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Time for unity
As Americans, our hunger for peace and freedom has always exceeded our desire to inflict pain, peddle hatred and hurt our fellow man. But during the past year, I have questioned the hearts and minds of many of my fellow Americans, even those I love.
We see the signs of soullessness worldwide — in Ukraine, Gaza, Iran and even America. For most people, the level of hatred and tribalism is overwhelming and heartbreaking and disconnects us from our humanity.
In this age of devices, where our major eye contact is with a screen, getting in touch with our deeper feelings can be a challenge. However, in my experience, gut feelings seldom lie. There is that momentary cringe of discomfort in all of us when something feels off. In America, something feels off.
So, a group of monks began walking 2,300 miles from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington to focus on peace, compassion and unity.
In their quiet minds, they observed in us what we don’t yet know or recognize in ourselves: Many of us are hurting, and disconnected. We are isolated from each other and from ourselves, our moral compasses broken.
It’s time for America to find its true north. Our country is suffering from a continual state of chaos stemming from leadership that often divides and pits us against one another.
I believe we all must find our higher selves and seek unity, peace and compassion. It is time.
LAURA DISANO
Aiken
Breakfasts aren’t free
A Feb. 1 letter to the editor titled “Support free breakfast” makes quite a few good points. In it, Mariah Woodward talks about dignity, equity and showing children they matter, and how providing breakfast for children in S.C. public schools makes learning easier, eliminates stigma and barriers and invests in our children.
The only thing I object to is that everyone from the governor down refers to them as “free” breakfasts. I don’t oppose programs to feed schoolchildren when their parents or guardians can’t or won’t (able-bodied adults is a different topic), but the label “free” is part of the socialist mindset. The federal, state and local governments do not have money to fund “free” giveaway programs that they didn’t source from taxes, fees, fines, etc.
For the free breakfasts, the school cafeteria workers, the delivery drivers bringing the food to the school and the distributors all need to be compensated, as well as the various manufacturers and farmers who are all depending on getting paid. What part of this is free?
DAVID PENDINO
Summerville
Don’t override science
It is fortunate that state Rep. Greg Ford, R-Summerville, was able to convince his Republican colleagues not to ban a broad spectrum of hemp-infused products in South Carolina. These representatives are apparently unaware that for several years there has been a cannabis-derived drug, Epidiolex (cannabidiol), approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of three types of childhood-onset seizures.
Although these disorders (Dravet syndrome, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and tuberous sclerosis complex) are rare, they are a major problem for those who have them. For the S.C. Legislature to codify its ignorance by attempting to outlaw so many hemp-derived products is yet another example of allowing personal or idiosyncratic moral views to override science and individual freedom — and sometimes common sense.
THOMAS E. STEELE, M.D.
Charleston
Houses unaffordable
It would be nice to see houses for sale that I can afford in The Post and Courier’s real estate section. You know, below $1 million.
PATTY OYER
Hollywood
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