Blameless Covington students were just waiting for the bus

We really can be better than this

Don’t our elected officials in Washington, including our president, know the rules of playing together in the sandbox of life?

Our ancestors, including the caveman, had ways of settling their differences. So, why can’t the powers that be come to the table of open, honest and empathetic conversation to make decisions that are in the very best interest of our wonderful country?

This current path of problem-solving is: Childish? Yep. Ego-centered? Certainly. Narrow-sighted? Indeed. Prideful? Of course. Charged with unnecessary emotional baggage? You bet. Based on greed? Definitely. And demonstrating a total lack of empathy for our entire country? Absolutely.

I challenge all of our leaders to leave the bubbles of protection they live in and to remember their roots by walking in the shoes of all their neighbors.

We just might find out who we really are and become reconnected again. What a concept.

They just wanted to get on the bus

Only in social media-frenzied America, assisted by irresponsible news media commentators, can high school kids waiting for a bus be demonized.

It appears to me that students from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky were simply waiting for a bus near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., as one of them said, when vile and obscene names were hurled at them by black extremists, simply because the students are white. After bearing this assault by crazed adults, they remained calm and stationary so as not to escalate this confrontation into violence.

As this verbal assault was occurring, an adult Native American activist approached them and began beating a drum and chanting in a teen’s face. Once again, the teens remained in place and did not escalate the situation.

How many adults would have remained calm and non-confrontational when obscenities were hurled at them or someone banged a drum in their face?

Unfortunately, now kids waiting for a bus and not approaching anyone have been victimized and demonized by irresponsible adults.

Please, visit Mister Rogers’ world

Many thanks to Michael Ryan for introducing Tim’s Madigan’s marvelous book, “I’m Proud of You: My Friendship with Fred Rogers,” to your many subscribers who may not have heard of it. (Jan. 20, 6B, “Truth of life can be found in a trip to Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”)

Tim is a friend of mine, so I bought his book right away when it came out. Everyone should read this wonderful book. It is very moving and touching. It will make you laugh one minute, and then cry for the next two.

Feeling down in the dumps? Read Tim’s book. Give yourself lots of time — it is a page-turner.

No repercussions for Pelosi, Clinton

Thank God for President Donald Trump.

I wonder how high House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s voice went and what language she used when Trump recently denied her trip to visit the troops in Afghanistan. Someone once wrote that Pelosi had no regard for the rules that applied to everyone else.

Meanwhile, columnist Cynthia Allen recently wrote about “sexting” exposing the ways our society has deteriorated at every level of citizenship. (Jan. 19, 9A, “From #MeToo to ‘safe sexting’: how far we have not come)

And, like Hillary Clinton, the people who engage in this behavior seem to do so without penalties.

This story was originally published January 26, 2019 at 8:32 PM.