Stop! It’s The Law And It’s The Right Thing To Do
Even on the information superhighway there are detours and traffic jams, as I learned after an e-mail response to a recent “Bagpipes” column apparently became lost in hyperspace.
By the time the comment arrived, it was too late for the next week’s follow-up installment. Length was a problem, too, but the message contained a passage about trust that bears passing along.
Asked how motorists might be persuaded - with words - not to run red lights, Jon A. Holloway offered these:
“When you run a red light, you’re violating a trust.”
“I know, I know,” he explained, “it’s very easy to believe nowadays that the word is incomprehensible. So much around us betrays the concept of trust we were trained to believe in….
“Yet, most of us try to earn the trust of others. I’m sure the S-R does, even though you try my patience greatly at times. I think the City Council tries, although I often feel that they must live on another planet a good part of the week. I think the grocer tries to purvey pure food and the electric/ phone/water companies try to deliver reliable, quality products. We trust them to do it…. Usually they do such a good job that it is news (and probably a lawsuit) when they don’t.
“And yet, I believe you would agree with me that the reason most of us honor the expectation implied in trust is that we were taught and we believe that ‘it’s the right thing to do.”’
Does it matter where you live?
In the Spokane School District 81 board race, candidate Rocky Treppiedi emphasized that only one of the five present board members resides on the North Side of town. Christie Querna, the leading vote-getter in the primary and a South Side resident, said she was disappointed that Treppiedi was “playing that card.” She called it divisive and said kids and parents are the same on either side of town.
In the same election the Pacific Science Center proposal lost narrowly, having done well on the South Side of town and poorly on the North Side.
Are we the same or aren’t we? Your views are invited. How can all residents of this community have their interests represented in a way that unifies us around shared values yet recognizes diverse outlooks?
Write or phone. Send me fax or e-mail. But, please join in the discussion.
, DataTimes MEMO: “Bagpipes” appears Tuesdays and Thursdays. To respond, call Cityline at 458-8800, category 9881, from a Touch-Tone phone; or send a fax to 459-5098 or e-mail to dougf@spokesman.com. You also can leave Doug Floyd a message at 459-5577, extension 5466.