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How can just one person make a difference?

Years ago, when living in Thief River Falls, our state senator had come up with a bill that would have encouraged draining wetlands, which I didn’t think was a good idea in an area which already had a lot of spring flooding. I contacted a lobbyist with the Minnesota Audubon Society and asked if there was anything I could do. He said to stop by the Minnesota capitol on the day the hearing for the bill was scheduled. He would escort me to the hearing room, and I would speak in opposition to the bill.

When we went to the hearing room at the appointed time, I sat in the very front of the room. There were no others in the room. As the Senate Committee members entered the room, my State Senator saw me in the front of the room, and knowing me and my position, showed some surprise and concern on his face.

When the committee came to his bill, he declined to introduce it. 

The lobbyist said my presence was enough to stop him from submitting the bill. A politician is very sensitive to having the only public comment on a bill to be opposition from his own constituent.

How can just one person make a difference? Just show up.

Keith Steva
Cook, Minnesota

Here’s a solution

Dear Mr. R. Soderberg,

Thanks for clarifying the information on the “killing machines” – I mean, automatic weapons. Either my source wasn’t as credible as I thought it was, or, it did as you mentioned, and, not being able to tell the difference, assumed they were all AR-15s.

You didn’t mention this specifically, but do all the automatic weapons you mention have enough similarities that would make it easy for a novice to mistake one for another? I certainly am no expert in how one differs from another. The main thing I know is when you’re on the wrong end of a gun, they become killing and doing major damage machines. To that extent, they all look the same when that happens.

And, for your information, I have what I believe is a solution. It’s very simple, but it would be difficult to set in motion unless a large majority of people  got behind and supported my idea. Too many people, (men in particular,) are socialized to believe that, to be considered “masculine,” men need to be aggressive. The more aggressive one is, the more “masculine” one is considered to be. The problem is the logical extreme of all aggression is violence, which can take many forms.  Using guns and being a mass shooter is one of the more unhealthy ways to act in an extremely aggressive manner.

Add to that the fact that many women are trained to be passive in this culture, and give in to aggressive males, and it’s then you have codependent support for aggressive behaviors.

Both passive and aggressive behaviors are based on a person being disrespectful to at least part of who they are. Assertive behavior, on the other hand, is respectful to both self AND others. Aggressive behaviors foster a “my way or the highway” attitude where only one person benefits from solving a conflict. Assertive behaviors foster an “our way” of resolving conflicts where both people are satisfied with the resolution.

What I would propose is that all people, kids and adults alike, who are physically and mentally capable of understanding what it means to be assertive, learn how to act in assertive ways. I had a class in assertiveness in college. It was a 10 to 12 week course, and it changed my life.

Gary Burt
Marble, Minnesota

Couldn’t happen to a nicer schmuck!

Can’t you just picture it now? Former President Trump indicted on multiple criminal counts related to the Jan. 6 insurrection and collection of top secret documents. Couldn’t happen to a nicer schmuck!

It will take something like the above to deflate the monster ego of this joker who is soon to announce his intention to run in the 2024 presidential contest. Trump’s fanatical supporters have crossed the line to acts of abject criminality.

Perhaps now those folks who have blindly backed this bully will begin to see the danger this clown represents to all of us. One can only hope.

Ken Bracken
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Was Jesus a stoner?

I have recently received 3 different letters from the same author who does not include his own name or address on the envelope. He has not made physical threats but seems to be focusing his Cookie Cutter labels on liberals like me.

He plasters Biblical  quotes on the inside and outside of his letters that “the wages of sin are death,” or warns of an impending apocalypse that will destroy all of us who do not conform to fundamentalist dogma. So let me set him straight about the fact that both liberals and Trump supporters are not all made from the same cookie cutter!

The letter I received implies that liberals are sexual deviates who love child trafficking and love teaching the sexualizations of young students, such as the (horrible) sin of teaching tolerance toward (gay and transgender people), and claiming that by accepting the dignity of those who are different, liberals want to make all children gay?

The truth is though, that gay people don’t choose to be gay, and often do not reject  Christian morality. Yet many conservatives seem to believe Jesus might say, “stone those sinners to death, for “choosing” to be gay?”

Peter Johnson
Superior, Wisconsin

A mockery of turkeys

The television news has reported a shortage of turkeys for Thanksgiving due to bird flu.

I hope people of goodwill who are in the habit of having a turkey will instead say charitably, “Here, take mine.” Additionally good to then replace that turkey with items from Superior Small Batch.

Good for everyone is to quit calling Thanksgiving “Turkey Day.” Turkeys aren’t volunteers and always have a bad Thanksgiving. It’s mockery to call it their day.

Karen Moore
Duluth, Minnesota