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Readers write: Examining Genghis Khan, fishing solution, the power of love, politics insight, solutions in France, reading back to front

Letters to the editor for the Oct. 1, 2018 weekly magazine.

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Eva Botkin-Kowacki/The Christian Science Monitor
Fishermen unload dogfish at the Chatham fishing pier in Chatham, Mass. on Aug. 13 2018.
  • By Robert Guzauskas Monitor reader
  • Elizabeth Shaffer Monitor reader
  • Diana Virgil Monitor reader
  • Rosalie Dunbar Monitor reader
  • Kimberly Jansma Monitor reader
  • Ronald W. McLean Monitor reader

Examining Genghis Khan

The Aug. 17 Monitor Daily article “Russia takes a new look at an old enemy: Genghis Khan” was a very interesting history of an area rarely studied in classes.

Robert Guzauskas

West Palm Beach, Fla.

Fishing solution

The Aug. 20 Monitor Daily article “Dogfish for dinner? Going ‘down market’ to save a fishery” was well-written, informative, solution-oriented, and timely. It’s why I read the Monitor!

Elizabeth Shaffer

Bogis-Bossey, Switzerland

The power of love

What an outstanding statement the prime minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed, made, which was repeated in the July 30 edition of The Monitor’s View. Ahmed said, “Love is greater than modern weapons like tanks and missiles. Love can win hearts, and we have seen a great deal of it today here in Asmara [Eritrea’s capital].” Wouldn’t it change the world if all leaders followed that.

Diana Virgil

Brownsburg, Ind.

Politics insight

The Sept. 3 D.C. Decoder article “When politics and intelligence agencies clash” was another excellent article by Peter Grier. So well-balanced, intelligent, and informative. Nobody does it better!

Rosalie Dunbar

Dracut, Mass.

Solutions in France

In the Aug. 13 Monitor Daily article “France fights flight to big cities with funds for smaller towns,” it was so helpful to read what France is doing about the desertification of areas outside of urban centers. Thank you!

Kimberly Jansma

Newport Beach, Calif.

Reading back to front

I wonder how many people in your readership start at the back of the publication and progress to the front? It is a habit of mine that started oh so many years ago, when the Home Forum section had those wonderful essays by John Gould, Ruth Walker’s column on word meanings, and the movie reviews. To offset this nostalgic note, I find Melissa Mohr’s column, “In a Word,” and Robert Klose’s contributions on the Home Forum pages to be fine replacements and still stimulate me to start at the back and read forward in the Monitor. Thank you for many years of wonderful reading. I was first introduced to the Monitor by my ninth grade English teacher in 1942, when the paper was so large it was not easy to hold. I am so grateful to her for the following years of pleasurable reading.

Ronald W. McLean

Whitesboro, N.Y.

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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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