Friday’s Letters to the Editor

Proud Vietnam veterans

EDITOR: The Nov. 27 article regarding veterans dying alone was two-thirds accurate (“Thousands of veterans die alone, unclaimed”): Many veterans of the Vietnam War are dying alone, and veterans of that war were treated shabbily after their service. However, I was sad to see the all-too-common portrayal of Vietnam veterans as broken men.

Many have lived sad and destructive lives, especially those drafted or accepted into service when standards were so low that they were doomed to failure. However, the vast majority of Vietnam veterans are not broken. We are successful fathers, grandfathers and uncles. Most of us completed our service with honor, even though we returned to a country that gave Jane Fonda a fine career and praised men who faked a disability or ran away to Canada and called it courage. We quickly learned not to discuss our service except among ourselves.

The Cold War lasted another quarter-century after we served. We were still young, all trained and many battle tested. Thank goodness we were not needed, but we stood guard despite lack of appreciation. We are old now, and some of us are finally standing up and saying publicly we are proud of our service. Damn proud.

ALAN JAROSLOVSKY

Santa Rosa

Fomenting crime

EDITOR: What is the long-range aim of the proponents of defunding the police? Lower the guidelines for sentencing so that those committing crimes are almost immediately released back into society to repeat their offenses? Large groups of people going into stores and taking goods from shelves out to their waiting cars? Robbery, theft, and no one to stop them? Ask yourself, who has been behind this breakdown of society? All of society, no matter race, gender or political persuasion, has a stake in determining how we go forward.

JOE COLLINS

Santa Rosa

Patriotism and service

EDITOR: Gayle Kozlowski (“The worst president,” Letters, Nov. 26) defined patriotism as “family or friends who died for our freedom.” Number of President Joe Biden’s children who served in the military: two. Number of Donald Trump’s children who served: zero.

She falsely equated the Jan. 6 insurrection with the violence that occurred at some Black Lives Matter and antifa demonstrations. One was an intentional, violent attempt to overturn the results of a fair and free election based on the blatant lie that the election was stolen. The other was a coast-to-coast protest movement demanding an end to systemic racism that occasionally turned violent.

Finally, she said Trump respects our laws, while Biden does not. Seriously? Twice impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, Trump is still under investigation in multiple jurisdictions and, hopefully, will serve time for crimes he committed while in office.

She shames those of us who voted for Biden and Kamala Harris. I am grateful every day for those 81 million people, patriots all. May God bless them, every one.

NANCY J. FLOM

Petaluma

Respecting history

EDITOR: Recent news in Sonoma County — losing top officials who cite microaggressions and racial bias — as well as numerous headlines across our nation show that systemic racism as well as implicit and explicit bias continue to hold sway in our public spheres.

As a longtime member of the community at what is still known as James Monroe Elementary School, it is clear that now is not too soon to stop honoring a person who enslaved other human beings.

James Baldwin observed that history “does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past … since it is to history that we owe our frames of reference, our identities, and our aspirations.” Let us teach history and name our buildings accordingly.

MIKE PERSINGER

Santa Rosa

COVID and leadership

EDITOR: In another winter of discontent, 2021 will end with almost 800,000 COVID-19 related deaths. What have Americans learned? The lesson of “leadership matters” comes to mind. One leader embraces science and consults with experts who understand the challenges of COVID-19: transmissibility, progeny/offspring and longevity/durability. Vaccines, masks and boosters are examples of science defeating the virus. A second leader embraces willful ignorance, narcissistic buffoonery and the promotion of deranged clinical advice, such as drinking bleach or inserting a light into the body’s cavity to cure COVID-19.

As we enter the third year of the pandemic what do we do? For most of us, we get vaccinated, take our booster shots and follow the scientific advice. Now, an antiviral pill is available for the unvaccinated and breakthrough cases. Hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 and variants will decrease in frequency. Soon we will settle into a new normal. COVID-19 will lose its deadly grip; after all, previous pandemics ended without a vaccine. Maybe we will have our flu shots twice a year rather than once.

Leadership is healing the division within our country, not exploiting differences. Focusing on climate science, investing in families and infrastructure. Or back to the walking tornado of incompetence and corruption.

STEVEN J. GARCIA

Sebastopol

You can send letters to the editor to letters@pressdemocrat.com.