What a difference a year makes, huh?
Our last celebration of Independence Day included parades, fireworks and family picnics. And even though we were a divided nation, we collectively embraced summer’s biggest event.
This time around, we’re all hesitant to leave the house or gather in large groups, because of the pandemic. And even the wearing of face masks has become a political issue.
What’s more, with 40 million jobs now lost, a true sense of security for ourselves and our family is scarcer than a bottle of sanitizer at the convenience store.
Tragically, so many of our fellow citizens have died, and so many more will never observe another Fourth of July event.
As we quietly commemorate the holiday, it seems only appropriate that we remember all those who lost their lives in silence this year.
Bob Ory, Elgin
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Cops are still doing their job
Contrary to your sensational headline on Wednesday, Chicago police officers have not stopped performing their sworn duties, they are just going about it differently.
Out of a strong sense of fairness, the officers are not generating the “activity” numbers demanded by the out-of-touch bosses at headquarters, since that can only be done by stopping compliant people and citing them accordingly. This is unfair because the non-compliant community will always fight, flee and/or resist, and actions taken to subdue them are increasingly frowned upon.
Officers are still present in all neighborhoods, and are always available if help is needed. Oh, and by the way, Wednesday also marked three years without a new FOP contract — where was the headline about that?
David L. Milligan, Portage Park
Stop General Iron
As a lifelong resident of the Southeast Side,I just wanted to say “thank you” for your editorial of July 1 on General Iron. It said and captured the feelings of a majority of 10th Ward residents who have had enough of these self-labeled “green industries” coming to our community and only exacerbating the pollution problems that have existed in this ward for decades.
Hopefully, Mayor Lightfoot will tell RMG/General Iron to find another location, preferably in an area with no residents and no schools within shouting proximity to these dirty industries.
If it is not good enough for the good people of the North Side, it is not good enough for us good people on the Southeast Side.
Wayne Garritano, Southeast Side
Take a history course
So now, in places like Madison, Wisconsin, there’s a movement by students to tear down Abe Lincoln’s statue. Two thoughts: First, these students should take a history course.
Second, if we — you, me, our neighbors and colleagues, everyone — were to be judged by the standards our great-great grandchildren will adopt in 150 years, we would all be deemed dumb, if not evil. That’s part of progress, of evolution. Each generation hopefully does better, makes a little progress, just as Honest Abe did.
We should all strive to make as much progress in our lifetimes as that scoundrel Lincoln did in his. And pulling him down, or any statue, won’t do it.
William Choslovsky, Lincoln Park
