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Responding to violence with violence
ensures the escalation, not the eradication
of violence. We want to avoid becoming
that which we abhor. So perhaps its time
we actually live by our ideals and become
the change we want to see in the world.
It can start simply with our use of
language. Stop this juvenile name calling,
and actually acknowledge the people that
we don’t agree with as we would want to
be acknowledged by them.
Every time you print the terms “gun
nuts” or “wing nuts” you are stooping to
their level, and you are becoming the very
ignorance you criticize. Additionally, you
are fanning the fl ames of confl ict instead
of rising to the challenge of reconciliation.
Grow up. Evolve. Expand your compassion
to all living creatures. Don’t be so lazy
as to resort to insults to categorize entire
populations of complex human beings.
Or not — the future is yours to live in.
Robert Gans
Dexter
WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
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JUVENILE NAME-CALLING
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d.c
We may be the 99 percent of the U.S.
population, but as American citizens, we
are still the wealthy elite of the global
population. We are among the 1 percent
with access to a college education, highly
quality health care and clean drinking
water. As broken as our political system is,
we still posses a great deal more political
freedom than our brothers and sisters of
the less “developed” nations of the world,
the people whom we directly oppress
through our daily support of the very same
corporations we decry.
We buy shoes manufactured by abused
children working in sweatshops in Asia. We
use cell phones and computers containing
rare and toxic elements controlled by
guerrilla forces in central Africa, killing
innocent civilians and endangered species
in the crossfi re. We eat bananas, sugar
and chocolate grown on slave plantations
throughout Latin America. We further
desecrate and pollute our own land through
resource extraction and the dumping of
toxic waste.
We are collectively responsible for
the resource wars being fought across
the globe. We maintain our consumer
lifestyle at the expense of all others. We
are all conditioned by our parents, school
teachers, government “representatives,”
corporate media, etc. to accept this short-
sighted and self-centered version of the
American dream.
We could all use a bit more love
and compassion from our friends and
neighbors. However, if we are going to
survive as a species (or evolve beyond our
present circumstances), we are all going to
need to make some very drastic changes in
the way that we relate to one another and
the more-than-human world.
The one thing I have discovered which
has never failed is the willingness to listen
to the heart. Through meditation and/
or contemplative practices we are able
to deepen our connection to a source of
strength and clarity which is needed now
more than ever.
Nathaniel Nordin-Tuininga
Eugene
ar
PC
While I was waiting in line to grab some
lunch at LCC, I overheard a conversation
going on and a few key words popped out.
A big one being the word “Mexicans.” Me
being a big ole Mexican, I brace myself.
I wait, and boom there it is: “Why do
we have to learn their language? This
is America, we speak English!” Blood
rushes to my cheeks as the two women in
front of me laugh to themselves. This is
a conversation I have heard many times
over; it still affects me.
My grandmother and grandfather
moved to California from Mexico in the
late 1950s. They both worked and raised
a family, all the while trying to assimilate
into a culture that would never really accept
them. When I was a little kid, I remember
my grandpa trying to teach my brothers
and me Spanish, so we could in turn better
communicate with our grandmother. In our
English-speaking world, we didn’t want
to learn this weird language, none of our
friends spoke it, so why should we learn it
right? We were disconnected to our culture
at an early age and it wasn’t until I moved
to Oregon from California, a little over 10
years ago, did I really feel that disconnect.
So now I’m in my 30s trying to
reconnect. Luckily through time I’ve gather
enough Spanish words that I can carry on
a conversation with my grandmother and
throughout the years she has learned enough
English to talk to me. She still has shame
around her accent and is reluctant to speak
English to anyone she doesn’t know. It is sad
that this beautiful 84-year-old grandmother
has this shame surrounding her Spanish
drenched English speaking voice. It is
because of intolerant folks with entitlement
issues that this kind of shame exist.
Yes, we speak English in the U.S., but
we also speak so many different languages.
You aren’t the only ones here. Get over it.
Marlena Zaragoza
Eugene
OCCUPY THE HEART
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TRYING TO RECONNECT
O
w.
providing much-needed childcare for many
families in the area.
The Boys and Girls Club was able to
provide after-school care for up to 259
children in the Eugene/Cottage Grove
area, for the small membership fee of $20
a year. This allowed a number of families
who could not otherwise afford childcare
a safe and nurturing environment for their
children to spend time. I worry about the
families that cannot place their children in
other after-school programs, and how this
affects their employment, as well as daily
family dynamics. Without these programs,
many of the older children will have to stay
in their homes alone, resulting in isolation
and boredom that can lead to troublesome
and sometimes destructive behaviors.
The Boys and Girls Club is hoping to
reopen on Jan. 3. In the interim, it is their
goal to raise $150,000 in order to get things
back up and running. This program relies
heavily on donations and fundraising, so
as a community I encourage all of us to do
our best to support this program and others
like it. They are vital to our community.
It is our responsibility to work together
to make these programs available to the
children that need them.
Kathleen Jolly
Eugene
m
TO THE EDITOR
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EUGENE WEEKLY DECEMBER 1, 2011
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