Attacks’ negative consequences
Dearest Miguel Rios, the Antelope Valley Press gifts us 400 words to share our revelations about this challenging, dynamic and often hypocritical world.
We can attempt to move readers to a higher level of consciousness based on our personal and professional experiences, political ideologies, or moralistic barometers. Or we can throw spaghetti against the wall and feel we’ve had our say about everything from potholes to a politician’s indiscretions.
If you believe your precious 400 words were best used in your Feb. 8 letter to devalue the pillars of my life (professional, personal, academic, moral or spiritual values) and thus increase your pool of like-minded souls, please carry on. But for the first time in 30 years, I have to agree with John Manning’s admonishment that attacking other letter writers has negative returns.
A tit-for-tat contest is perhaps entertaining at first blush, but it has never been an effective vehicle for moving this community forward. Besides, every biography I have read about the most iconic and revered figures in history pinpoint the moments of personal pain, loss, disappointment, introspection and, yes, humility that moved them from mediocre to invaluable. They went beyond self-imposed or societal limitations and allowed themselves to feel the pain, disappointment, and despair of that moment, and finally understand and accept their place in this human experiment. In almost every biography there exists an understanding that there is a nexus between what was, what is, and what can be.
Miguel, those 400 words can move readers in the direction of finding common ground to resolve a problem (whether it’s pot holes or an inherent discriminatory policy) or perpetuate the problem. They can begin to understand and accept that they have purpose and the power to make changes rather than live eternally on a hamster wheel. James Baldwin, the celebrated African-American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet and social critic, said it best with the belief many iconic figures acknowledge: “Know from whence you came. If you know whence you came, there are absolutely no limitations to where you can go.”
I am forever mindful of the egregious and magnificent acts of the past; I am a survivor of the hateful actions of my detractors, and no, letter writer James Gardner, I don’t hate Donald Trump. I find him to be the poster boy of the historical evil white supremacists continue to visit upon this nation. But I feel intense dislike for his apologists, benefactors and sycophants.
Dr. Diana BeardWilliams Brown Palmdale