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Written a good letter lately?
All over Pacifica today, friends and relatives are wishing each other a
Merry Christmas or some variation of that theme. I, too, want to wish you
and anyone else who happens to read this column the best of the season.
That should cover your situation, whether the period you celebrate is
Christmas, Hannukah, or even the special day of some community most of us
are hardly aware of. In this city we've Christians of many stripes and
subdivisions, though I'm unaware of any Nestorians. Hopefully before long
we'll have Coptic Christians living amongst us. Jews, Orthodox Christians,
Moslems, Buddhists, Bahai, Hindus, Sikhs, you all live here, and I wish you
all well.
In this time when we all celebrate something, I'd like to thank those
who've demonstrated our community's diversity of opinion through letters to
the editor during 2002.
Thank you, Michael Brent. Though you consider at least some of us liberals
hopelessly naïve, you've given us food for thought with your comments on
immigration and self-preservation.
Thank you, Jack Burgett. You show us there are those living in our midst so
addicted to guns they feel it's terribly unfair if they can't participate
in gun buying and selling events, even though some innocent adults and
children will inevitably suffer and die as a result. It's important that
persons who think as I do remain aware of people who think like Mr.
Burgett.
Thank you, Andy Pappas, the Crab King, for showing us even the crabbiest
person can be a real asset to our city. Andy, when you next appear upon the
pier among your peers, I hope they give you a round of applause.
Thank you, Nick Leone, and you, Ernie Scott, for working so hard to improve
Pacifica's library situation. Pacifica's library difficulties have no easy,
ideal or obvious answer, which is why Nick and I so often disagree. If
Pacifica does come up with a good answer, Ernie Scott will be owed a
standing ovation. He's a major civic asset.
Thank you, Ron Jodsaas, Morning Nichols, Merline Ryan, and all the other
folks in 2002 who used Tribune letters columns to publicly express thanks
and appreciation. If you're annoyed when the Tribune reports bad news,
you'll find the good news of our city in those thank you letters.
Thank you Beverley Henderson, Carol Negro, and James LeCuyer. Your
perspectives are far apart but you each have important ideas. Exposing
opinions to public scrutiny is important if our democracy is to thrive.
Your letters must represent a lot of time, thought and effort, as do most
letters to most editors.
Thanks, all of you, who've participated in the back and forth
letter-writing exchange concerning Sanchez Arts Center. That public asset
can't be allowed to be given up for private aggrandizement. It may not be
possible to come to a perfect solution, but public airing of the various
points of view is a necessity.
Thank you, Larry Arndt. By making me aware how you interpreted my words on
the environment, perhaps you'll teach me to be more careful how I express
myself in the future.
I do know if I must choose between human survival and success or that of a
handful of butterflies with an extremely specialized diet, It's humans 1,
butterflies 0. But perhaps a compromise is in order, so all can thrive.
Let's talk about it. That's the value of letters to the editor. You see an
area where there's a problem. You sit down for 10 minutes, or two hours.
You think. You write. In the process you clarify your own ideas and
opinions, and you share them. Ain't democracy great?
Paul@thereactor.net is the Reactor's e mail address.
Check his website at www.thereactor.net.
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