Readers write: America in the making, and replacing ‘wall’ with ‘bridge’

Letters to the editor for the April 8, 2019 weekly magazine.

Readers Respond

America in the making

Scott Armstrong’s headline prompt in the Jan. 21 Upfront column, to complete the sentence “Making America ____,” needs no other words. 

What cover story writer Linda Feldmann describes is America in the making, a dynamic, never-ending process filled with drama and punctuated by periodic angst. Our national history includes civil war, violence in the streets, shady election results, and myriad other maladies. It also includes generosity of spirit and action, collaboration to solve problems, and a constant striving to live up to the idea of America. 

We might know more, and know more information quickly, than in the past, but we have lived through more perilous times than these. Perhaps we should stop fretting so much and get back to, as Ellen DeGeneres urged, judging each other by the cars that we drive.

Daniel E. White

Honolulu

Replacing 'wall' with 'bridge'

Regarding the Jan. 28 Daily article “How do you define ‘wall’? Keeping Washington open may hinge on the answer.”: Why don’t we replace wall with bridge? Talking and using bridges will move us forward more than finding less divisive words for wall – as in bridge across the aisle, bridge across ideas, bridge across cultures, bridge across religions, bridge across policies, or bridge across countries.

I spent my childhood passing appropriate controls on the Peace Bridge connecting the U.S. and Canada. I never thought about the huge importance of that name. How about a peace bridge to Mexico?

How can we get a bridge on the docket for lawmakers? This should be the mindset across the world and embraced by leaders, including politicians, business leaders, and arts leaders; social organizations; and neighborhoods. An entertainer should start a new song. A “Bridge over Troubled Water” remake, maybe? Thank you for your important journalism!

Dawn Gangwisch Cheyrouze

Chaville, France