Sent 9-10-16

Dear Editor,

 

In terms of presidential candidates we see where the two major candidates have changed their approaches and views of many different issues confronting the world and the United States today. One we see has changed her mind over the course of many years, which indicates to me growth, the same growth I’ve experienced as the years go by. I am not the same person I was sixty years ago. I grew and I learned and I changed, not for the worse but for the better. However, the other candidate makes presentations and not only changes within a day’s time, but even sometimes by the time he arrives at the end of a paragraph, they call it flip-flopping. I had a colleague that did the same thing. He would converse and if he looked at you and caught a glimpse of disagreement, by the time he got to the end of the paragraph, he negated what he said at the beginning.

I believe they call that an oxymoronic process. So what might we have as a president, “Send a missile!”

“It’s on its way, sir.”

“Oh! Never mind, I changed my mind make it come back.”

He won his candidacy by intimidation, I presume none of the other candidates grew up on the street where they might have learned to respond with as sharp a tongue. On the street they call it, “Do’in the dozens.” Two individuals engage in a conversation of creating insults greater than the one previous. During the debates two of the candidates were capable, but they would not lower themselves to play that game, I believe in the hope that their constituents would recognize that respect is the greater of the two. But, unfortunately, that was not the case. It appears that for many an entertaining presentation is more attractive to their decision making than the capabilities of the candidate. However, in the scheme of things what you see and hear is what you get. Unfortunately, it appears many are not listening. This reminds me of Matthew 13:13, “You look but you don’t see, you hear, but you don’t listen.” I think this parable is most appropriate in this situation.