Sometimes things work. Recently, while traveling to Boston from Burlington for a medical appointment, my wife and I hit black ice on Interstate 89 just south of Exit 2 in Sharon. We bounced off the guardrail, spun around, and wound up in the median.
We were, by the grace of God, unhurt. I called 911. The operator was calm, kind and efficient. Within five minutes, a state trooper appeared. He was calm, kind and efficient. He set flares at the location and called AAA for us, then reported back that we should expect towing help within half an hour.
I called the desk at the Courtyard hotel in Brookline, Mass., and explained the situation. They were calm, kind and efficient; they also canceled the room charge without being asked. I called the hospital to postpone our appointment. They were calm, kind and efficient.
Within 20 minutes, Kyle from Blakeman’s Towing & Recovery in South Royalton showed up. He was calm, kind and efficient. He hauled the car onto the northbound lane, pointing us toward home. I fumbled around in my wallet looking for my AAA card. He said, “I don’t want you to get killed standing out here. Call me in the morning.” When we got to Burlington I called Geico, our insurance company. The claims lady was calm, kind and efficient. The next morning I called Kyle. He told me to call AAA, which I did. They were calm, kind and efficient. Kyle will be paid. The car will be fixed. We will re-schedule our appointment.
These are cynical times. It was more than worth the inconvenience (and the hefty deductible) to be the beneficiaries of the competence and humanity of all of the people who helped us that night. Calmly. Efficiently. With kindness. I am sending this to the Valley News in the hope that the local people who helped us will see it.
FRANK KOCHMAN
South Burlington, Vt.
The National Defense Authorization Act, which passed Congress this week, has been praised for its bipartisan vote, military pay raise, paid family leave provision and because it helps prevent a government shutdown. It’s actually a disaster, for several reasons.
It militarizes outer space by creating a “Space Force,” opening the door for still greater military costs. It accelerates the development of low-yield nuclear weapons, thereby blurring the line between conventional and nuclear war and increasing the likelihood of a nuclear war, whether limited or general, deliberate or inadvertent. It continues to fund the war in Yemen, thereby extending what is currently the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe, and funds weapons for the Saudi war effort there, replete with all its war crimes.
The messages it sends to the world on America’s behalf is that the arms race shall continue, and while American lives matter, Yemeni lives don’t.
Half a century ago, Martin Luther King Jr. warned that a nation that spends more on defense than on programs of social uplift faces spiritual death. And so it goes, even to this day. In a breathtaking gesture of moral cowardice, New Hampshire’s entire congressional delegation voted for this act, which is a moral outrage and a national disgrace.
JOHN RABY
New London
The Bible says, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). This is a bedrock principle of our representative democracy. But in the impeachment of President Donald Trump, the truth has been hard to come by. The president has ordered his staff not to testify before Congress or to deliver documents subpoenaed by House committees, while complaining that no evidence of wrongdoing has been shown. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has ruled that no witnesses will testify in the impending trial of the president.
We cannot know whether the information withheld by the president would condemn or vindicate him. But his unwillingness to reveal the truth, and thus to be accountable for his actions, makes it impossible for Congress to do its job of checking and balancing a president who shows so little regard for the rule of law. The second article of impeachment — obstruction of Congress — is based on the president’s concealment of the truth.
As things now stand, the American people cannot make informed judgments in casting votes in the election next November. And we cannot really pretend to be free.
STEPHEN DYCUS
Strafford