On gratuitous cruelty
Re "Arkansas festival gets sponsor under condition that no live turkeys thrown from plane": I'm thrilled that the Mid-Marion County Rotary Club is refusing to support the Yellville Turkey Trot if turkeys are thrown from planes and buildings. This perverse and twisted "tradition" should have been abolished decades ago.
Turkeys aren't great fliers. They can suffer grievous injuries--even fatal--when hurled from planes or tossed from buildings. And for what? No one I've spoken to about this spectacle can explain why the town supports such heinous treatment of these gentle birds, much less defend it.
It's embarrassing to live in a state where people condone this kind of gratuitous cruelty. And it's this kind of nonsense that keeps kind residents having to defend all that is great about our state.
DANIEL LYSK
Sherwood
Unprepared for grief
May the first marks the second anniversary of my mother's passing. If anybody was ever prepared for death, it was Betty Jean. She had arranged who would speak and who would sing what song at her memorial. She had made arrangements with the funeral home. And after a 13-year battle against chronic leukemia, she had told her oncologist that the fight was over. She was prepared.
But I wasn't prepared, not for the grief. My family was gathered around her, and I was holding one of her hands, when she drew her last gasp of breath. And it was a gasp. The image of seeing her die still haunts me. I suppose if I hadn't been there to experience her passing, the grief might have been slighter. And certainly if it had happened earlier in my life, I would have fallen apart.
It was tough enough as it was; I know her death ended the suffering she had endured. I have no qualms with that. I tried to be prepared for her death. But I was not ready for the crushing grief, the heavy mourning.
It mostly came in the still of the night. A wave of grief would wash over my heart. It would weigh on me like heavy blankets. I was not paralyzed by it, like some. It never kept me from getting out of bed the next day. But it certainly cost me a lot of sleep. A lot of sleep.
Even just today, one single note from a song brought the grief and I had to gather myself at work. I don't know if the grief will ever totally recede.
There is no "Grieving for Dummies" book in the library. Can I accurately describe my grief? It's like Ringo sang, "I cannot tell you but I know it's mine." Most people experience the same thing. Everyone eventually loses dear ones. My grief is not deeper or better, it is only mine.
BARRY THOMAS
Fayetteville
A sale-circular deluge
On April 20, I opened my paper to discover a Belk sale catalog; then to my surprise, another one fell out, and another, and another, and still another one, making five total!
We're a family of two adults; really, one would have been enough. I'm wondering if there were four other subscribers who missed out on this sale.
DORIS DICKERSON
Mabelvale
Which do you follow?
He showed no compassion or concern for any group of people. He mocked, denigrated, humiliated, cheated, threatened all--and then laughed in their faces. Yet 62 million voted for him. Now they cry foul?
They call him God's right-hand man and yet when asked to quote his favorite Bible verse, he couldn't think of one. Not one Bible verse could he bring forth. Most still kiss the orange rump. Why? Is the right hand of God where racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, xenophobia, and po' folk phobia are brewing?
Is the "what's in it for me?" mentality the same as the Jesus who will come to rapture up his believers while at the same time casting the left-behinds into a burning cauldron of eternal damnation?
There is another group following the Jesus who sits at the left hand of God. This is the Jesus that Democrats follow, the one who teaches us to transcend selfishness and narcissism, the one who asks us to follow him with compassion, fairness and honor, building a world community of looking out for one another and, I daresay, taking care of Planet Earth and her animals with tenderness and deep appreciation.
Are your politics and your god about caring and sharing, or looking out for one's self-interests? Are you the sinners of an angry, vengeful god, or do you take up the cross and follow Jesus? You can't have both. It doesn't work that way.
MARIANNE BEASLEY
Fayetteville
Remember audience
We've been yearly subscribers to The Rep ever since moving to the Little Rock area more than 10 years ago, and we feel it's been one of the best things about the city--until this season.
It's obviously a disaster when suddenly 15,000 fewer people come to view the productions. We saw all the plays, and felt that they didn't play to an audience in Little Rock. Mamma Mia! was the exception.
We don't ask for an entire season of musicals, but we want entertainment. We just saw A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder at UCA and felt it was better than anything The Rep produced this year, including Mamma Mia! It was hilariously entertaining, but the production values were over the top. And all for a $35 ticket!
We don't want The Rep to become Celebrity Attractions, but it has to play to the local audience. Please continue to bring in equity actors and continue to use top-notch costume and set designers. But remember to entertain us.
CHRIS GANAHL
Maumelle
Editorial on 05/02/2018