Crucial contributions
While taking another infantile swipe at President Barack Obama recently, Mike Masterson took issue with the president's statement that Muslims have contributed a great deal to the fabric of our nation.
In a state like Arkansas that's predominately rural, I'm sure there are many citizens who have never even known a Muslim. Those of us who have lived in larger population centers and in different regions of the country have been in a position to know many Muslims. We have worked alongside them and have observed their many splendid contributions to our nation.
When Mr. Masterson belittles a whole group of people that he obviously knows nothing about, he comes off as little, mean-spirited, and uninformed.
Muslims have made significant contributions to virtually every segment of American society. One area in which they have really excelled is medicine. Statistics of the American Medical Association show that 10 percent of all American physicians are Muslims. Many of these doctors are among the best of the best.
I think of Dr. Nazih Zuhdi, the renowned Muslim heart surgeon who came from Lebanon to Oklahoma City in the 1950s. Over the years he saved and prolonged the lives of hundreds of people, including many Arkansans, through his heart surgeries. Before he retired, he taught his techniques to dozens of other surgeons, who will in turn pass on the skills to future generations of surgeons.
In areas that count most to our quality of life in America, Muslims have made invaluable contributions. I believe if they were somehow taken from us, there would be a vacuum that we would be unable to fill.
SANDY WYLIE
Bella Vista
Control of the Senate
If Arkansans needed no other reason to vote against Mark Pryor, I think this would suffice. Speaking at yet another Democratic fundraiser, Barack Obama said: "And that's why I need a Democratic Senate. Not to mention the fact that we're going to have Supreme Court appointments and there are gonna be a whole host of issues that many people here care about that are going to be determined by whether or not Democrats retain the Senate."
BILL CURTIS
Hot Springs Village
We'll pay steep price
When the former community organizer turned president drew a line in the sand over the matter of Syria, and then backed down, it seems the world saw our president for what he is, unable to back up his words with meaningful action. This was just another sign that he has no foreign-policy strategies, other than delay, delay, delay. As a result of the president's feckless and fickle foreign policy, we are now seeing how the nation of Syria was used as a training ground for the army of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), resulting in the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians.
Mr. President, were those deaths any less important than the current carnage taking place in Iraq? The Kurds are willing to fight for their homeland unlike their Sunni and Shia neighbors. All they ask from the U.S. is modern weapons and a continuation of our air support. ISIL has very clearly stated its intentions toward the U.S. and Western Europe. America and its allies should not continue to underestimate this radical, terroristic, Islamic fighting force utilizing a strategy that is nothing short of a fly-swat approach. Humanitarian aid always results in favorable press and good photo ops. America should continue to provide such aid wherever and whenever it can. But, because this president ended our involvement in Iraq without a status of forces of agreement and without any formal terms of surrender signed by our enemies, for those enemies the war has not ended.
Did we not learn any lessons from Korea and Vietnam? If we don't contain and defeat ISIL in Syria and Iraq, we will fight them on our soil, and for that, the U.S. will pay a steep price.
RUTH M. WALDON
Little Rock
Recognize hard work
While some schools are year-round with intermittent breaks and a shorter summer, the majority of Arkansas public schools are about to open the doors and let in the future leaders, engineers, managers, entrepreneurs, teachers, doctors. The teachers, support staff and school administrators are about to embark on another 178 days of the seemingly daunting task of educating, feeding, transporting, nurturing, counseling, coaching, loving, caring, etc., all the children that walk through their doors. Ninety-nine percent of these professionals will have a genuine smile on their face when those kids arrive, and the other 1 percent spilled coffee on their new clothes or lesson plans they spent all night creating.
They are educating the public for society. They deserve your support, praise, unity, etc. Would you rather tackle this? We need good educators. What would your neighborhood look like, and your community? What would happen to American democracy and the beliefs many of us cherish?
I had the opportunity to see a very large crowd of excited, new and seasoned educators last week in the best public school district (I am biased, of course). These educators--some nervous, most of them overworked, and all often unrecognized, scrutinized, and rarely thanked--showed up with smiles on their faces and genuine compassion for making students' lives better, their communities better, their state, and so on. They will also welcome with smiles your children and educate them for productive, more prosperous jobs and careers. This does not happen without everyone supporting and recognizing how hard our public school students, teachers, administrators, and support staff work.
SHANE HAMPTON
Fayetteville
Editorial on 08/19/2014