LETTERS

LITTLE ROCK — To change the world

What you respect will always enter your life. What you don’t respect will exit your life. In his 1960 presidential inaugural address, John F. Kennedy stated that as Americans, we should ask not what our country can do for us, but what we can do for our country. We need to embrace the idea of pride through performance. It’s better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have one and not be prepared. A short pencil is far better than a long memory. Begin today journaling your thoughts. Don’t wait for someone else to write your history. People don’t really care how much you know until they know how much you care.

We are in this world to change it for future generations. Let’s prepare daily to take a stand for Christians throughout the land to change this world. For years, Americans have bought into the idea that looking good is far better than doing well. I beg to differ. Something must die in order for something to live. Sin must die in order for righteousness to live.

Your resurrection is at hand. Be prepared for Christ. He will lift you up. Christ will never leave you on a negative. He will always move it to a positive . All he asks of us is to trust him completely.

Life is like a dollar bill. You can spend it anywhere you like but you can only spend it once. Don’t be like a dollar bill. Don’t settle for less. Know why God sent you to this Earth. Then execute your purpose and be prepared to hear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant” when he calls you home.

JOHN GRAY

Pine Bluff

Military tour is a must

Someone should not be elected to lead this country unless that person has had some military experience. That should be a requirement.

The draft should have never been eliminated.

Four years of military experience would have made men out of a lot of boys—and we could patrol the border, as it needs to be patrolled.

DEAN WARD

Fayetteville

Not the general idea

I see the Petraeus surge myth is alive and well. Contrary to the recent Arkansas Democrat-Gazette editorial endorsing CIA Director David Petraeus for vice president, the surge in Iraq did not “work” by many measures, in my opinion.

What produced the eventual reduction in violence in Baghdad (and apparently little else in the way of administration objectives) was the completion of Shiite ethnic cleansing of Sunni there. A huge refugee problems persists. CIA cash payoffs to Sunni tribal leaders outside Baghdad, not the troop surge, turned them against the foreign al-Qaida operating in Iraq. Money talks.

We certainly don’t need an overhyped general-politician as vice president.

SHELDON RICHMAN

Conway

Forming a family tree

The purpose of marriage is mutual aid and consolation and, above all, friendship. The reason that society has not in the past sanctioned homosexual or lesbian marriage, in my opinion, is in the blessing of marriage, and the greatest thing only a heterosexual couple can do—that is to have children for the next generation. While advancements in reproductive medicine now allow couples to make the choice to have or not have children, this is still choice.

Moreover, the argument that through sperm donations and surrogate mothers children can be brought into the world through nontraditional means ignores the truth that, even with science, one parent is always the adoptive parent.

Finally, two biological parents with children form a nuclear family with the extended family branching out to grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins into a family tree and with the extended family to prevent a close marriage that can produce a host of problems from color blindness to a proclivity for certain cancers.

THOM LAKSO

Russellville

Evolution of a debate

Self-described loon Steve Wilson entertained all of us with his comic statement, “There is absolutely zero evidence of any evolution.”

This is like saying that there is no evidence for the sun in the sky. His missive trotted out some of the usual creationist nonsense, including a misunderstanding of the second law of thermodynamics. (Thanks to Arthur Luck for pointing this out.) I am certain that there were people like Wilson in the 16th Century who orchestrated the opposition to the absurd notion that the Earth was actually in orbit around the sun.

Accepting evolutionary reality

does not produce people who

are not accountable for their actions. If anything, these individuals tend to encourage more accountability because this is how

a rational mind, free of voodoo

and superstition, will generally respond. I am of the opinion that most superstition fosters a breakdown of accountability and rational thought.

As I wrote in my previous letter, it does not much matter if individuals refuse to accept evolution as the primary driver of life on Earth. It does not change the facts one iota.

Wilson’s letter makes my original point that creationist blather does not belong in a high school science classroom.

K.E. POLLOCK

Little Rock

Sign of things to come

While recently praying outside the local abortion clinic in west Little Rock, I was mystified by a new sign recently affixed to the wooden fence surrounding the complex. This rather large sign with black letters on a yellow background is the first thing one sees when entering the grounds of this Planned Parenthood facility. The sign has three lines: “Pro Child, Pro Family, Pro Choice.”

How absurd! For me, the sign provides a ready-reference outline to use while talking to those seeking the services of this business.

“Pro Child”—I would ask patrons to inquire what percentage of children are brought out of the building alive by their mothers. “Pro Family”— I would ask patrons to inquire as to how many families are devastated by the evils of abortion, before, during and after the procedure. And finally, “Pro Choice”—abortion providers choose to take the life of a child inside the womb in exchange for money.

It appears to me that the predominant plan at this Planned Parenthood location is one designed to kill innocent little babies. What kind of planning is that?

My prayer today is that more people visiting this facility who are considering abortion will stop and talk to the sidewalk counselors about alternatives—a genuine reflection on the new sign should give pause to do so.

JOE N. FRANZETTI

Little Rock