Letters to the Editor

Correction

A story on page A-1 of the May 26 edition of the Shelton-Mason County Journal incorrectly stated 35th Legislative District Pos. 2 candidate Sandy Kaiser's hometown. Kaiser is a resident of Olympia, however her campaign address is a post office box in Shelton. The Journal regrets the error.

Labels don't explain

Editor, the Journal,

Labels, badges and buttons, the subtle saboteurs.

Question: Can a singular label describe who you are or how you think? Will the badge you wear or the sticker on your window sum up your life history, your education, your charity, your experience? And will the button of the candidate worn on your lapel say anything about you besides whom you support? The legitimate answer is: Of course not.

All these synthetic means of identity take advantage of our knee-jerk instantaneous mental method of interpreting and communicating ideas. A singular and narrow view amid a universe of perspectives and preferences. And most of all they subtly sabotage the open-mindedness required to engage in rational dialogue.

My friend Judy is a beautiful person, friendly, warm, engaging, empathetic and a self-admitted liberal. If she were driving down the street with a Biden/Harris sticker on her bumper, any viewer will instantly know whether they would like her or not, approve of her or not. In doing so they will miss the point of who she is as a person. Why? Because they have let their intellect be subverted by a label, an instant identification of a singular view. One we either accept or reject, often along with the person themselves.

We have become lazy, judgmental, even arrogant in the rightness of our own labels. We have reduced our capacity for open-mindedness and replaced it with an "us and them" mentality simply by the use of a label for assessing the value of our fellow citizens and their ideas and preferences. We have allowed ourselves to be shaped and manipulated by the authors of the labels and their use by politicians and the press. Imagine if you will, by declaring one's self to be a Republican or a Democrat, a "conservative" or a "liberal," you will have summed up the entirety of your being. How ridiculous. How demeaning. How destructive to intelligent and constructive interaction between us.

Shame on us for succumbing to this oh-so-subtle molding of our otherwise beautiful minds.

Is it possible we can agree to disagree? Can we release our own hardened opinions long enough to truly consider alternative views? Without developing that ability and putting it to use, we make ourselves and our relationships rigidly captive to the limiting labels we use to regard ourselves and others. It's a no-win approach to responsible and intelligent dialogue.

Lee Ferguson, Shelton

Let's build stations to charge vehicles

Editor, the Journal,

The recent infrastructure bill passed by Congress has $2.5 billion funding set aside for electric vehicle charging station installations.

This money targets rural, underdeveloped and disadvantaged communities for EV charging infrastructure. Sounds like all of the counties west of Puget Sound. There are two means for obtaining this money: Community grants and corridor grants.

I strongly suggest that all of the people of authority in the west Sound counties work together and solicit and obtain these funds in an ASAP fashion to install EV charging stations. Why? It will be good for the region's commerce.

The EV charging station installation would be an awesome draw for folks to come and visit and spend money. Those visitors would have the peace of mind that there would be sufficient EV charging stations to recharge their vehicles when they come to visit. And besides that, all of these electric vehicle owners are green-minded and, well, the west Sound region is certainly green!

Where to put the EV charging stations? The EV station locations are recommended to be placed in publicly available areas that have restrooms, appropriate lighting and sheltered resting areas. I am sure that there is a lot of wiggle room to expand the location of EV charging stations like in parking lots for schools, public buildings (federal, state, county, city), churches (might be the best charge someone gets for going to church), bars, taverns, box stores, grocery stores, motels, malls, restaurants, main streets of towns, etc. Also, have a "no kidding" website for maps showing exact locations of where the EV charging stations are located in the various areas.

Now this is where I get my political dig in. Please note that most of the Republicans in Congress did not vote for this infrastructure bill, but a lot of them are certainly taking some credit for it. So I am asking all of the local Republicans and others in authority in the west Sound region to get off of your butts and get these EV charging stations installed in our communities. Be proactive rather than reactive.

Earl W. Burt, Bremerton

Remembering Dan

Editor, the Journal,

This Memorial Day, I found myself reflecting on the memory of my West Point classmate Dan Yarr, a native of Shelton. He was killed in action in Vietnam in the 1970s. We lived in neighboring barracks at the academy. He was known for his sweet smile and warm disposition. Be thou at rest, Dan.

Toby Kevin, Shelton

School shooting

Editor, the Journal,

Well, it happened again. An inconceivable tragedy in Texas committed by a psychopath, and again, before the nation could sort the horror, President Joe Biden, Texas Gov. wannabe Beto O'Rourke, and the celebrity "talking empty heads" of TV-land raised their fists in fury about the evil of guns. Anarchists say never let a protest march go to waste. What is it about Democrats they immediately can't let a mass shooting go to waste, and grieving parents must listen to political anti-gun posturing? Their timing is intolerable.

Voices are raised against inanimate objects, while the monsters that activate these objects are ignored. The question the president should be asking is why some kids who share difficult lives, bullying and evil input turn out fine, but what is the catalyst that will turn another into a psychopath? Until this question is resolved, these tragedies will continue to happen, regardless of more gun laws. News flash: evil follows no law.

Salvador Ramos could have had a single-bullet pistol, or a simple knife, and achieved the same outcome, having barricaded himself in a classroom with his victims for an hour. This young man was a time bomb of anger and lost himself to a cold-blooded murderous plan. He knew exactly what he was doing; a psychopath that showed many red flags that were ignored.

I am 80 years old. Guns were always freely available in my lifetime; a loaded shotgun by a farmhouse door, kids' first hunting rifles, high school pickups with rifles on the rack, the family protectors in the drawers, and rare was a shooting and never mass shootings. Back then kids were taught and disciplined, respected their elders and the law, had guidelines and restrictions and consequences to bad actions. They were "entitled" only to love, education, food, clothes and shelter.

What is the difference? A couple decades ago a pernicious disease took root and insidiously grew in our country. God eliminated, the family unit dissolved, marriage unnecessary, children undisciplined, not responsible, no consequences for bad behavior, drugs easily obtained. The sanctity of sex and resulting life laughed at, lawlessness allowed, hate for country growing, school curriculum putting education on the back burner while teaching racial disparities and divisiveness and confusion. Children come home crying because they feel they are evil if white and oppressed if black. The classics banned while graphically drawn books on sexuality added. Cyberbullying leading to suicides. Confusing gender assignment language, exposure to filthy language, violent movies, murderous video games, and I'm sure it is life-affirming to kids to see thousands of women protesting that the child in their womb is expendable, at any time, for any reason. Perhaps Salvador believed he was also expendable so had the right to choose to exterminate all the happy children because he was so miserable.

In a violent world, do not restrict guns for law-abiding families while ignoring the growing mental illness of our youth. Only a good person with a gun can neutralize a monster with a gun.

Katie Groves, Shelton