Letters: Readers discuss the Las Vegas massacre, NASA’s future and history’s lessons
Deeds, not words
My heart goes out to the victims and the families of those killed in Las Vegas, Lawrence and Kansas City this past week. They need our prayers and support, but more than anything, they need action.
We will be hearing these code words. “Now is not the time to bring up gun control.” “What should Congress do to prevent these acts?” “We need to focus on providing support for the victims and their families.”
This does nothing and lets things blow over so we don’t have to do anything, and nothing changes.
This is wrong. In order to support the victims and their families, we need to get our politicians to act.
When someone dies of disease, the obituary will frequently request donations to fight that illness. There is nothing wrong with asking people to act to prevent death and violence.
Tell our leaders to stop using code words. The best way to support the victims and families is to act. Otherwise, your thoughts and prayers are meaningless.
Stephen Williamson
Kansas City
More for NASA
With the recent success of NASA’s Cassini mission, I believe it is time for the government to give NASA an increase in budget.
NASA has had a phenomenal track record of recent success with flagship programs such as New Horizons and the Mars rovers. If we were to increase the money NASA receives, the agency could perform more missions.
NASA may be on the verge of being able to locate life within our solar system with the recent information brought back by Cassini. If there is a chance of that, then we should do everything in our power to find it. Science is the search for truth, and there is still plenty of truth to find.
Keinan Ruch
Kansas City
Political reality
After suffering a presidential election loss that came as a surprise to millions of Americans, Hillary Clinton has opted to publish a book detailing “What Happened” to her campaign that resulted in her defeat. She examines outside sources that affected her campaign during the election, such as grueling questioning from the media concerning her handling of a private email server.
Although Clinton’s frustration is understandable, I do not believe she is doing a service to Americans or Democrats by focusing on unchangeable events that occurred 10 months ago.
Rather, Clinton and the Democrats should view the election as a lesson learned about the changing dynamics of politics. The Democrats need a young, new and charismatic leader to give the party a new identity that can appeal to and embolden younger millennial voters.
Like some supporters of President Donald Trump, Democratic constituents are also quite tired of career politicians, and they yearn for a leader who can better connect with the people on a personal level. If the Democrats can effectively do this, 2018 will be a good year for the party.
Paul Odu
Kansas City
Get off the street
Why do so many people refuse to use sidewalks? I live in a neighborhood that has very nice, smooth sidewalks with handicapped ramps, and I still see people walking in the street, usually with traffic at their backs and sometimes even pushing strollers.
We have medians that make it hard to move over far enough to give these scofflaws room to prance down the street.
Roads are for cars. Sidewalks are for you, people.
And, where there are no sidewalks, safe walking rules say to walk facing traffic. And please don’t wear dark clothing at night.
I sometimes wonder if these “streetwalkers” have a death wish.
Suzanne Conaway
Kansas City
Learn from past
Mischief and thoughtless behavior undoubtedly were behind the recent display of a Nazi symbol at a teenage party, as was ignorance. But demonstrations of adult neo-Nazi groups and their sympathizers are different, and must not be ignored. Their flaming torches, chanting “sieg heil” and goosestep marching are frightening reminders of Munich in 1933 when Adolf Hitler started his reign of terror.
Ignorance of history and culture are essential determinants of human behavior. It is our duty that younger generations must be educated in the evil of the Nazis. We must start with 1914 and learn about World War I and the peace terms imposed on the Germans. A “super race” concept emerged, leading to World War II.
Telling the WWI story is the mission of the National WWI Museum and Memorial, where I volunteer. I see a change in visitors as they exit. “I had no idea” or “I never knew” are common remarks. I am also disturbed by our leaders’ seeming lack of knowledge, especially about other cultures. It is our duty to educate everyone, including teenagers and neo-Nazis. Otherwise we may learn through a disaster.
Nancy Cramer
Independence
This story was originally published October 2, 2017 at 8:30 PM with the headline "Letters: Readers discuss the Las Vegas massacre, NASA’s future and history’s lessons."