Trump is on notice
Everytime Donald Trump does or says something racist, sexist, acts like a bully, insults the disabled or publicly embarrasses this county, the afront should be put on continuing display. Let us put Trump on notice. Let us see if the tiger can change its stripes.
Susan Hennessy
Cherryfield
Trump’s hateful campaign
I was saddened to read Kathleen FitzGerald’s Nov. 15 BDN OpEd about why she voted for Donald Trump. She and I share a lot in common as white women, regular church attendees, wives and mothers, volunteers and concerned voters, but I have to wonder where she was during the recent campaign.
FitzGerald said she voted to protect, respect, support and love children, military and others. Trump shocked veterans by saying John McCain was not a war hero because he was captured. How can we gauge his concern for children when Trump refused to elaborate or describe in any way how he plans to provide for the 22 million Americans who now rely on Obamacare, which he plans to abolish?
FitzGerald said she voted so “every American is privileged to practice their faith without fear of persecution,” but Trump specifically targeted Mexicans and Muslims with ethnic and religious slurs before large groups of supporters and broadcast live on television. He wants to deny immigration to Muslims and deport as many undocumented Mexican immigrants as possible.
In all of my 50 years as a registered voter, I have never seen a candidate for any office so savagely and viciously attack the character of his opponent.
What is it about Trump that earned her confidence? Like all Americans, I understand that the decision has been made. I wonder, though, when we hear that “The voice of the people has been heard,” do those people, including FitzGerald, have any idea what it is that they said?
Kathy Lane
Rockland
Maine can solve its drug crisis
Back in the 1970s, teachers at a high school in Vermont were concerned about apathy and drug abuse among our students. Our guidance counselor had just done an Outward Bound course in Colorado and convinced us to give it a try. We wrote a federal grant, got training in experiential education and over six years took kids backpacking, rock climbing, canoeing and winter camping. We watched as self-esteem climbed among Vermont kids while drug abuse plummeted.
Some were the first in their families ever to graduate from high school. Others discovered the world of higher education. Some became successful electricians, plumbers and carpenters. And those who succeeded had one thing in common: They learned trust and compassion for their peers, and they developed the self-confidence to set and achieve goals. There is an inner satisfaction that comes following hard work and dedication. No one can do this for us. It must come from within. And as their teachers, we made the commitment to help bring it about.
Forty years later, we appear to have forgotten this lesson. When faced with climbing a 100-foot cliff, students came to realize: “I can’t pay someone to climb this for me. I’ve got to do it myself.” We’ve got a drug problem Down East. We can’t pay someone else to solve it for us. We know what works. We have to roll up our sleeves, get involved in a meaningful way and meet the problem head on. No one can do it for us.
Dick Hoyt
Lubec
Listen to those left behind
The past eight years, for me, have been like a wonderful dinner party. Linen tablecloth, candlelight glinting off crystal and silver, and course after course of amazing food while conversation and laughter flow as freely as the wine and people spark off each other in sharing ideas.
Only, there was an entire group who weren’t getting the jokes, didn’t like the food and didn’t know which fork to use. We never stopped to include them in the conversation (even though we sort of knew we should), and we ignored their discomfort, thinking if we just kept going they’d realize how great it was and join in.
That group just stood up and flipped the table.
So here we stand amid the wreckage of broken plates and spilled food. What now? First, we remind ourselves of who we are and what we believe. We cling to it. We mourn. Then we get to work. We stand between ignorance and the people we love. We remember that fear cannot be overcome with shouting or with hate. We channel our anger into the strength we need to listen and engage when we’d rather not. We listen. We lobby. We work. We can clean up the mess and turn our spilled dinner into compost for next year’s crops. There will be another season.
Heather Martin
Bar Harbor
Don’t bury democracy
Donald Trump must now work hard to graduate from his extended philosophical infancy and blossom into an adult who has at least a rudimentary understanding of what citizenship and service to his fellow citizens mean. He might begin with the common admonishment that “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”
Trump’s personal and business history illustrates a clear understanding of the first part. As to the second part, it was not shared, he did not hear it, or he felt that he could ignore it. Perhaps this allows him not to be weighed down by conscience because conscience requires reflection, which in turn requires personal investments of time, independent research and deep thought.
Meanwhile, he must look to others for guidance and take care to select individuals who are willing to place maintenance of our democracy ahead of personal views and ambitions. Persons who understand the meaning of trust, and who seek to earn it and not violate the intentions of our founders and Constitution. We take these things as granted. Our public servants work hard to be sure that we can.
So, Trump needs to make sure that the “can” in that admonishment isn’t transformed into a can that becomes a coffin for democracy and all that it has come to mean.
Gary Roberts
Belmont