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Readers write: Bipartisanship possibilities, from exploring oceans to space, teaching children to understand others

Letters to the editor for the Oct. 30, 2017 weekly magazine.

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Sara Miller Llana/The Christian Science Monitor
Teacher Jennifer Larsen at the Mollevang school talks to a student in her 'social learning' class, a new mandatory program in the Faxe municipality for all third and seventh-graders.
  • By Wanda Grenville Hill Monitor reader
  • Caryl Bailey Monitor reader
  • Barbara Hood Monitor reader

Bipartisanship possibilities

Regarding the Sept. 8 Monitor Daily article “A new era of bipartisanship? Sizing up the prospects.”: It’s so good that you are showing the possibilities of different political parties working together for the right solutions – isn’t this unity what we all want? When egos are put to one side, there is space for real progress. There’s still a way to go, but the journey is now in the right direction. This really gives us Monitor supporters something to pray about. Thanks, CSM.

Wanda Grenville Hill

Portsmouth, England

From exploring oceans to space

Regarding the Sept. 11 cover story “Ringing success”: This was a thrilling account of mankind’s endless search for knowledge – of overcoming limitations, brilliantly utilizing new ideas, and creatively solving unexpected problems! Wow, is all I can say, and huge thanks that nowadays we can all monitor such exploration and its possible ongoing opportunities! It made me think of the mind-set of those who first explored the oceans. This desire to surmount limitation and ignorance, and the curiosity, knowledge, and skills that are required, inspire us to keep learning!

Caryl Bailey

North Bend, Wash.

Teaching children to understand others

Regarding the Sept. 18 cover story “Reading, writing, & empathy”: This was a thought-provoking article. We need more empathy and understanding of the various situations that our families, friends, neighbors, and communities experience. Teaching children how to understand and empathize with others is so important. While we are teaching skills and understanding, we could also address ethical/values-based decisionmaking. It is never too early or late to encourage honesty, integrity, and courage in our daily lives. Thank you for sharing ideas, programs, and stories that can positively influence lives.

Barbara Hood

Louisville, Ky.

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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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