Comments Upsetting…

Dear Editor,
[This letter is in response to Marlene Petersen’s letter]:
There certainly is a great divide in our country, and that gap is largely promoted by people who fail to try to understand each other’s point of view. It’s easy for us to categorize other groups. However such categorizations are not true for every person. I realize this more and more each time my husband and I get together with friends who have different political and personal beliefs than we do.
As a 40-year-old Libertarian-minded Christian woman, I believe we all are being hoodwinked by our media and political leaders. I believe that the best thing for “the powers that be” are for us to hate each other, as a country divided is weaker than a country united. The people you see as fear-mongers most likely have a reason to fear. Perhaps they have lived through (or fought in) a war, or grew up listening to their parents or grandparents talk about the struggles of their time.
Satayana wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Personally, I fear getting tangled up in unnecessary wars, especially a “proxy war” in Syria. Leaders in both political parties claim to want to intervene in wars namely for humanitarian reasons. However the only places we seem to “help” happen to have oil pipelines running within their borders (Iraq, Syria, Libya). After all, we’ve witnessed years of genocide in Africa, yet we choose not to intervene there.
I am seeing political leaders on both sides of the aisle endlessly judging and insulting each other in order to reach their goals. I choose to see good in all people: I believe Clinton’s social policies might benefit my children more than Trump’s, and I believe she has done a lot to help social injustice. Trump also fought social injustice with a decade-long battle to allow blacks and Jewish individuals to play golf at his Palm Beach club see “Trump’s Palm Beach Club Roils the Old Social Order”- WSJ April 30, 1997.
We all need to remember that it’s only through our own experiences and life struggles that our political and personal beliefs are formed. Marlene, I believe that God …or karma … or whatever higher power we believe in, will use all bad things for good; but only if we challenge ourselves to see the good in each other.

Stacy Bryan
Sandpoint