Opinion: We must create the Christmas we desire and other letters to the editors

We must create the Christmas we desire

Remember when Christmas meant more than running around buying, and stressing? It is easy to get lost in the gifts and buying, making what Christmas is about to fade to the background. The word "Christmas" is derived from the word "Christ." The story of Christ's birth and all that came with it is what Christmas is about. Also, helping others, seeing lights with kids, decorating cookies together, writing letters/cards and feeling peace.

Stores display toys earlier each year, making it about profits, and people play into that. I hear stories about how kids long ago got one or two gifts, and learned to be thankful and not expect more. This feels like a century ago, but we didn't wish the holidays would be over. We are supposed to find peace in each other, but that isn't an option unless we create it.

Time is passing, and the moments with each other will be what we remember. If we want it to be about gifts and teach our kids that, it will be; if we want it to be about Christ's birth, it will. The choice is yours. Choose wisely. Begin to create the kind of Christmas intended.

Christine Diwan

Corporatization has made me a 'radical'

Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Rick. And I'm a radical. At least, that's what I'm called these days, by not only the conservatives out there but by many Democrats who seem to think that a little - actually, it's a lot - of corporatocracy in our government is acceptable. But because I happen to think it's not acceptable, because I think health care ought to be considered a basic right, especially in a country that calls itself civilized, because I think billionaires ought to pay their fair share in taxes, and because I want to see a government truly of, by, and for the people, as opposed to a government owned by big money, I'm labeled a "radical."

But might I say this in defense of my 71-year-old self? I honestly don't think I'm all that radical. I just remember a time when "radical" was not so radical. But somehow, over the past 40-plus years, our government has become more corporatized and more aligned with the plutocrats than with the people. It is in fact the anti-radicals who have become the radicals, calling anything pertaining to the public good "communism" when really it is just plain decency.

Rick Armstrong

Monteagle

Defend this country, defend the truth

It's OK to lie about a stolen election; to plan and conduct an insurrection; to defend those who would seek to destroy our democratic institutions; to deny or obfuscate the truth about vital human issues; to aid and abet our external enemies who revel in our travails.

Not in my country.

We will vote like never before. We will seek the truth and make it known. We will defend the Constitution and will uphold the laws of the land. We will teach our children the intrinsic value of every human being. We will protect the way of life millions of Americans fought and died for. We will stand united against our enemies - both internal and external.

We will not yield to this insanity.

Buell Connell

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