Paramedics everywhere deserve thanks
I am a Chattanooga foster grandparent volunteer. I have the privilege of serving at a local child-development facility, working one on one with children, helping them enhance their cognitive and social development.
In January, I had a medical appointment before going to my volunteer site. Things went from good to not so good. I had a stroke. Puckett Ambulance Service was called. On the ride of my life to the hospital, the paramedic who rode with me was very caring, understanding and was a praying man. He kept telling me that things were going to be all right. As soon as we arrived at Erlanger, the team made sure I was rushed to the stroke unit. The last thing the paramedic said was, "You are going to be okay. May God bless you."
I would like to thank all paramedics who help people each and every day, all over the world. With gratitude,
Karlen P. Eaton
Mental illness no cartoon matter
Millions of Americans suffer from mental illness. It is brutal, lonely and a nightmare for many.
The laws and avenues for their care are absurd, and they are often left shamed by their illness. Your paper and Clay Bennett obviously think it's acceptable to mock their uses of anti-psychotic medications, which are life-saving to so many.
Are you so callous and out of touch that you think it's funny to laugh at people and deride them for their brave attempts to heal through medications they need? It takes guts to fight a mental illness.
I understand this is a political season, but the continued "drip" that everyone who doesn't think Hillary Clinton is a rock star should be labeled mentally ill is offensive. Dividing our country into factions is not the American way. Mentally ill people are human beings in need of acceptance, not persecution.
Psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors, social workers and nurses in our community spend their lives in the trenches of this uphill battle.
Perhaps you should spend a month writing articles educating our community about mental illness and helping remove the stigma attached to it. Mental illness is not a joke.
Greyson Brown
Lookout Mountain, Tenn.
Action by House deserves thanks
I'm writing concerning the article titled "Jeremy Durham booted from state government" published last Wednesday.
I find it very professional and moral that a group of political people did not let sexual harassment pass just because Durham is a respected man in the Tennessee society. The fact he got expelled from his job portrays a strong message to society.
From the average Joe to the most known man on earth, no one should ever get away with sexual misconduct. It is a form of degradation toward the victims. I should not be calling these women victims but survivors. No one should ever have to put up with such behaviors from aggressors.
By the Tennessee House of Representatives standing up against such behaviors, its members are sending a message to society saying that it is not OK to do such things, no matter who you are, and that they will bring consequences to those who inflict sexual misconduct to others. My respects to the House of Representatives.
Rosalba Valera
Collegedale
Path to peace needs new route
Instead of finding common ethical and moral grounds for peaceful coexistence, some world religions have sought differences that cause strife.
History is replete with violent conflicts between religions, one trying to convert, eliminate or dominate the other. The methods, however, have changed. Bows, arrows and swords have been replaced with bombers, fighter jets and drones.
The West prefers surgical strikes with drones to take out radical Islamic terrorists, except they are not as surgical as stated. Noncombatants, women and children are killed in the process, collateral damage assumed to be a justified violation of the Geneva Conventions. The jihadists have walking human drones who wear explosive belts or bear AR-15 rifles.
The constant worldwide politicization of radical Islam has highlighted religious discord. That this will end when all jihadists are eliminated is a pipe dream.
Assuming a modest 0.1 percent of 1.6 billion Muslims (1.6 million) are jihadists spread over many countries, how many will we kill with minimal collateral damage? How many will they kill in retaliation and to what end?
These fruitless attacks and counterattacks must stop, particularly to protect the innocent caught in the midst. Humanity must tread another path.
Rajive K. Diwan
We need to keep illegal immigrants
The Donald needs to leave the 11 million Mexicans alone. They pick our fruit and vegetables. They milk our cows. They work in chicken factories. They climb on roofs in 115 degrees.
Without them, our produce would rot. The cows would burst their bladders. Our farmers would go under due to no labor force. Our prices would go up because we would be importing produce from South America at a huge price increase.
They are not taking jobs from Americans. Ha! You can't rip an American kid away from "Grand Theft Auto" video games and put him in the fields. Won't happen. Maybe back in John Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" days.
Every time the Donald drinks his chocolate milk and eats his Eggos, he has illegal immigrants to thank. We need them. They are honorable and hard-working and send money back to their poor relatives. Let's not forget they owned Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California before we took them.
But the worst immigration policy was the one Native Americans endured. If only they had a Running Trump Bear back then.
We need to concentrate on manufacturing and high-tech that corporations are sending overseas.
Tim Engel
Hixson
Challenging the number of 'deplorables'
In a recent editorial, Clint Cooper claimed a "deplorable," which Hillary Clinton referred to as one who is "racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic," is a term which fits only "a percent or two of [Trump's] supporters."
That claim is not true, according to a South Carolina survey of Trump supporters, finding that 62 percent supported creating a national data base for Muslims; 40 percent would shut down mosques; 33 percent believe the practice of Islam should be illegal; 31 percent would ban homosexuals from entering the country; and 38 percent wished the South had won the Civil War.
Those Trump supporters are Islamophobic, xenophobic, homophobic and racist. Their support of Trump, notwithstanding his verbal and alleged sexual abuse of women, make it likely a good percentage of them are also sexist.
I think most Republicans do not fall into the above category of Trump supporters, some of whom are Democrats, independents and tea partiers. But Trump is the Republican candidate for president of the U.S. Why don't more Republican editorial writers call him out for his conduct?
In Clint Cooper's words, "the electorate deserves better." So do those Republicans who don't possess a bully pulpit.
Donald Strickland
Signal Mountain