LETTER: Blonde logic
Blonde logic
My name is Verna, and I’m a blonde. It’s chronic, not terminal; I’m going to die WITH it, not FROM it.
I had a few great teachers in civics and history classes who gave me a working knowledge of our government. They told me it’s my responsibility as a citizen of this republic to be informed and involved.
I’ve noticed there’s been a lot of stuff going on lately. (Did I mention I’m also fluent in sarcasm?) POTUS No. 45 had a little get-together on Jan. 6 that got out of hand. POTUS No. 46 had a constitutionally scheduled event on the 20th. He talked about unity, which sounded nice, but people over in the Senate chamber were going, “Yeah, right.”
Anyhow, in history and civics classes, I learned the founding fathers had good character traits. (We didn’t dwell on the negative stuff like them being owners of slaves and stuff like that.) We talked about traits like courage, resilience, persistence, generosity, vision, humility, integrity, and honesty.
It occurred to me that no matter which political party we belong to, who we voted for, what policies we favor, we can all agree upon one thing: SOMEBODY IS LYING TO US. Right? When I say “somebody,” I mean the politicians who are supposed to be working for us. We can all point fingers, but we’re ALL pointing fingers at somebody. Right?
If we can all agree on that one thing, Blonde Logic suggests that we could all, possibly, find one other thing that we could agree upon. Maybe?
What if we chose just one of those character traits from the list and agreed to insist that our elected officials must exhibit that trait? Just one! (I have a couple favorites.)
Top of my list are integrity and honesty. Since each sort of includes the other, either would be fine, when you think of it. I would really appreciate it if I could believe the things our elected officials say. I’ve always placed a lot of value on trust. Am I the only one that feels that way?
Wouldn’t it be great if members of Congress also had more than a passing knowledge of the U.S. Constitution, since they do take an oath to uphold and defend it, but, you know, baby steps.
So, what do you think? Honesty? Or integrity? Either one? Just one? Just imagine!
Verna Cooke-Rishell
Waynesburg{&end}