A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
You can be a
Nazi, or you can
be an American
I
t was hard to dispassionately
watch and read the news
last weekend, as groups
of neo-Nazis and counter
protesters clashed on the
streets of Charlottesville,
Virginia. One woman was
murdered. Two police offi cers
died in a terrible accident.
That much anger, hate and
violence is hard to stomach,
and it surely left Americans
across the country seething
on their couches as Nazi and
Confederate sympathizers
marched angrily through our
public space.
There were dozens of
major issues at play in
Charlottesville, and we could
write a tome on each and every
one.
But we would like to
expand on just one small
fact that can hopefully fi nd
universal agreement: You can
either be an American, or you
can be a Nazi — you can’t
be both. You cannot call for
the overthrow of America’s
core principles and still call
yourself a patriot.
Photos of protesters waving
American, Confederate and
Nazi fl ags are incongruent.
Those governments — their
principles and their history
— are opposites, enemies.
They opposed each other, they
warred against each other.
Take just the historical
facts: The Confederacy waged
war against the United States,
the bloodiest and deadliest war
this country has ever fought.
To wave those fl ags together,
and to support and glorify
Confederate generals and
members of the Confederate
government, is anti-American.
And to all those who think
removing those fl ags from
public spaces and tearing
down such statues is “erasing
history,” don’t be so obtuse.
Germany would not be stupid
enough to allow monuments
and statues to Nazis to remain
standing — they were long ago
unceremoniously destroyed.
Yet as we can see, knowledge
of Nazis and their history
has not been erased — it
has been so well studied and
documented that most citizens
are crystal clear on what the
swastika stands for. And what
it stands for is undergoing a
resurgence here in America.
There is no reason a
patriotic American would
tolerate or promote Nazi
ideals. It’s the fl ag of a
government that declared
war on the United States, that
killed hundreds of thousands
of our brave soldiers and
millions of their own people.
A government that turned the
world to war, too.
We have freedom of
speech in this country —
even for Nazis. It’s one of
the perversions that reminds
us of our principles. But the
allowance should never be
confused with acceptance.
The anti-American ideas and
speech that was on display
in Charlottesville should be
challenged everywhere they
raise their ugly head.
F ARMER ’ S F ATE
‘High Heels & Tractor Wheels’
By Brianna Walker
To the Blue Mountain Eagle
My palms were sweating. I
could feel my pulse even in my
toes.
I can’t remember the last time
I was so nervous — maybe a high
school speech class — but then
again, maybe not. For the first
time since I started wearing high
heels, I felt a little wobbly — and
I’m pretty sure even the bottoms
of my feet were sweating. I was in
Seattle for a book signing — my
book signing.
Since I was 10 years old and
learning to diagram, I knew I
wanted to write. I love stories: I
love to listen to stories, I love to
read stories, I love to write stories.
And now here I was, ready to sign
my name for anyone wanting to
read those stories.
It was a terrifyingly wonder-
ful experience. I put on my best
smile and my highest heels, and
spent the next few hours chat-
ting with strangers. One ques-
tion I was asked over and over,
“What inspired the name of the
book, ‘High Heels & Tractor
Wheels?’”
Well, I was always told you
should write what you know best.
For me that is farm life and fam-
ily. And while Muck boots and
work boots are the steak and po-
tatoes of farm life, heels are the
W HERE TO W RITE
GRANT COUNTY
• Grant County Courthouse — 201
S. Humbolt St., Suite 280, Canyon City
97820. Phone: 541-575-0059. Fax: 541-
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97864. Phone and fax: 541-934-2025.
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City 97869. Phone: 541-820-3605. Fax:
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• Seneca — P.O. Box 208, Seneca
97873. Phone and fax: 541-542-2161.
Email: senecaoregon@gmail.com.
SALEM
• Gov. Kate Brown, D — 254 State
Capitol, Salem 97310. Phone: 503-378-
3111. Fax: 503-378-6827. Website: www.
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• State Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario (Dis-
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20510?. Phone: 202-224-3753. Email:
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228-3997.
apple pie — high
heeled shoes to be
exact. Life is short
— heels shouldn’t
be.
I’d trade all the
lipstick, the lash
Brianna
extensions,
the
Walker
big purses and the
essential oils for
forklifts, tractors, grease guns and
small wallets — but when it comes
to heels, I’m all girl. Mark Twain
once wrote that “clothes make the
man,” but for a girl, a new pair of
shoes can be life-changing — just
ask Cinderella.
I love shoes, but unfortunate-
ly (or fortunately, depending on
who you are asking), I don’t have
a lot of time or money to spend
shoe shopping. My aunt, however,
does.
Her husband, like many hus-
bands, doesn’t seem to under-
stand the point of owning more
than three pairs of shoes: a formal
pair, a work pair and a pair to play
ball in. “So many heels, and only
two feet,” he’ll remark dryly. My
aunt’s shoe closet is a place where
dreams come true.
I have often stood looking at
box after box of gorgeous wedges,
heels and platforms. She doesn’t
need to fear people looking in her
closet for family skeletons — all
anyone will find there is fabulous
shoes!
I’m not sure what I did to make
the stars smile, but last week they
certainly were shining.
After a long and rainy spring, I
was finally back out on the tractor,
the sun was shining, the kids were
happily playing in the tractor cab
— and things were about to get
even better.
My aunt is retiring and mov-
ing, and cleaning out her shoe
closet — and just like Cinderella,
there are only two of her nieces
whose feet fit into her pretty little
slippers.
My aunt would text photos of
a group of shoes. Then my cousin
and I would take turns picking out
the shoes we liked.
Once those were through, my
aunt would text another group of
photos.
It was amazing. Shoe shop-
ping from my phone while GPS
and autosteer assured my rows
were perfectly straight. Now
that’s a good day — and the epit-
ome of the High Heels & Tractor
Wheels.
And so standing in a book
store, wearing new-to-me heels, I
opened up the front cover of my
book and in a red pen I signed:
“Say no to drugs,
get high on heels ...
... and buy a tractor to match!”
Brianna Walker occasionally
writes about the Farmer’s Fate for
the Blue Mountain Eagle.
L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
‘No honey bees
means no food’
To the Editor:
Aug. 19 is National Honey Bee
Day, a day to celebrate one of the
most important and widespread
pollinators of our food and flow-
ers. And we need to do more to
protect honey bees and all of our
pollinators.
Honey bees pollinate many of
the foods we eat, from blueberries
to almonds. In Oregon, beloved
foods such as cantaloupes are pol-
linated by honey bees. Unfortu-
nately, millions of honey bees are
dying off due to neonicotinoids, a
pesticide extremely lethal to bees.
Without honey bees, there will be
big consequences for our envi-
ronment and our food supply: No
honey bees means no food.
This summer, you can cele-
brate National Honey Bee Day
and help protect bees by hosting a
bee friendly Bee-Bee-Q or picnic.
It’s the perfect way to end summer
– join with friends and family to
enjoy delicious foods, cook with
recipes shared by chefs from our
Bee Friendly Food Alliance and
made possible by bee pollination,
all while helping to save the hon-
ey bees.
Saumya Shruti
Environment Oregon
Editor’s note: For more infor-
mation, email beefriendlyfood@
environmentamerica.org.
A naked person
in our paper?
To the Editor:
What is the matter with our Blue
Mountain Eagle that they would
stoop so low as to put a picture of a
naked person in our paper?
I don’t care whether it’s in front
or back. It was a shock to me.
Where are our morals? And to
think they have children, besides
all of our children. I know what
goes on behind closed doors is not
our business. But when you get it
slapped in your face, and it’s our
Eagle.
I’ve taken the Eagle for many
years, and it never had something
like this in it.
I think it’s a disgrace to Grant
County, and I’ve heard I’m not
the only one upset over this. I was
raised in a religious home, and I’m
so glad I was. Maybe I’m getting
too old to accept the new way of
life. But I’m through with the Ea-
gle. I really thought your editor
would have been smarter than to do
something like this.
Darlene Forrest
Monument
L
etters policy: Letters to the Editor is a forum for Blue Mountain Eagle readers to express themselves on local, state, national
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