I recently ran into a fellow citizen of my hometown who also reads The Monitor, and I said hello to him. He didn’t return my greeting but instead responded with, “I see you are still writing those letters. Don’t you have anything better to do?” I responded with, “I’m just exercising my 1st Amendment rights. He just shook his head and walked on by.
I felt sad and sorry for him at the same time because I realized that I had written something that was obviously in conflict with his way of thinking. This man was a former educator, someone whom I still hold in esteem, but my writer’s shield that you develop as a letter writer whose opinion is subject to unfavorable response switched on, and like water off a duck’s back I went on my merry way, chalking up my encounter to part of life’s rich pageantry.
Later that day I was recalling the day’s events and I realized that I must live rent-free in the minds of some people who are unhappy or disagree with my letters or opinions and I just want to urge those readers to let it go. Just like everyone has a nose, we all have an opinion and the fact that I choose to reduce my ideas to writing and place those ideas out there for all to see is just my way of trying to give my slant on the topic, not to offend or upset anyone.
I fully respect all the other letter writers whose ideas differ from or are opposed to mine. I just ask that they use facts, not canned talking points.
We’ve all seen the commercial on TV about our founding father Thomas Paine: “If you’re afraid to offend, you can’t be honest.” The actual quote is, “He who dares not offend cannot be honest.” I guess that old saying holds true 200 years later, whichever version suits your liking.
Jake Longoria
Mission
Life jackets
save lives
Life jackets save lives, but only if they are worn.
A recent incident in the Laguna Vista community highlights just how important wearing a life jacket is. A boat with three people capsized, and none of the boaters were wearing life jackets. Luckily, they were all rescued and are OK, but unfortunately that isn’t always the case.
In the most recent Coast Guard boating statistics, 83% of the people who died in a boating incident drowned because they weren’t wearing a life jacket. Many of these people considered themselves long-term boaters who knew how to swim, but if knocked unconscious or hurt when entering the water, it can be impossible to swim. You wouldn’t try to put a seatbelt on in the middle of a car crash. Likewise, it is not possible to try to put on a life jacket when you are in the middle of a boating emergency.
Make sure every person on board has a life jacket that fits them properly. If you need one to borrow, check out one of the Sea Tow Foundation’s Life Jacket Loaner Stations. Before you leave the dock, remember to put on a life jacket. You never know just how life saving it could be.
Gail R. Kulp
Southold, N.Y.
On the hook
for bailouts
What is the difference between taxpayer money and government money?
The government’s only source of funds is taxes. Sure, the Treasury can sell T-bills to raise cash, but the taxpayer is on the hook for paying the debt at the end of the day.
So when Mr. Biden & Co. tell us that these bank bailouts will not cost the taxpayer anything, they are lying (once more).
Bill Hudson
Brownsville
LETTERS — Limit letters to 300 words; all letters are subject to editing. Mail: P.O. Box 3267, McAllen, TX78502-3267; Email: [email protected]
