4 A
❘
WEDNESDAY EDITION
❘ FEBRUARY 1, 2017
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
NED HICKSON , EDITOR
❘ 541-902-3520 ❘
EDITOR @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Opinion
Homoginized history dangerously dilutes the past
Each year, our nation sets
aside days in remembrance of
events we deem important to
remember as Americans.
As a society.
As people.
We do this to ensure we will
always remember the individ-
uals, moments and historic
events that helped shape our
nation and the world around
us — whether it be to cele-
brate when we got things right
or to learn from the lessons of
getting it wrong.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day,
Pearl Harbor Day, Memorial
Day, Veterans Day, July
Fourth — taking time to
remember these days and
other days like them assures
that we never forget who we
are and, more importantly,
how we got here.
To deliver a speech on
Memorial Day without men-
tioning the ultimate sacrifice
paid by our veterans would be
the first step in diluting the
memory of the terrible cost of
war and those who paid the
price.
The same could be said for
speaking at the Pearl Harbor
Memorial without mentioning
those who remain entombed
within the submerged hull of
the USS Arizona. Imagine the
outcry that would ensue in the
wake of such an oversight,
whether accidental or pur-
poseful.
If a pop star forgets the
words to the Star Spangled
Banner, the reaction is gener-
ally swift and unforgiving.
So I’m left scratching my
head over the mixed reaction
to the National Holocaust
Remembrance Day speech
delivered by President Trump,
who failed to mention the 6
million Jews who were exter-
minated as part of the Nazi
Party’s “Final Solution.”
I say “failed to mention”
rather than “omitted” because
I want to believe it was a rook-
ie mistake. Over the course of
the last 16 years, Presidents
Bush and Obama have men-
speech on television, I decided
to find the speech and read it
myself, expecting to find a ref-
erence to Jews or anti-
Semitism that he had mistak-
enly overlooked.
I found no such reference.
Over the course of the next
several hours, I listened to
From the Editor’s Desk
N ED H ICKSON
tioned the genocide each year
in their National Holocaust
Remembrance Day speeches. I
realize that they were essen-
tially career politicians savvy
with public speaking on the
world stage.
President Trump is not a
career politician, which is one
of the reasons he appealed to
so many — and why I have
been going against my gut
instinct to give him the benefit
of the doubt.
After watching part of the
White House Press Secretary
Sean Spicer and Strategic
Communications
Director
Hope Hicks defend the deci-
sion to not specifically men-
tion the Jews in order to be
“more inclusive” of the esti-
mated 5 million others who
were also murdered — specif-
ically, “Gypsies, the mentally
ill, Jehovah’s Witnesses,
resistance fighters” and others.
While I agree that remem-
bering the more than 11 mil-
lion people who fell victim to
the Nazi regime throughout
Europe, not mentioning the 6
million who were specifically
targeted for extermination is to
miss the point of why we
remember this day.
As writer and Holocaust
survivor Elie Wiesel said,
“Not all victims were Jews,
but all Jews were victims.”
To omit the fact that the
majority of those targeted for
extermination belonged to a
single group is to dilute the
horrific history lesson we
must never forget — that one
man somehow wielded the
power to decide the fate of an
entire people in his bid for
world domination.
If we allow history to be
homogenized, we lose the ref-
erence points that guide future
generations toward decisions
that will either be used to
either eliminate or emulate our
mistakes from the past.
Whether “rookie mistake”
or purposeful omission by
speech writer and newly
appointed White House Chief
Strategist Steve Bannon,
whose anti-Semitic stance has
been well documented on his
Breitbart News platform, we
have an obligation to give our
representatives at all levels a
“gut check” when there’s rea-
son to question their actions or
inaction.
I don’t disagree with every-
thing President Trump has
done, anymore than I agreed
with everything done by
President Obama. We are at an
important crossroads as a
nation, and I am hopeful that
this beginning turbulence will
stir up the things that will help
us remember the things that
identify us as Americans.
A big reason for that hope is
because, as Americans, we
have always realized the
importance of unflinchingly
acknowledging our past.
Write Siuslaw News editor Ned
Hickson at nhickson@thesiuslaw
news.com or P.O. Box 10,
Florence, Ore. 97439.
LETTERS
L ACK
OF AWARENESS
Last Friday, there was an informative talk
given by Florence resident and retired nurse
Katie Prosser about the lack of awareness and
action related to women’s heart disease.
None of the women in the room (the talk fol-
lowed a DAR meeting) were aware that heart
disease is the No. 1 killer of women. Much of
the press coverage and research go to breast
cancer while a woman’s chance of dying from
breast cancer is only 1 in 32 — whereas there’s
1-in-3 chance of their dying from heart disease.
To make matters worse, women don’t get the
typical “pain in the chest radiating to the shoul-
der” like men do. As a result, 71 percent of
women getting early warning signals of a heart
attack don’t seek medical care because they
don’t recognize the symptoms. If they do seek
treatment, 1-in-7 women are misdiagnosed due
to the lack of awareness and training on
women’s symptoms.
Attention to heart disease has really helped
save lives for men; now we need to help educate
women. Forty-two percent of women die in the
first year after a heart attack, compared to 24
percent of men; in addition, 46 percent of
women who are the victim of heart attacks
become disabled while it’s only 22 percent of
men.
So, this Friday, Feb. 3, let’s wear red in sup-
port of “Womens Heart Disease Awareness.”
Sherry Harvey
Florence
T URNING
LIFE AROUND
We have an exceptional program here in
Florence that deserves to have its praises shared
far and wide. The Memory Loss Respite Center
and its team of volunteers have completely
turned my mother’s life around in just a month’s
time.
Prior to attending this adult daycare program
located in the Florence Senior Center, my moth-
er was struggling with depression brought on by
her diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and the encroach-
ing loss of her independence. Her interest in her
own self-care was waning and she was with-
drawn and uncooperative at home.
After her first day there, I began to see imme-
diate changes. The very next day she got herself
up out of bed and took a shower on her own
(something she hadn’t done in a couple of
years). She didn’t know what she had to do, but
USPS# 497-660
something deep inside her told her that she had
somewhere fun to be that day.
I take her to her “coffee club” three times a
week now and continue to see improvements in
her spirit as well as cognitive function. I used to
have to literally coerce her into taking a shower
and getting dressed. Now she showers on her
own even on days she doesn’t have club and is
beginning to choose her own outfits to wear.
She had no interest in household chores and
would often argue with me as to whether or not
they needed to be done. Now, she does the dish-
es daily, she drags her hamper out of her room
and tells me it’s full and even asks if it’s time to
change her sheets.
Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2
p.m.
Juels Larson
Florence
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WHERE TO WRITE
Published every Wednesday and Saturday at 148 Maple St. in Florence, Lane County, Oregon. A member of the National
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Postmaster, send address changes to: Siuslaw News, P.O. Box 10, Florence, OR 97439; phone 541-997-3441; fax
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John Bartlett
Jenna Bartlett
Ned Hickson
Susan Gutierrez
Cathy Dietz
Ron Annis
Jeremy Gentry
For those of you who haven’t experienced
caregiving, these changes may seem trivial.
However, for those of you who have someone
you love with Dementia or Alzheimer’s, you
know that they are milestones.
When I ask my mother about coffee club,
she’ll unemotionally say, “It’s ok,” and I know
that’s her disease talking. When I go to pick her
up, she will be laughing with the volunteers and
insisting to stay a few more minutes so she can
finish her round of dominoes because she has
her next move planned out.
I am eternally grateful to the wonderful vol-
unteers who have made all this possible and
who are there with smiles on Mondays,
Pres. Donald Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
TTY/TDD Comments: 202-456-6213
www.whitehouse.gov
202-224-5244
541-431-0229
www.wyden.senate.gov
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley
313 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753/FAX: 202-228-3997
541-465-6750
www.merkley.senate.gov
Gov. Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
900 Court St.
Salem, OR 97301-4047
Governor’s Citizens’ Rep.
Message Line 503-378-4582
www.oregon.gov/gov
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (4th Dist.)
2134 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6416
541-269-2609/ 541-465-6732
www.defazio.house.gov
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
State Sen. Arnie Roblan (Dist. 5)
900 Court St. NE - S-417
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1705
FAX: 503-986-1080
Email:
Sen.ArnieRoblan@state.or.us
State Rep. Caddy McKeown
(Dist. 9)
900 Court St. NE
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1409
Email:
rep.caddymckeown@state.or.us
West Lane County Commissioner
Jay Bozievich
125 E. Eighth St.
Eugene, OR 97401
541-682-4203
FAX: 541-682-4616
Email:
Jay.Bozievich@co.lane.or.us