January 2005 | Letters from Readers

Living Effective Lives

In a real world it is helpful to emphasize both the personal and the political. I appreciate WLT and your editorial understanding of this important concept.

— Jerry Peace Activist Rubin, Santa Monica

Inconsistent Values

I felt such sadness and grief upon learning that several youths had broken into the Long Beach Aquarium and tortured sharks and rays in an open exhibit, leaving them to die. While I believe the youth involved need to be held accountable for their actions, I don’t see how we can separate atrocities such as this from the larger issues that confront us daily. Invoking war continues to be portrayed as a noble cause and a way of “securing peace and freedom” around the world. We are treated to horrific pictures of military personnel torturing prisoners in a mindless display of obedience to highly questionable authorities.

We spend months being bombarded with the bitter, divisive and manipulative election-year rhetoric, and following the election are immediately told to turn off our emotions and get on with the serious business of Christmas shopping so that retailers will have something to cheer about.

We are engaging in a sanctity of life debate, yet moralizing from a place of inconsistency and hypocrisy. We justify invading a nation and killing thousands while at the same time preaching the virtues of life by determining that embryonic cells constitute a higher priority than living humans on this planet. Is it that we don’t collectively care about these inconsistencies or that we truly don’t see them?

Whether or not we are parents, all adults have a collective responsibility to model the compassion, tolerance and wisdom that we want our children to emulate. The gruesome behavior of the youths who broke into the Aquarium should be viewed as a cry for help from young people who are utterly confused. We must do more as a society to clean up our own confusion if we wish to help our children live effective lives.

I am very grateful for a publication like WLT and I look forward to reading it every month. Thank you for your efforts to create a more conscious world!

— Nancy Silverman, Long Beach

The Tao of Bush

A Buddhist monk trains his mind to see the positive in any situation. I aspire to do so myself, especially with the election of George W. Bush. It is too easy to dislike what he is doing (or not) as our leader. Instead, I choose to look beyond his inanity.

In actuality, Pres. Bush has done us a greater service. He has uprooted and awakened those of us who have been hibernating in the dark bear dens of an ideal democracy. He has brought us out of our somber slumber and made us active and present.

I am grateful to Bush for re-igniting our spirit, restoring our sight and reminding us of what it takes to be a great nation. It is about having integrity at the end of a day, working together as a community and striving daily for peace and understanding.

I believe that under every stiff-suited politician in Washington is integrity and longing for peace and resolution.

— Jennifer Le Fordyce, via e-mail

CORRECTION: Correct Websites for Elissa Michaud, December’s Uncommon Healer, are www.Learn2heal.com and www.true-fengshui.com. WLT regrets the error.

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