Letters to the Editor

I work at a local newspaper. I've been a reader of the paper since it first started 20-something years ago and began working for them over 5 years ago. I read the paper because (a) it covers our local area in more depth than the big daily from downtown does, (b) I feel I ought to since I work for the organization and (c) it's free. I never fail to read the obituaries, otherwise I might not know when someone I know (or a relative of someone I know) has passed on to greater glory and usually most of the stories, including the column by an assistant editor I'm not always that fond of. Mostly, though, even though it often feels like I'm in a train wreck, I never fail to read the letters to the editor.

I used to typeset the letters that came in through the mail and needed to be typed on the computer so that they could be inserted into the copy going to the printer and then to the hands of our readers. Oftentimes I found myself talking back to the writer, especially in the case of letters that were written poorly with bad spelling and grammar, letters from people with viewpoints with which I disagreed and vitriolic letters from people upset about everything, usually the paper's coverage of local politics, criticisms of the then-government and disgust with the paper's "leftist agenda" in printing other letters critical of something the writer held almost sacred.

I live in a fairly conservative, flag-waving, mostly Republican area. They generally favor the war in the Middle East, capital punishment, get-tough, manly guys like our county sheriff and dedication to "family values" including marriage and equal rights for heterosexual American-born (or at least naturalized) citizens only. There was a time I'd have felt perfectly at home here as it would have reflected the person I was growing up and in the area I grew up. I'd have been for what they were for, agin' what they were agin' and not too tolerant of anything else. I, like them, would have agreed with diversity -- so long as it consisted of only people who believed and thought kinda sorta almost nearly exactly like I did. Oh, others would be tolerated --- barely-- but they weren't REAL Americans, flag-waving, church-going (mostly), good Christian (pretty much, well, except for **** who everybody knew was... well, never mind) folks who feared God, loved the country and kept their own side of the street swept.

The letters to the editor in the paper I read now generally don't reflect who I am, what I believe or even what I consider Christian (a lot of the time, anyway). They may quote scripture but it is scripture selectively chosen, proof-texted to prove their point rather than contexted to show what the verse actually means. Words like "liberal" are often thrown in like bombs, not scattering germs or bacteria but feeling like whole clumps of stuff usually found in the barnyard or cow shed were contained inside. There are times I close the paper feeling dirty, and not just from the printer's ink rubbing off on my hands. My soul feels dirty and my heart hurts. Again I am convinced that for a lot of people here, diversity means only those who are just like them, something I'm not and can't be.

I grew to be who and what I am by a long process. Traveling and living in various parts of the US and the world has given me a view of the world as a whole quite different from that of the folks who still live within 50 miles of where they were born and never lived further than 200 miles from that spot either, only occasionally heading for the "big city" somewhere else for a short visit before scurrying back to their accustomed home. I've learned that skin color is not a measure of moral character or intelligence. I've learned that national origin and the consistent use of a language other than English is not a signal that the person is an illegal alien. I've learned that equality is more than a word, it's something that should belong to everybody, not to just those who already have equal rights( or most of them, anyway) but not to those who have been excluded because of their race, national origin, religion or (here it comes) sexual orientation. I've learned people who look like me can be just as ornery and cantankerous and sometimes vituperous and downright nasty in how they speak of and treat people just as those who look so very different can be kind, thoughtful, caring and downright willing to stick their neck out, give you the shirt from their back and help you out any way they can.

I live in this area and so I am forced to deal with the fact that I may be a left-footed ill-beotten offspring of the accidental cross between a horse and a mule in the view of many of my neighbors. Even on the internet there are places I feel more comfortable, places where people think sort of like I do and believe sort of like I do. There are places I don't go because I don't like the way they make me feel, namely dirty, unChristian, and heartsore that someone could know so little about me and people like me that they use words that are sharper than a serpent's tooth. Of course, they undoubtedly feel that places I feel comfortable are just about exactly the same way to them so we end up in an impasse. I can try to moderate my words, use "I" words to describe what I think and feel and try not to take things personally but my skin isn't always that thick.

I do believe in diversity. God created it and we need it. Most of all we need to deal with it. How can I make someone who thinks, feels, believes very differently than I do feel comfortable around me and people like me? Should I expect them to go to similar efforts to make me feel comfortable in an environment that doesn't reflect me or my thoughts, feelings or beliefs? If I wrote a letter to the editor, what would I say that would make my point clearly and honestly without ruffling someone else's feathers, stomping on their cherished beliefs or even making them feel like dirty scumbags because they think/feel/believe the opposite of me?

I wonder what kind of response I would get if I sent this to the newspaper as a letter to the editor? Would the Christians "get" that Jesus hung out with a diverse group who only slowly came around to his way of thinking and doing (not to mention that Jesus wasn't a Christian himself)? Would the Pagans and agnostics (maybe even an atheist or two) hear what I said and think that I might be a Pagan/agnostic/atheist sympathizer even though I may label myself "Christian" and have something to say worth reading? Would the Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, and Buddhists find something in my words that, even if they didn't agree with me, would make them stop and think in a different way about an issue, a point of view, a place to stand?

I'll read the letters to the editor as soon as I get to work (my driver always delivers the paper after I leave for the office). I'll possibly be irritated, frustrated, aggravated, hurt and maybe even downright angry but then too I might be pleasantly surprised to find someone with whom I can agree in principle if not in specifics. What I have to remember is that true diversity allows for all sorts and conditions of humankind. In order for me to have my say I have to allow others the same right. Once in a blue moon someone who writes to the editor even makes that very same point.

Oh, and I don't have to worry about sending this to my editor. The word limit for letters is 300 and I'm well over that. But at least I've had my say -- just like the people whose letters will get printed in the next edition.