better job when raising children. They are the most valuable property they own.
Each child is special. Children are not the product of some cosmic assembly line. They are unique. Our owner has plans for them. Our God made each child so they could share in His creation, could love and laugh and know Him person to person. Children are special indeed.
Dads, where are you? You are responsible. You are to be leader of your family. "For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church, and He is the Savior of the body." Eph. 5:23.
Leslie E. Swanson, via e-mail
Winona Lake
Just 'Gist'
Editor, Times-Union:With all that is going wrong in the world today it is difficult to justify one of my major pet peeves. It deals with diction - and the fact that television commentators, politicians, and other public speakers cannot, for example, pronounce the word "just." I cringe every time I hear it uttered as "gist."
As I recall, it happened the first time I heard Karen Carpenter singing "We've only 'gist' begun," many years ago. (She and her producers should have listened to and learned from earlier records by Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole, performers who articulated beautifully.)
My campaign against the blasphemy of language degradation continues to this very day and I believe it contributes to our incivility. My efforts to date have included e-mails to broadcasters, but I have received no responses. There is no doubt that we have become less mannerly through the years and less concerned about grammar and speech. Once there was great pride and appreciation for the art of oratory. Today, many individuals drop the final "g" when they speak, and words like "comin'" and "goin'" have become the norm. "Fun" is used incorrectly, too. Aren't you sick of "We had the funnest time."? There is also my favorite, spoken often by cell phone users: "Where you at?"
I have decided not to collectively address every perpetrator of sloppy elocution. In our society that would be Herculean. Rather, I will emulate a former New York police chief, who in an effort to counteract crime, began his campaign by arresting squeegee men and graffiti painters. My "just" cause will be aimed at that one simple word which should be pronounced with the "u" used as in abut. Once that issue is resolved, I can further my crusade by focusing on other violations - one word at a time. Who knows, this may start a ground swell and we may then return to earlier times when Americans spoke civilly, eloquently and effectively.
Max Sherman, via e-mail
Warsaw
Colonization
Editor, Times-Union:In reference to Steven R Frantz's arcane letter in support of the process of colonization (6/1/2006), he wants to justify colonization by the fact that it is a process and processes are always subject to improvement. However, I fail to see where any nation or culture has the right to colonize another under any circumstance. If colonization is not their desired outcome, but only to bring in an outside conception of law and order, it is still beyond what is naturally right.
Mr. Frantz's spew is a case in point for outright culture clash and typical western arrogance. He, as many others, need to realize that a way of living, ruling and mere existence that has evolved in a region over a period of thousands of years is so innately ingrained into a culture that it is beyond comprehension that it could be altered quickly through forceful means. His typical misunderstanding of the overall socio-political situation in the Middle East is exemplified by the use of the term "Ali Babba" in reference to Middle East leaders. This is an outright demonstration of prejudice. Revolution has to come from within. Either through war, socio-political upheaval or technological and industrial revolution.
This almost happened in Iran recently when the Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran protested for cultural freedoms and came very close to fomenting a revolution. Had we not expended our intelligence resources, perhaps we could have use this moment to support an uprising and even peaceful regime change in Iran. However, it is not the United States' obligation to promote regime changes and protect corporate profits. The code word for this is "vital interests."
If you want a better understanding of the complexity of Islamic culture so that you came make a more educated argument for whatever position you take on the current mess in the Middle East, I suggest you read Fawaz Gerges: "Journey of the Jihadist" (Harcourt).
Ted Carter, via e-mail
Leesburg
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- Children Are Special - Just 'Gist' - Colonization
Children Are Special
Editor, Times-Union:Spring is here. After being on earth 92 years, I feel it is the prettiest time of the year. I think people often neglect to see, realize and appreciate what is really happening. Out of the dust of the earth seeds grow, leaves from the trees come out after the tree has been sleeping a time. All makes the earth resemble a paradise.
I also think we are living in a very strange and unusual era. Things are happening these days I don't recall happening 50 years ago. It makes me ask, why? Many disasters, fires burning thousands of acres, raping and killing of beautiful girls, earth-quakes intensifying, mud slides, AIDS, starvation in some countries, one out of two marriages splitting up, so many one-parent families, teens going to jail for life and so on.
When a business has troubles, the leader usually does something to improve the situation. It makes one wonder if our God (owner) isn't expecting better attention from us. John Adams, second president of the U.S., said, "If everyone at a region would abide and live according to the Bible, what a paradise the region would be."
When we purchase a new car, the manufacturer gives a manual telling how to get the best service from the car. We do not own the bodies we live in. We only loan them for a time. Our Owner has given us a manual telling how to have an "abundant" life on earth.
What do you think needs to be done? If you were the leader and owner, what would you do to better things on this earth right now? It is my opinion we are not living right. I think we must start with our children. I have said often, "Plant potatoes and you get potatoes. Plant corn and you get corn." Why are teens going to jail for life? That is terrible. Why do they do the things they do? What is being planted in children? My confirmation pastor said, "We must pray that God will fill us so full of His holy spirit that there will not be room for any bad to enter."
Our Owner's manual reads, "Train up a child in the way he should walk and when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6. Our cars are not made to run on kerosene. Could it be our children are expected to run on something they are not created for? Our God is a "jealous owner." Exodus 20:5. He expects to be first in our lives. I think parents need to do a better job when raising children. They are the most valuable property they own.
Each child is special. Children are not the product of some cosmic assembly line. They are unique. Our owner has plans for them. Our God made each child so they could share in His creation, could love and laugh and know Him person to person. Children are special indeed.
Dads, where are you? You are responsible. You are to be leader of your family. "For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church, and He is the Savior of the body." Eph. 5:23.
Leslie E. Swanson, via e-mail
Winona Lake
Just 'Gist'
Editor, Times-Union:With all that is going wrong in the world today it is difficult to justify one of my major pet peeves. It deals with diction - and the fact that television commentators, politicians, and other public speakers cannot, for example, pronounce the word "just." I cringe every time I hear it uttered as "gist."
As I recall, it happened the first time I heard Karen Carpenter singing "We've only 'gist' begun," many years ago. (She and her producers should have listened to and learned from earlier records by Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole, performers who articulated beautifully.)
My campaign against the blasphemy of language degradation continues to this very day and I believe it contributes to our incivility. My efforts to date have included e-mails to broadcasters, but I have received no responses. There is no doubt that we have become less mannerly through the years and less concerned about grammar and speech. Once there was great pride and appreciation for the art of oratory. Today, many individuals drop the final "g" when they speak, and words like "comin'" and "goin'" have become the norm. "Fun" is used incorrectly, too. Aren't you sick of "We had the funnest time."? There is also my favorite, spoken often by cell phone users: "Where you at?"
I have decided not to collectively address every perpetrator of sloppy elocution. In our society that would be Herculean. Rather, I will emulate a former New York police chief, who in an effort to counteract crime, began his campaign by arresting squeegee men and graffiti painters. My "just" cause will be aimed at that one simple word which should be pronounced with the "u" used as in abut. Once that issue is resolved, I can further my crusade by focusing on other violations - one word at a time. Who knows, this may start a ground swell and we may then return to earlier times when Americans spoke civilly, eloquently and effectively.
Max Sherman, via e-mail
Warsaw
Colonization
Editor, Times-Union:In reference to Steven R Frantz's arcane letter in support of the process of colonization (6/1/2006), he wants to justify colonization by the fact that it is a process and processes are always subject to improvement. However, I fail to see where any nation or culture has the right to colonize another under any circumstance. If colonization is not their desired outcome, but only to bring in an outside conception of law and order, it is still beyond what is naturally right.
Mr. Frantz's spew is a case in point for outright culture clash and typical western arrogance. He, as many others, need to realize that a way of living, ruling and mere existence that has evolved in a region over a period of thousands of years is so innately ingrained into a culture that it is beyond comprehension that it could be altered quickly through forceful means. His typical misunderstanding of the overall socio-political situation in the Middle East is exemplified by the use of the term "Ali Babba" in reference to Middle East leaders. This is an outright demonstration of prejudice. Revolution has to come from within. Either through war, socio-political upheaval or technological and industrial revolution.
This almost happened in Iran recently when the Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran protested for cultural freedoms and came very close to fomenting a revolution. Had we not expended our intelligence resources, perhaps we could have use this moment to support an uprising and even peaceful regime change in Iran. However, it is not the United States' obligation to promote regime changes and protect corporate profits. The code word for this is "vital interests."
If you want a better understanding of the complexity of Islamic culture so that you came make a more educated argument for whatever position you take on the current mess in the Middle East, I suggest you read Fawaz Gerges: "Journey of the Jihadist" (Harcourt).
Ted Carter, via e-mail
Leesburg
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