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Readers write: Teenagers’ challenges, religion and apps, reporter’s work

Letters to the editor for the Aug. 7, 2017 weekly magazine.

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Beth Dubber/Netflix/AP
'13 Reasons Why' stars Katherine Langford.
  • By Glenn Baird Monitor reader
  • Anita Andazola Monitor reader
  • Mike Trickey Monitor reader

Teenagers’ challenges

Regarding the June 14 Monitor Daily article “Support for teens’ mental health”: Thank you for addressing this issue. 

One of the most important tasks facing parents and society in general is supporting our young people in learning to face the challenges and disappointments that are part of life. The problems and emotional traumas that young people face are too often dismissed as adolescent dramas, but they still have the power to have a huge impact on those young lives. 

Education in spiritual principles is one way to help them build a strong foundation, one that will support them their whole lives.

Glenn Baird

Lakewood, Colo.

Religion and apps

Regarding the June 23 Monitor Daily article “Ramadan? There’s an app for that”: This was great! 

I’m Catholic and regularly use apps for prayers, feasts, and commentaries. 

They help remind us all of how much we have, what we can do for others, and how others support us. 

Besides being appreciated by all faithful, apps are a great help for the curious and seekers. Keep these stories coming.

Anita Andazola

Eugene, Ore.

Reporter’s work

Regarding the July 6 Monitor Daily article “Ahead of Trump-Putin meeting, Russia asks: ‘Can Trump deal?’ ”: Once upon a time I worked in Russia as a correspondent for a Canadian news service. 

Though much has changed, one thing most certainly has not: Fred Weir remains one of the most knowledgeable and insightful analysts on Russian affairs. His work is routinely exemplary.

Mike Trickey

Ottawa

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

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