LETTERS: During this time of reflection; take back the holidays

During this time of reflection

The holiday season is such a special time of the year. It represents a more relaxed time of the year, with the Thanksgiving holiday followed shortly by Christmas. Schedules and work pressures slow down for many, additional time off is taken, families come together, and a greater sense of purpose and well-being is felt.

Thanksgiving in particular is a time of reflection followed by gratitude; it’s a season to think on those things that we’re thankful about. For most of us … if we’re honest and we do indeed reflect upon our current state of affairs … there is much to be thankful for. When we actually write those things down and review them … the list in most cases is lengthy and heartwarming. We truly do have much to be thankful for.

Would that we carried that gratitude throughout the rest of the year!

It would benefit us during this time of reflection to ponder on our priorities in life and reflect upon what have been called the five most important questions everyone should answer. They are origination (where did I come from?), identity (who am I?), meaning (what is the meaning of life?), morality (how shall I live life?), and destination (where am I going after this life is over)? The answers can all be found!

‘Never let a good crisis go to waste’ is unfortunately a well-known political statement with dishonorable implications. How about we flip that and say ‘Never let an opportunity for life-changing reflection be squandered?’ Because eternity and a life truly well-lived are at stake.

Happy Thanksgiving and Christmas to you all during this season where we still have much to be thankful for.

Curt Sawyer

Colorado Spring

Take back the holidays

Kudos to the businesses that stayed closed on Thanksgiving! And thank you to the radio station that is taking it one holiday at a time, and won’t be playing Christmas music until after Thanksgiving!

Boos and hisses to the radio station that started playing nonstop Christmas music after Halloween, eight weeks before Christmas.

Take back the holiday. Take the holidays one by one. Thanksgiving is a lovely holiday. Enjoy it.

Marge Baker

Colorado Springs

Our heritage will make us great againFor this I give thanks. 400 years ago the surviving settlers at Plymouth colony gathered with the Wampanoag Indians to celebrate the success of their first cooperative harvest. The new arrivals, still aboard the Mayflower, agreed to the first covenant establishing our laws and freedoms. Without their faith in the Mayflower compact, anarchy was a certain outcome.

Descendants of the same group and other 17th- and 18th-century arrivals have been instrumental the creation of our nation, the abolition of slavery, the development of our trade in the world and so much more we know as America. Without their strong leadership where would we be?

Today we have the strife of backbiting politics, racial injustice, inequality of education and opportunity, and more. I give thanks for our foundation and pray that it will survive to support liberty.

Likewise, I am disappointed that so much of the media coverage of this national celebration focuses on turkey and pumpkin pie.

The real news could be that attention to our heritage is what will make us truly great again.

John Hood

Colorado Springs

We could still belong to Britain

Lani Pleasant is right that some vaccinated people are dying in the hospital from COVID, yet the latest data from the CDC shows that unvaccinated people were 6.1 times more likely to test positive and 11.3 times more likely to die.

While there is no total victory to be achieved over COVID, the overbearing evidence continues to be that vaccines and subsequent boosters reduce the chances of getting and transmitting COVID and therefore also reduces the chances of more dangerous variants spreading.

Vaccine mandates are nothing new. George Washington’s troops followed his mandate for getting smallpox vaccines in 1777.

Had they not listened, perhaps the troop loss would have been so extensive that we would still belong to Britain.

Todd Nelson

Colorado Springs

Trump vocalized human shortcomings

For five years, I have blamed Donald Trump for what I saw as the decline of American virtue and democracy. I was wrong, since he only vocalized a human shortcoming. Although I’m only concerned with the USA, the same issue exists everywhere for as long as humans have been the dominate species on Earth. For over 200 years, our white ancestors kept and raised slaves like livestock and then fought a war, which claimed 1.5 million casualties to keep slavery.

The Know Nothing Party campaigned to omit Catholics and nonwhites from emigrating to America.

Native Americans were cheated of their land with no compensation or pity. Japanese-Americans were placed in custodial camps during WWII although no white Italians or Germans received the same treatment. Black soldiers from WWII did not easily receive the GI Bill benefits. The KKK is estimated to have killed 3,960 Blacks not counting the Jews and Catholics they hated.

Recently, numerous racially motivated acts such as: birtherism; the rejection of anything proposed by President Barack Obama; rejection of social programs such as health care that would help minorities; supporting migration from Scandinavia but not from Hispanic countries; the attempt for the last 150 years to limit voting freedom for minorities; and the unequal treatment of minorities by the police and courts.

Former President Trump merely voiced what at least 35-40% of Americans might believe.

His supporters are mostly white, male, and less educated Americans who until he vocalized their beliefs regarding race and religion were hesitant to tell others.

Vincent Capozzella

Colorado Springs