Letters To The Editor

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Shall we pass up chance to uplift?

Picture a society that generally agrees social harmony is a desired goal and believes we should treat one another with respect, friendship and cooperation. Within this society, each individual is endowed with a conscience. That is, the knowledge or sense of right and wrong with a compulsion to do what is right.

Next, imagine increasing reports coming from all corners of the globe indicating alarming social disharmony and the rising compulsion of individuals to do wrong and call it right.

Finally, top this scenario off with the suggestion that we, as citizens and parents, are somehow personally responsible and accountable for the circumstances we all face, then stand back and watch the sparks of debate fly.

In the end, we find always it is the hidden seeds of thought we choose and encourage that weave both the inner garment of character and the outer garment of circumstance after all. That circumstance does not make us but merely reveals us to ourselves.

In its simplest form, Character First amplifies 49 universal character traits (not “values”) and has created an atmosphere for character growth worldwide. Isn’t it true that good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results and bad thoughts and actions never produce good results? Yet, while Character First has been tremendously successful wherever applied, opponents would have you believe it the very portal of heaven.

In either case, the hour of opportunity alone reveals we either do right or live with the ultimate failure of having done nothing at all. John Gutierrez Character First coordinator, Spokane

Character First `a positive beginning’

Because they have developed one of the most powerful character building projects in history, Character First has our family’s vote.

We find ourselves surrounded by an epidemic of destructive behavior: violence, lack of respect for authority, poor work ethics and a general lack of consideration for others. These issues are of great concern to us.

Character is either cultivated or allowed to run wild. If it is cultivated, it will bring forth good citizens. If neglected, it will bring forth crime and immorality.

Cause and effect is an absolute in the realm of character as in the world of visible and material things.

We may be anxious to improve our circumstances, but if we are unwilling to improve ourselves, we remain bound.

This may not be the complete answer, but it is a positive beginning.

Onward, Character First! Jim and Elaine Perkins Spokane

We support character program

We can say we have character and believe it, but when we are seen through the eyes of others, what is the verdict?

We are good people in this community, as a whole, but there is still too much crime and prejudice. It’s time we act as caring as we say we are and look to our character individually and collectively.

The Character First program has our family’s support as a great step in the right direction for our city. Mr. and Mrs. Bill Camarda Spokane

Respect absent in Clark’s column

Spokane Human Rights Commission members read Doug Clark’s May 23 column about North Central High School’s mascot change with great interest. Appropriation of Native American images and symbols is of great concern to us.

Clark’s rhetoric was dangerous and mean-spirited. We see this not as an issue of “nonoffensive conformity”; rather, it is an issue of respect for the past and the cultures of those who do not share our heritage.

We find it unconscionable that, in his frustration with a “few thin-skinned busybodies,” Clark invokes the words of chief Joseph, “I will fight no more forever.” Joseph and his band of Nez Perce were hunted by the U.S. Cavalry like animals for years. His words were uttered at the end of his flight from the most powerful army ever assembled.

Clark’s expropriation of those words smacks of the worst kind of racist paternalism. It becomes convenient for the oppressor to tell the victim how to feel about their oppression. The American Indian holocaust is therefore trivialized and defined away. Until we confront the genocide that is part of our history as a nation, and allow its truth to inform us in all its dimensions, we stand little chance of understanding our future in all of its complex and diverse manifestations. Brad Read Spokane

If tradition is whale killing, it’s wrong

Francis Devereaux (Your Turn, June 23) thinks if we could all just spend some time together and get to know each other, that somehow we would all understand and support the Makah whale hunt. Devereaux, try to understand, I am no more interested in your tradition and spirituality than you are in my traditions and my spirituality. This is not about you, your tribe or traditions. It’s about killing whales, which I refuse to understand and accept. Kerry L. Masters Liberty Lake

DISTURBING THE PEACE

Our choices lead to police control

By choosing not to control our own actions or by allowing others to not control theirs, we make ourselves dependent on control by an external police force. Stopping a motorist for a traffic violation is no call for a police officer to be threatened with violence. But apparently, we are such an unruly citizenry that the police can muster such a large force in so short a time.

It might have gone better if the people present would have held the instigators for arrest. Instead, all they did was to foster an us-versus-them mentality on both sides.

Alexander Hamilton, in the Federalist Paper No. 1, said it better:

“…it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force.” Joe Lykins Rathdrum

It’s your country; Protect your rights

Let’s face the facts. In America, some police are becoming like the SS. I have heard from locals about how the Coeur d’Alene cops are. They have an intimidating attitude and treat the citizens badly. When the government looks down on its citizens as the police in Coeur d’Alene do, there is going to be trouble.

Now, Coeur d’Alene police are training to confront the citizens with violence and weapons. You are in for big trouble from the police. And we all know that no matter what happens, the police will say it was the citizens who were the troublemakers when a riot starts.

It is your country, not the government’s. You have the right to be wherever you want to be, and you do not have to leave because some government worker tells you to leave. Protect your rights now. Les Harris Kellogg

Everyday situation should change

Regarding the recent riot in Coeur d’Alene, we’ve heard the opinions of a tourist, a cop and many others who weren’t there. Now, it’s time to see it through the eyes of people who were present and who have repeatedly been discriminated against by police because of their age, friends, car and clothing, among other things.

It is rather arrogant of people to say the riot was caused by jerks and drunken youths when in fact the rioters were from all different age groups and all walks of life. It’s also naive of anyone to believe that the sole cause of the riot could have been a motorcyclist burning rubber when obviously, the root of the problem goes much deeper. If the police didn’t often harass innocent people without a legitimate reason, citizens would not have felt the need to get back at them after a simple traffic ticket.

If police want to put on their riot gear after such an insignificant event, the people will give them a riot! Things should never have gone that far in the first place.

The everyday situations ought to change. Maybe if Coeur d’Alene police would keep the city’s best interests in mind, rather than trying to show us who’s boss, disturbances like this wouldn’t happen. Liz S. Meyer and Kelly N. Britton Coeur d’Alene

This mother wouldn’t just stand by

All of those who support the Gestapo tactics of the Coeur d’Alene police are either unable to produce offspring or are too old to remember their maternal or paternal priorities, to stand behind such a barbarous act against our/their babies.

If my husband hadn’t been out of town, my children, grandchildren and I would have been standing on that street proudly watching my husband’s Camaro.

There is no possible way I would just stand there and watch Milosevic-type troops pepper-spray or beat even one of my babies. Am I the only one out there who loves my family so much I would lay my life down for them? Cathy Matheson Worley

Photos will tell the truth

Re: “Police hoping for a photo finish to melee,” (June 22). A picture is worth a thousand words. These officers are just trying to get to the truth. Good going, guys. Trish Morgan Beckley, W.Va.