Viewpoints

For your meditation:

Wisdom 12:13, 16-19
Romans 8:26-27
Matthew 13:24-43

Hello Dear Friends!

In today’s readings, Jesus uses a story from agriculture - the parable of the wheat and the weeds.

Personally, I’m very fond of farming. I used to work for Oscar Sorley out on Dry Ridge and Art Bakewell above the Oak Hill Cemetery. I lived with my Uncle Ben and Aunt Rose in Freeburg, MN. I still love visiting farms. There are problems at times telling the difference between a weed and a wanted plant. I always thought a morning glory so beautiful - not true, when it’s on a corn stalk. I learned that when I was sent to cut them down with a hoe. That’s just one example.

To the Editor:

This month millions of U.S. families will receive as much as $300 a month per child under the Biden administration’s bold effort to help struggling families.  The Child Tax Credit in the American Rescue Plan provides the largest Child Tax Credit ever and historic relief to the most working families ever - and most families will automatically receive monthly payments without having to take any action.

Ninety-three percent of children under 18 qualify - that’s 669,000 Iowa kids. It is expected to lift thousands of Iowa children out of poverty.

To the Editor:

I used to live in Waukon, some 70 years ago. My folks owned the Dairy Queen, and I am looking for any help anyone can give in supplying information you may have relating to the business. To the best of my knowledge, it is located where the present Jet’s Meats & Cafe sits (West Main Street across from Quillin’s).

I remember there was a locker plant just to the east of the Dairy Queen and we shared the same parking lot. I stopped last week and did some title searching with the able assistance at the courthouse, and we believe this is the right location.

We spent three summers there, and I ended the school year going to Waukon and started the first month of the next school year there. I was in the fourth to sixth grades at the time. The family I was closest to was the Evans family, and they lived just west of us. There were four boys, and Grant was my age.

To the Editor:

Hit by this pandemic, hardworking Americans have struggled to make ends meet and to provide for their families. Millions lost their jobs, couldn’t pay mortgages or afford health insurance and found themselves standing in food lines to put food on the table. Fearing the COVID-19 virus, Iowans drove miles and hours trying to find a vaccination site.

President Biden and the House and Senate Democrats acted quickly to alleviate the suffering by passing the American Rescue Plan and President Biden signed it into law in March.  The American Rescue Plan passed without one Republican vote. The conclusion is that the President and Democrats care about everyday people while Republicans could care less.

To the Editor:

America’s Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 declared this: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal (mankind), that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Its author, and America’s third president, Thomas Jefferson, also wrote, “God who gave us life, gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever.”

To the Editor:
Once, Iowa’s education ranked best in the nation. How times have changed. In a recent report evaluating K-12 civics and U.S. history standards from the non-partisan Fordham Institute, Iowa ranked in the bottom third of states, with a D grade for civics and an F for U.S. history. Iowa’s U.S. History standards, it seems, are “almost completely devoid of historical content.”

Given this, you’d be forgiven for thinking the governor and legislature might take steps to improve education for Iowa’s students. Republicans did pass and sign numerous bills affecting education, but none fix the problem. They allocated historically low funding for public schools and universities and eliminated diversity programs used by some schools to serve their students.

CRT Cancels Self-Esteem

Today, the world is full of controversy over what is currently called Critical Race Theory (CRT).  CRT is the idea that society should be understood in terms of class power structures, with the current world order being based on white privilege and systemic racism.

Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with this theory, there is a fascinating cultural shift that is normally lost in the arguments surrounding the merits or faults of CRT.  This is the fact that people – especially “white people,” are being told to feel bad about themselves.

In fact, it is considered a sign of great virtue to agonize over the innate injustice of your very existence.

To the Editor:

Democracy is governing by and for the whole population, usually through elected members. It is a peaceful change of government given the right to rule because everyday people say it may.

Our Democracy is in peril. We are being held hostage by an obstructionist minority, and they want to retain power.

There are 34 laws being put forth and passed by Republicans that seek to enhance that power in at least 22 states. These laws make it more and more difficult for everyday Americans to cast their votes. Our election systems are the most secure they have ever been, and these laws do not improve that, they merely impede everyday Americans’ right to vote.

The House bill HR1, put forth by Democrats, and passed by Democrats without even one Republican, has moved on to the Senate, where Mitch McConnell has vowed to kill it.

To the Editor:

Humid, Humid, Humid,
The air is fit to drink.
Humid, Humid, Humid,
I can not even think.

Humid, Humid, Humid,
My hair is plastered to my face.
Humid, Humid, Humid,
I wish I was in a different place.

Humid, Humid, Humid,
As I lie on the floor.
Humid, Humid, Humid,
This day is such a bore.

Humid, Humid, Humid,
Oh, I wish the air was dry.
Humid, Humid, Humid,
How slow the day goes by.

Moriah Downing
Age 13
Waukon

To the Editor:

June 15, 2021 is World Elder Abuse Day. Northeast Iowa Area Agency on Aging joins communities worldwide to promote awareness and highlight solutions to this systemic social challenge.

As Americans, we believe in justice for all, but we fail to adhere to this value when we allow older community members to be abused or neglected. Older people are vital, contributing members of American society, and their maltreatment diminishes everyone. Just as we have confronted the social issues of child abuse and domestic violence, we can also find solutions to address elder abuse, which also threatens the well-being of our community.