OPINION READER’S FORUM
Founded in 1906
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2022
A4
OUR VIEW
In praise of free stuff
S
tarting last week, the Hermiston
Rite Aid started giving away free
masks. The masks are piled on a
table near the entrance. Visitors can pick
up four masks for each member of their
household.
“Free” in this context means the
masks are without cost to the people
who receive them. Of course, the masks
were not free to produce and distribute.
This bill was picked up by the federal
government. Four-hundred million N95
masks are being given away throughout
our country as part of a plan to reduce
COVID-19 infection.
We are glad for the masks, as we are
happy about free vaccinations. We look
forward to receiving free tests, when
they arrive. These tools will be useful in
our shared fight against the coronavirus.
It is good that they are free. This
means we will all be able to receive
them, regardless of our income.
No one should be at a disadvantage to
survive this awful pandemic because of
their poverty.
Picking up the masks, one is reminded
of the great many resources that are free
and the benefits we all share as a result.
The Hermiston Butte, Hat Rock and
the Columbia River are not exclusive
to the rich. The poorest of people have
access to them. Visiting them, as well as
our many local public parks, individuals
gain peace of mind, which leads to bet-
ter societies.
There are many government services
from which we gain much. Police, fire
and roads are a few. Having officers
come to your door a few minutes after
making a call can be taken for granted,
until you do not have this free service.
Governments have not cornered the
market on free stuff, though. Much of
what is done at many charity groups is
also free. The Agape House provides
free food. Martha’s House gives free
shelter.
As housing becomes more difficult
in the area, many could need Martha’s
House, where people can live rent-less
lives until they get back on their feet.
Most of the rooms are now vacant, but
that soon could change.
So we appreciate our free masks,
and all the things that are costless to us.
They serve us in times of emergency, as
now, but they also help us in our day-to-
day lives.
COMMENTARY
We want to see the straight stretches
LINDSAY
MURDOCK
FROM SUNUP TO
SUNDOWN
t’s quiet. I’ve found myself in an offi ce
in the early hours of the day, waiting
and watching.
My heart beats slow and steady as I set-
tle into the not-so-comfortable chair I have
found myself in more Fridays than I can
count. There is a hum of air coming through
the vent in the ceiling above me. I hear
the clicking of keys on a computer key-
board through the frosted glass across the
room. The receptionist I had just spoken to
moments before has her work cut out for
her it seems. Papers shuffl e, and a phone
rings. I catch the sound of laughter but dis-
miss it as fast as it arrives.
I wonder what there could possibly be
to laugh about right now. I breathe deep,
reminding myself that while I wait, it’s
best for my mental state to count the gifts,
look for the good and acknowledge that
this space and this time has already been
mapped out for me, just as it has been for
her. See the good, Lindsay, see the good, I
whisper to myself, and hear it, too.
The door opens to my left, and a young
mother and her young child walk in. They
stand at the same frosted glass, ring the
same bell and wait as patiently as my own
son and I had moments before. My mind
fl ashes back to the very fi rst time my boys
I
and I walked into this offi ce. They weren’t
much older than the boy standing in front of
me now, and I wasn’t much older than the
woman. I wonder, as I watch, if she knows
that as hard as it may be to come here, it’s
worth every amount of eff ort it takes. I
wonder if she knows that she doesn’t need
to worry.
The glass moves and the familiar voice
and words I know by heart echo through
the room, not for me this time, but for the
young mother I fi nd myself relating to, but
really not knowing at all. The glass closes
and she takes a seat near me while watching
her son play with a toy car she had handed
him moments earlier. Her son smiles at her,
and she smiles back, as she sits like me,
waiting.
I hear the phone ring again, and I glance
at the clock, wondering about my own son
who has outgrown playing with cars in this
offi ce, but hasn’t outgrown his need for this
place. Does he know that the time spent
here each Friday is meant to help, not hin-
der? I don’t really know. Does he feel the
love I have for him here and now as I wait
for his session to end? I don’t know that
either. He’s down a short hallway, talking
about the paper he was supposed to have
memorized, only I know that he doesn’t
have it memorized at all. The paper he was
supposed to have practiced reading with me
hasn’t been touched all week.
In fact, he crumpled the paper the minute
he left the offi ce the week before, frustrated
and disappointed, more at himself than the
paper. Deep in my heart, I know this part of
his story. This address we have visited each
week more times than I can count, is where
he needs to be, but oh how it tears my heart
apart knowing that he sees it as a hindrance,
not as an advantage.
I hear laughter again, and am brought
back to the present. I shift in my chair,
watching the young mother and her son
make their way through the doorway
toward their scheduled appointment. I smile
at them, cheering them on silently, knowing
that the journey they’re on isn’t for the faint
at heart. A few minutes later, my son walks
through the same doorway with a smile on
his face, stepping toward me with a sparkle
in his eyes.
“Today was my last day mom,” he says.
His speech therapist grins as they take
turns explaining what had happened during
the appointment. His goals had been met.
He did what was asked. The waiting was
over. Tears fi lled my eyes and a lump in
my throat formed. I knew as I listened that
there would still be work to do and setbacks
could possibly occur, but the time we had
spent putting one foot in front of the other
across a parking lot and into an offi ce each
week had taken us on a beautiful journey.
One that was now over.
We often fi nd ourselves in situations
where we wish for lives that are completely
mapped out. We want to see the straight
stretches, and like to know when to expect
sharp turns or roadblocks — lives that are
easy to navigate, without many challenges
or obstacles to hurdle. That kind of life
doesn’t exist. The thing that I learned, espe-
cially in that specifi c waiting room, is that
those challenges and obstacles that we may
not know about until they are upon us, are
often exactly what we need them to be.
In the waiting, in the worry, and in the
anxiousness of sitting in that offi ce space
each week, I learned two very specifi c
things. One, giving my attention to the good
that is happening in the places and spaces
around me, rather than getting worked up
about what may or may not happen tomor-
row, was, and still is, crucial for navigat-
ing any part of life I’m in successfully.
And, two, it’s absolutely OK to be hon-
est and vulnerable in admitting when we’re
stuck, and maybe even sick and tired of the
journey.
The professional we saw each week
was like a compass, pointing us in the right
direction and giving us tools to get where
we needed to go. Holding a map or a list
of addresses of places we need to visit is
comforting, but trusting in an unseen and
unknown future, with a hope in something
or even someone that is bigger than that
map, is where I believe we fi nd out what
we’re really made of.
So if you fi nd yourself waiting some-
where any time soon, like in the pharmacy
line, at the post offi ce, in a doctor’s offi ce
or even waiting for a ride somewhere, look
and see what’s good around you. It’s a part
of your story and worth every second of the
wait.
———
Lindsay Murdock lives and teaches in
Echo.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Funny, how some things never change
I read a recent editorial concerning the urban/rural
divide in Oregon. This divide dates back to more than
100 years ago.
I was reading “On this date in History” section that
in the early 1900s, residents of Eastern Oregon were
discussing joining Idaho. Funny, how some things never
change. I think if we ever want to have a truly repre-
sented form of government in Oregon, we need to chal-
lenge the 1964 Supreme Court ruling of Reynolds vs.
Sims.
The court ruled that voting districts should be based
on population. The one dissenting justice felt it was an
over reach of the federal court verse states rights to dic-
tate state elections. I feel the same principle that applies
to states should apply to counties within a state. The
founders wanted to ensure no matter how small or pop-
ulated a state maybe they had an equal say in the gover-
nance. That is why each state regardless of size only has
two senators. It was their feeling that each state played
a role in the makeup of the Union and should have an
equal say in the administration of laws and governance.
Oregon’s own constitution says state senators can be
selected by county or districts. I contend the 36 counties
that make up the state of Oregon should have an equal
say in the governance. The only way to finally put to
rest the urban/rural divide is to allow each county to be
Printed on
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VOLUME 115 • NUMBER 7
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represented in Salem by one senator. Just my opinion.
Joe Mesteth
Hermiston
Did Zuck Bucks infl uence the 2020 election?
There have been both articles and letters about the
election being bought, but no information that would
ever point in that direction, or disprove it that I have
seen in the East Oregonian. I would like to point out that
Mark Zuckerberg has provided what is known as Zuck
Bucks to the tune of more than $400 million to nonprofi t
groups that were in positions to infl uence the election.
Most was funneled through the Center for Tech and Civic
Life, a group led by three Democrats with a long his-
tory of activism, and the Center for Election Innovation
and Research with connections to People for the Ameri-
can Way, that group funneled Zuck Bucks to governmen-
tal entities, according to infl uencewatch.org/non-profi t/
center-for-election-innovation-research.
According to the Foundation for Government
Accountability, Georgia received more than $31 million
in Zuck Bucks for the general election alone. The money
went to salaries, laptops, vehicle rentals, attorney’s fees
for public records requests and mail-in balloting. Trump
leaning counties received $1.91 per registered voter,
Biden leaning counties received on average $7.13 per
CORRECTIONS
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SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Letters Policy: Letters to the Editor is a forum for the Hermiston
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voter. The money fl owed into the run-off election as well.
Democratic counties in Pennsylvania also were tar-
geted for Zuck Bucks infusion. Wisconsin received Zuck
Bucks, which outsourced much of their election opera-
tion to private liberal groups.
A statement that the election was bought has to be
backed up, and a statement saying it ain’t so needs proof,
too. Check out the Foundation for Government Account-
ability, Feb. 25, 2021, NPR on Zuck Bucks, or the Cap-
ital Research Center May 20, 2021, Broad and Lib-
erty April 13, 2021, NPR Dec. 8, 2020, to name just a
few sources. These sources certainly give pause to think
about the undue infl uence bought and paid for, and cer-
tainly concern about the consequences of such expendi-
tures from a moral/integrity perspective. One man’s infl u-
ence in elections to this level is cause for concern. There
are other fi nancial infl uences, not just this one.
I don’t know that goes as far as saying it was bought,
but it certainly has an odor of impropriety and outright
corruption to it. It is one area of many that I would like to
see cleaned up for future election integrity.
Granella Thompson
Weston
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