Letters

Published on February 06, 2009

Hard questions

To the Bulletin: Eliminate all social service funding? Isn't this the way of the past? Hasn't the old way of greed and fear proven itself a poor model of governance for the citizens of the world? Aren't we now evolving into a new era of sharing and caring?

Honestly, can't we do better than this? Who owns the God-given resources that sustain us? Why do people have to suffer when we have so much all around us? Why are some people more privileged than others? How much power do we have to determine the decisions and actions of our government? How much power do we have to create a world that is honest, fair and hopeful?

Can you help me here?

Dagen Julty
Shutesbury

Peace not possible in Middle East

To the Bulletin: While it may be politically expedient for American politicians to claim the U.S. can help achieve peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, can we please have a reality check?

It is impossible to seriously negotiate with someone (Hamas) whose raison d'etre is your extinction. Those Palestinians who Israel would prefer to negotiate with (Fatah) are corrupt and unpopular with their own people. Israel will elect in February the hardest line, least willing to bend Israeli politician of the day, Netanyahu.

Finally, there is no way Israel can or will live with a nuclear-armed Iran and an imminent showdown there looms.

We have been hearing the same old song about peace in the Middle East for decades through a series of administrations; in 2009 that wish is not closer to fulfillment, but much further away.

A.E. Harazin
Amherst

For the good of the children

To the Bulletin: As parents of children who attend Fort River, the largest Amherst elementary school with 34 percent of our town's children, we support finding a solution to the school's budget crisis that will benefit all the children in Amherst.

We love the K-6 experience for our children. We love the welcoming atmosphere of our school, the rich traditions, our active Parent Council, our administrators and our teachers. We love that over the past few years our parents raised enough money to build two new playgrounds that benefit both our school and the larger community when soccer, softball and ultimate teams use our fields. These playgrounds cost the taxpayers nothing and were built through the labor of parents and other volunteers - a perfect example of community.

We understand that under any of the reorganization (and potential redistricting) plans, many of our children will attend different schools next year. Our children may not enjoy recess on these playgrounds or serve as reading buddies in their former kindergarten classrooms. In our homes and in the hallways of our school, we have discussed and debated this reality, and have finally accepted that change is necessary. By listening closely to the ongoing budget talks, we realize that it is in everyone's best interest to focus on all children rather than just our own. We are facing a long-term budget crisis, not something that can be fixed in one year. We are ready and willing to support whatever plan makes long-term fiscal sense, determined through a thoughtful, analytic and objective process. As parents concerned for the welfare of all children, we support the plan that best serves the children of Amherst now and in the future, even if it means that many of our children will not complete their elementary education at Fort River.

We realize that Mark's Meadow may be closed, representing a loss of their community. And if that happens, the pain will be felt not only by Mark's Meadow families, but by families and children throughout Amherst as many children would change schools next year through redistricting. In all of our schools we face the loss of our community as we know it. Still, we have accepted that this pain may be coming and realize that we need to put aside our personal feelings and love for Fort River - as both a school and as a community - and focus on the greater good.

Sue and Sam Borden; Alisa Braverman; Nancy and Mark Buffone; Claudia Donald; Janet and Craig Kannel; Alison Donta-Venman; Mike Jacques; Jeff Livingston; Ann McLaughlin; Barbara and Matt Morse; Navneet Marwaha; Lisa Perlbinder; Tammy Rahhal; Howard Rhett; Leigh Salvage; Pat and Sue Schilling; Matthew Schulkind; Carol Slaughter; Shubha Tewari; Peter Venman; Debbie Weyl; Joel and Traci Wolfe; Karen and Shlomo Zilberstein
Fort River parents
Amherst

Friends of Paine

To the Bulletin: President Obama's inaugural address had two surprises for Thomas Paine Friends. At the end of the speech he quoted a passage from Paine's "American Crisis I," but it was not the familiar, "These are the times that try men's souls ...."

It was, "Let it be told to the future world that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet it ...." The president also failed to identify Paine as the author.

Recently, Paine was honored more directly by appearing on the Feb. 2 cover of the Nation magazine, in a fanciful drawing of the Obama inauguration surrounded by the great anti-slavery and civil rights pioneers in American history.

Paine is best known as the author of "Common Sense," which not only convinced so many colonists to fight for an independent America, but also outlined our form of representative democracy, based on a written constitution. Since his death 200 years ago, on June 8, 1809, his great writing achievements have often been ignored, but in times of crisis like these, his stirring and relevant words of hope and reason are heard by a wide audience.

On Jan. 31, Thomas Paine Friends of Amherst held its annual Paine birthday party, with refreshments and music, at the Jones Library. A highlight was extensive readings from Paine's "American Crisis I," which also includes the immortal, "Let them call me rebel and welcome ..." and "Not all the treasures of the world, so far as I believe, could have induced me to support an offensive war, for I think it murder."

Irwin Spiegelman
Amherst