My Sunday reading included three items I’d like to pass along to YOU and other readers of the River Country Journal. Two are from the Kalamazoo Gazette while the third is from The New York Times. The topics are diverse, but each, in my opinion, is worth reading. Here are links that will take you to them:
• Viewpoint: Young St. Joseph County resident understood value of giving to United Way by Kelly Hostetler
• Column: Without the middle class, American democracy might not survive by Conor Williams
• Op-Ed Columnist: The Big American Leak by Thomas L. Friedman
Please feel free to share any thoughts you may have regarding any or all of these pieces by using the ‘Leave a Reply’ form at the bottom of the page.
Bruce Snook
River Country Journal
Bravo, Bruce. Bravo!
An incredible combination of articles.
I’ve seen Kelly’s, and it is as inspriring as it is heart-breaking. We are all indebted to each other, to degrees we have either never been taught or have forgotten. It’s called altruism.
William’s article is both lucid and concise.
“democracy flourishes when most citizens are self-sufficient.” The “tea party” (to me) exhibits the fear produced by selfishness amid the reality of limits to an assumed bounty. The wealthy oligarchs really do not, and perhaps cannot comprehend altruism. No man is an island, and self-sufficiency does require neighbors; friendly neighbors, with good fences, and frost.
Friedman’s distillation of one jigger of the wikidocs is like an iced shot of Don Julio for the Palin Puritans that still cling to their claims of “American Exceptionalism.” They do not know what I mean.
We are faced with challenges unknown. And this is what makes it all so scarey to me. The rate of change is becoming unmanageable, at all levels.
Some have suggested that a “Forth Turning” is coming our way, and this is terrifying to me as a father yearning for better days and comfort for my children.
But, let Kelly’s article be our faith, and an example for everyone still able.
May your ancestors be proud in spirit in the coming days.