We can’t continue to turn our backs on evil
In 1941, Hitler and the Nazis started rounding up the mentally and physically handicapped and the old people in rest homes and began quietly exterminating them.
They were a “drain” on the Third Reich. When the people discovered this, they were outraged, and hundreds spoke out against this moral evil, at the risk of being tortured and killed by the Gestapo, which was the fate of many.
When we fast-forward two generations, we find our consciences immune to what has been happening in our country during the last 40 years. We routinely hear or read in the news about such issues as fetus dismemberment and whether it is right or wrong, and whether it is nice to help our old people end their lives.
In Belgium, the law allows the killing of children, as well as adults. Remember the argument for the “slippery slope?” How far will we go?
Sara Foss in her April 30 column, “Making a case for assisted suicide” and Kathleen Gallagher’s May 6 letter to the editor, “Assisted suicide talks don’t include all info,” provide insightful looks at the topic.
We have been taught to have “relative eyes.” Everything is OK if I don’t hurt anyone. But of course, it’s not true.
There is a line from the Bible story about Pontius Pilate confronting Jesus on truth. He asked sneeringly, “What is truth?” I don’t think the Lord of life would find it OK to kill 50,000 children a year before they are born and then an untold number at the other end of life, primarily for our convenience.
I don’t believe it is a question of how we might spin the truth, but the question of what our Creator might consider right and wrong, and what we intuitively know in our consciences.
We have become desensitized to evil. In 1939, the public was aghast at hearing Rhett Butler in the movie “Gone with the Wind,” tell Scarlett O’Hara, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” It’s hard to name a movie today, especially for teens and adults, that does not use foul language in the form of what we used to say was “sailor language.”
We are doing today the same things that were done in Nazi Germany. We can spin all we want, but evil is evil. For those who don’t know history, we can be sure of repeating it.
Edmund Burke once said: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Gerard F. Havasy
Clifton Park
Racino expansion a comedy of hypocrisy
Re “May 28 article, “Racino breaks ground on long-planned hotel”: The recent ground-breaking of the hotel at the racino proves again that some people have no sense of irony or shame.
At the event, James Featherstonhaugh, one of the principal owners of the racino, assured us that with the building of the hotel, the racino will ” . . . remain competitive in this market for years to come.” How long ago was it that the public relations firm for the racino subjected us to a daily barrage of hysterical warnings that if they were not allowed to expand with table games, that both the racino and our entire city were at risk of economic collapse?
Todd Shimkus, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, told The Gazette that the chamber never took an “official” position on the racino’s attempt to expand to a fully fledged casino. Given his full throated advocacy during the controversy, his carefully parsed assertion has the same ring of authenticity as the statement by a certain past U.S. president that “he never had sex with that woman.”
Finally, we have the spectacle of Saratoga Springs Mayor Joanne Yepsen digging a hole for the new hotel where the practice harness track has been (but will be no more), telling the public how good this expansion will be for horse racing.
This is the kind of comedy that only money from a lucrative slot machine palace can buy.
John Kaufmann
Saratoga Springs
Still hoping for better choice of candidates
Very poor selection. With all the money spent on education and on ethics reform, how come we can’t come up with some decent presidential candidates? With the campaigns heating up, one wonders what kind of choices we will have.
Each candidate running for office spends millions of dollars trying to discredit the other. In the end, there won’t be anyone who can stand up to public scrunity.
Just once I would like to see a quiet, well-educated person with strong morals who believes in God and country, one who will put this country back on track, a person that other countries can respect and look up to.
The last thing we need is more Clintons or Bushes. This would be a case of history repeating itself. Well, I guess we will just have to wait and see what choices they give us.
Marty Shanty
Charlton
Grateful to man who returned lost wallet
On May 17, I realized I had lost my wallet and other personal effects.
Shortly thereafter, a man came to my home with the lost items.
He had found them on a nearby road and was returning everything intact.
We were in the midst of a birthday celebration and neglected to get his name.
I would like to meet such an honest person and thank him personally for restoring my faith in humanity.
Tom Saul
Glenville
Show Ellis RNs how important they are
The registered nurses of Ellis Hospital are advocating for the community’s care — and they need our support. The RNs have been in contract negotiations with the hospital since January. At issue now are safe staffing guidelines to guarantee that a nurse is available when patients need one. The fact that Ellis is short of nursing staff has been well documented, by patients and concerned citizens. Too many patients and not enough nurses.
An April article in The Gazette exposed that. In January alone, 500 people left the ER without being seen. A friend had family spend over 24 hours in a hallway before having a mental health intervention.
Without enough nurses, what will become of our community hospital? Do you really want to think about how long you have to wait to be seen if you are having a heart attack or some other life-threatening episode? The RNs’ fight for quality care is not over.
I urge you, in the coming weeks, to show your support for them in any way possible.
Join them in informational picketing; tell your story, as a patient or caregiver; write letters to the editor or go to social media to let nurses know that you appreciate all that they are doing to ensure quality health care for our community. Now, we owe them.
Camille A. Sasinowski
Schenectady
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Categories: Letters to the Editor
