Apology to first lady in order

The only imaginable goal of The Washington Post commentary, “For Melania Trump, 2017 was the year of the sleeve,” is to sneer and attempt to cause pain.

The commentary, printed Dec. 21 in the Herald-Leader features section, has neither news content nor any intellectual value. Living in a public spotlight can be brutal. Someone who smiles pleasantly should be appreciated, not criticized for choice of sleeves.

I have one word to describe it: puerile. Or, maybe, a more apt word would be: vitriolic. It says far more about the author than about Melania Trump.

Please use the paper to educate and promote civility, not to celebrate and encourage snarkiness. Maintain the Herald-Leader as a “news” paper, not as an outlet more commensurate with gossip from members of a grade-school clique.

Please have the maturity to apologize. And please, first read “On Apology” by Aaron Lazarre (2004), to be sure that you do it right.

This story was originally published January 9, 2018 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Apology to first lady in order."