Letter: Are we destroying ourselves — and America?

Posted 7/30/20

I have refrained from writing letters to the editor for many different reasons. But today I was motivated to do so. ‘Why,” you may ask? What changed?

It’s quite simple. I …

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Letter: Are we destroying ourselves — and America?

Posted

I have refrained from writing letters to the editor for many different reasons. But today I was motivated to do so. ‘Why,” you may ask? What changed?

It’s quite simple. I watched Attorney General William Barr testify before the House Judiciary Committee. What I witnessed was alarming and beyond being uncivil and disrespectful.

Members of Congress spoke to Attorney General Barr and to each other with disdain, anger and hearts filled with poison.We should all be alarmed at what transpired. I would never allow my children or grandchildren to watch such a disgusting display of contempt for one another, coming from people who should be pillars of society and role models for future generations.

This is not what I want our children to see and hear. This is not what I want them to become. This is not who we are as Americans. We are better than that, or at least I thought we were. We have gone off the rails, and I’m not sure how we Americans can right ourselves. 

Why have we become so intolerant, narcissistic, irresponsible individuals who seek pleasure by destroying people who think differently? Why do we celebrate when we feel that we have finally destroyed someone and ruined their life? Why has civility become a thing of the past?

We even have the audacity to think that we can play God, pretending to know what lies within another person’s heart and attack them before engaging in conversation and listening to what they value. America was built upon diversity, listening, and the blending of different cultures and ideas founded upon the principle of equality for all.

I am not a racist, homophobe, sexist, or misogynist because I don’t align with someone’s views.

Everyone is entitled to their beliefs, without being disparaged and attacked.

This present climate in America challenges us to deep reflection. We have the opportunity to weave our differences into building a better, kinder, more forgiving America. If we don’t, then our differences will eventually destroy us, and America will become something no one could have ever envisioned. 

Joseph Lero
Bristol

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