Letters to the Editor September 26

Offensive stickers

First, I am no stranger to foul language. Anyone who knows me has heard some language from me that would embarrass a tank top.

My question is, when did it become acceptable to use this kind of language on bumper stickers? In the past, the F was usually followed by three lines. If you were an adult you understood the meaning. Now it’s not only written in bold, it’s used to attack those with whom you disagree politically or medically.

There was a time when you might not agree with someone politically or personally, but you were discussing the issue, or at least listening to the opposite point of view. You didn’t put a sign in your yard or put up a bumper sticker that says F — so and so.

Do you think it looks good? Do you think it looks macho? More American? If that is your goal, you are completely wrong. It makes you look ignorant, biased, and easily moved by emotion. Can’t you express yourself in decent English and state your case without offending others? If offense is your goal, do you consider children who see the signs too?

This country has been divided, maybe we can start to heal, at least a little bit, by taking posters and stickers filled with hate and throwing them away.

– Roseanne [Rocky] Feckete, Bigfork

Critical mind

Thank you for printing Frederick Zacogny’s letter responding to Amy Regier’s criticism of the Montana Nurses Association’s support for masks in schools.

Regier assumes that masks contribute to anxiety. I know several children who feel safer wearing masks than not. Not feeling safe produces deep anxiety.

If Regier herself had exemplary critical thinking skills, she would have given her opinion supported by solid evidence.

Instead, she makes assumptions and gives a weak argument. She seems to think her case is best defended by criticizing the Montana Nurses Association, which serves nurses who continue to be in the trenches, navigating Covid’s many complex healthcare delivery issues.

– Rosalinda Alfaro-LeFevre is a registered nurse and author of “Critical Thinking, Clinical Reasoning and Clinical Judgment, 7th Edition”.

Our children need us

In the Daily Inter Lake of September 19, there was an article about the recent cluster of suicides of members of our school community. A quote struck me; “They were all good families – good children,” Heino said.

I am grateful for Flathead County Sheriff Brian Heino’s service to our community; he does not have an easy job. But I would like to rephrase the idea of ​​“good” children: are there really “bad” children and “bad” families?

I have worked for School District 5 for 25 years in the drama department in several roles, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned in those years as a director and drama teacher, is that there are no “bad” children. All children are vulnerable, have pain and insecurities, and all children need the adults in their lives to open our ears and arms to our youth; maybe even more often than we open our mouths. As a teacher and theater staff, I have heard many stories of students who were considering suicide, but changed their minds due to connections within our school and our theater community.

Our children are really desperate right now: but maybe not because we ask them to wear masks. Maybe they feel desperate because the adults in their lives are so divided and horrible to each other, instead of caring for the most vulnerable among us.

The issues of climate change, economic inequalities and, yes, the pandemic, loom large in their minds. Some feel desperate for the future.

Community, let’s stop arguing and really listen to our kids. They need us to step up our efforts, put our own ego aside and take care of them. It is our duty and our sacred privilege.

– Valeri McGarvey, Kalispell