Letters to the Editor: With classes out, explore outdoors (even if just your yard)
Outdoors a classroom
We’ve got lemons. Time to make lemonade. No school, encouragement to go outside, parents wondering how to entertain offspring … This is spring! Explore the world of nature; help your child learn about plants, insects, ecology — science.
Ask nature a question — any question will do. Go outside. Look at the ground, the trees, the bushes. Do you see dandelions? What is a dandelion? Google “dandelion” and I guarantee you will find surprising and cheerful information about this plant.
What about honey bees? Should we be worried that they will disappear? Google “honey bee” and learn where they are native. Be prepared for a surprise.
Have you seen an apple tree? Google “native country of apples” for another surprise.
Explore your yard or the nearest park, and take notes on what you see there: plants, insects, birds, and anything else in the natural world. Google what you observed to learn more about this world we live in.
My all-time favorite teacher, Jean-Henri Fabre, called natural history “youth’s glorious study” and took his students outside to learn about insects, plants, and the natural world. Google him, and be prepared for another surprise. Then go out and explore!
Martha Victoria Rosett, Lexington
No credit due Mitch
I am writing in response to a recent letter in which the writer praises Sen. Mitch McConnell for his “efforts to pass economic relief to those who lost their jobs.”
While it is true that Senator McConnell (along with everyone else in the Senate) voted for the bill that became law and that provides an extra $600 per week in unemployment benefits to those who have lost their jobs, that was not his first choice.
The relief bill he introduced in the Senate, Senate Bill 3548, included no such provision. It was only due to the refusal of Democrats in the Senate twice to pass this bill — votes McConnell roundly criticized — that “those who lost their jobs” are getting economic relief.
Jonathan Edwards, Lexington
Same goes for GOP
To the letter writer who requested that the Democrats stop making abortion a litmus test for judicial nominees, I would request the same of the Republicans. Stop abortion as a litmus test for judicial nominees and provide funding for candidates who support abortion rights.
Rebecca Akers, Lexington
Postcard sickening
I recently received a government postcard with the headline,” President Trump’s Coronavirus Guidelines for America: Slow the Spread”. I assume every U.S. Postal household received the same card.
I am sorry to say I cannot accept anything with his name on it as anything but more of the same, that is to say, just more lies and boasting. The president’s reactions to COVID-19 from the beginning have been, first to yawn, next to blame his bungling on anyone but himself (“I don’t take responsibility at all”), and then to blatantly lie about how great his actions have been. That’s one thing.
The other thing is this: Must our president turn everything he does into a campaign pitch? Remember his visit to the Centers for Disease Control on March 6 when he compared early coronavirus tests to his impeachment phone call to Ukraine? He even wore a campaign cap for the cameras. Now, he has gone one farther, taking personal credit for much-belated coronavirus guidelines generated by others.
If COVID-19 has not made me sick (not yet, at least), Donald Trump’s inability to respond to the national crisis of our lifetimes with honesty, clarity and urgency certainly has.
Arthur T. LaBar, Richmond
Money plea shameless
Recently I received a letter from the “Honorable Mike Pence.” I opened it, expecting significant information on the coronavirus task force, of which the vice president is the head. Instead, it was an unabashed solicitation for money to reelect President Donald Trump, along with a totally slanted questionnaire bashing U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats. Both the solicited money and the questionnaire were to be returned in an envelope requiring no postage. I wonder that the “honorable” Mike Pence has no shame in doing this during the current crisis. And I wonder if this country has no shame in listening to him during this time.
Ordelle G. Hill, Richmond