We created monster
China is a monster we helped to create and one of the most despicable countries in the world for illegal wildlife trade: developing raccoon dogs to be killed for fur, consuming every living thing on Earth that can be rumored to have sex benefits, converting the world tropical forest to palm oil production and other horrific actions. We supported and help develop this monster by giving them our technology, trade secrets (what was not stolen), industry, and manufacturing, adding to our trade deficit, depriving American workers of jobs, letting them buy up and control America.
We sold them our natural resources and benefited China in many ways that helped sink the U.S. into our dependency and decline of our economy and security. Much of this was to deny paying U.S. workers fair wages and generate a greater profit for stockholders and increase salaries and bonuses for company executives.
Now our entire country and economy are vulnerable and dependent on China and their products under their control. The issue is more complex than this, but we screwed ourselves in the process, and we continue to do so.
JERRY DAVIS
Hot Springs
Hard to take seriously
In his column kast Monday, Bradley Gitz complained about CRT, critical race theory, which he feels is premised on the idea that the nation is fundamentally racist and that this is unfair to whites. I'm sure there is a grain of legitimacy in his concern.
But look in the news section of the same day and you will find an article about a group memorializing the victim of a shooting and lynching in downtown Little Rock in 1927. The individual was 38 and Black and, as it happened, likely had nothing to do with the purported crime, but he was seized by a mob and dragged through the streets of the capital before being killed. There were plenty of witnesses, but of course no one was charged.
Against this backdrop it is very hard to take Gitz's concerns too seriously, and it will take a lot of work before we should give that kind of thinking any credibility.
MALCOLM HAYWARD
Fayetteville
Who's tending whom?
"It's six of one and a half-dozen of the other," my grandmother would have said, referring to the gardener and his or her garden. This gardening season we've witnessed the bipolar behavior of Mother Nature. Even if you don't tend a garden, you know what I mean.
Tending a garden is more than just weeding and watering and crossing your fingers for success. It's getting nose to nose with your plants and watching for signs that your "garden children" are happy and healthy and playing well with others. No bullies allowed. Each one having an equal chance to thrive and have its share of soil, sun and water to refresh. Some even say that a word of encouragement or admonishment never hurts. I myself am often overheard whispering sweet nothings to a rose or shaking my finger at encroaching ivy.
It often seems as though the gardener does all the work, but it's not all give (by the gardener) and take (by the garden). Gardens and all their family of plants give so much back to the gardener. They offer a burst of color and movement or a place to breathe in the cleansed air after a shower. The sun comes back out after the shower and whispers, "Now aren't you glad for another day in your garden?"
The garden also offers a treat for the senses. The fleeting scent of spring honeysuckle that teases your nose. The soft plush of lamb's ear leaves. The sight of a moon flower unfurling its white purity to light the night. All the components of a garden are a gentle reminder to think about all you have been gifted through the miracles you witness daily through your garden journey. You watch growth, even death, and the chance of resurrection the next season.
So really, I think, in the end the garden tends the gardener.
BEVERLY FLORIDA
Cammack Village
Who wish to enslave
There is not reverse racism, but racism which knows no color. Lies are not truth, and only truth can set you free, while lies can imprison one in bondage. All truthful documented history should be taught. Only the lies should be feared. The contribution of all should enlighten all, while lies will enlighten none. Ignorance enslaves all. That's why tyrannical governments indoctrinate, and don't educate. Freedom of speech is only feared by those who wish to enslave.
FLOYD HOPSON
Hazen