So sorry to hear about another tragic drowning in Vermont (“Girl, 14, drowns in Kennedy Pond”; July 5). Four fatal water incidents in two weeks is too many. My condolences to the families.
Please use a Safer Swimmer. It’s an inexpensive floatation device that I use when swimming out of bounds in my lake. It’s not foolproof (you can get tangled in lily pads), but it helps and it’s a lot of fun. Bringing a whistle doesn’t hurt either. Use common sense and assess conditions. A mild river can become a rapid after a rain storm. Try to have an adult be with you when you’re in or around the water. Nature is no amusement park. Safety first wherever you go!
Stephen Handley Jr
Grantham
Sacrifice and society
As a teenager spending school holidays with my much-loved grandmother, I often accompanied her to her cleaning job in a local school. One day the roster of jobs was being arranged. No one wanted to be teamed with one particular worker, who was known to be slow, and heated discussion broke out. So my grandmother, with so little fuss that I hardly realized what was happening, rearranged the schedule so that she would partner with this woman. Peace, gratitude and good humor ensued.
Now who, in the brave new Trumpian world, would knowingly do themselves down like this? Was my grandmother suffering from a brain worm? Or from the ‘bug’ of empathy, as one Elon Musk would have it?
No. She knew something none of the present government, apparently, does. That egotism and cruelty diminish us all. That part of what makes life worth living is the capacity to trust and care for one another, and to be trusted and cared for in return. That it is worth some personal sacrifice to achieve a society in which that can happen. And that justice, as Cornel West says, is what love looks like in public.
Decades later, her example still resonates. Though many others have emulated it more bravely than I have, I’m infinitely grateful for it. And it’s the reason why — whether or not victory looks likely — we must resist the grasping, competitive, spectacularly cruel ethos driving our current rulers (and that they think drives us all.) Vive la résistance.
Margaret Williamson
Lebanon
Behind the curtain
The Epstein story is capturing a great deal of attention. For good reason.
This story could reveal everything about how the world really works, how “our” government really works, who the real controllers are, and how they operate.
It would reveal why very little ever changes for the better despite the promises of politicians; and what is hidden behind the Wizard of Oz curtain.
Neil Meliment
Hartland