Letters to the editor - Dec. 26
A sincere thanks
YWAM (Youth With a Mission) Mission 21/Africa Team of Ronan wished to thank all the businesses and individuals who generously donated your items, finances and your time for our successful barn dance and pancake breakfast fundraisers. Merry Christmas and blessings for the New Year.
Peggy Keefe
Polson YWAM
**Editor’s note: The YWAM team is embarking on a three-month service trip to Guinea-Bissau.
Our deepest thanks
My wife and I would like to express our deepest thanks to ACE for providing half tuition scholarships for our three children to attend Mission Valley Christian Academy this year. We were content with the little school in Dayton until our oldest son (9) became bored because of the limited amount of challenges available. Our younger girls needed a change as well.
As Wendy and I looked into MVCA, we instantly fell in love with the staff and teachers. The only obstacle we saw was the daily drive from Rollins. Because we qualified for the scholarship, that hardship of gas money was solved.
Right then, we knew it was right because God had opened this door. We feel the children have adapted well at MVCA and because the challenging curriculum has a biblical world view, this has kept us all strongly in the word of God.
So I say a major THANK YOU to the Gianforte family and the ACE scholarship program for this wonderful blessing to our children. You have been a true answer to prayer for us!
In Christ,
Jens and Wendy Nelson
Rollins
Miss Plentywell’s Press Proxy
Pssst. Over here.
I need to hire you to do a hit piece on a bunch of nice citizens. I am trying to force some Pelosi legislation down the throats of 360,000 Montana citizens, and they are getting in my wells, excuse me, in my ways, ah, I mean my way. Anyway, I don’t care if they are state citizens, even if they have lived here 30 years, or born and raised here with a hundred years plus family histories, they are still out-of-staters and racist. Sic’em boy! Cost is no object. I hear the Compact Commission sent you. But we can’t talk about that now.
Here are the stupidly leading questions we developed in secret meetings, including the non-question about a bunch of racists. You know, we have called them racists so many times that some of them just smile and laugh. Wonder what that’s all about. Anyway, keep hitting the “racists” thing, I don’t think we can ware it out, although some of them seem to be immune. Damn, I hope we haven’t worn it out. That’s the best argumentum ad hominem we got!
If that don’t work we will have to resort to more generic name-calling like anti-socialist, oops, I mean anti-government or anti-indian ... or is that the same as racists? We need to have another non-public (secret) meeting with the Compact Commission to get some help. We need more practice on this victimization “thing”.
Oh oh, they put the list of stupidly leading questions on their web site. Oh my, in print, they really look stupid. No wonder they did not respond. Those guys are not as stupid as I thought. Maybe you’re not so hot on hit pieces, stupid. Why did you give ‘em the list?
“When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.” Dr Thomas Sowell
[See earlier Miss Plentywells’ episode in Missoulian Nov 29.]
Christopher Chavasse
Ronan
Unless we do something
As I visit with people about the problems in our world, our nation, and even in our local communities, the conversations are often filled with a sort of despair, hopelessness and comments like: “Well, things are in a real mess, but there is probably nothing that I or any of us can really do about it.”
Over the years In my religious connections and my spiritual studies and explorations, I am becoming more and more convinced that not only can we really do something about this mess but unless we each do this ‘something’, nothing is really going to change. So, what is this ‘something’? Good question. This is what I am learning about this ‘something’:
It is a willingness to relinquish a thought system based on fear, anger and attack and accept a thought system based on trust, compassion, peace, and other aspects of what many call love. And most important, to attempt to change the outer conditions without simultaneously working on changing our inner conditions, our thought systems, nothing will be achieved toward changing what needs to be changed and healing what needs to be healed.
We see this so clearly in our present legislative process of governing out of Washington D.C. Anger, retribution, greed, attack, counterattack, and adversarial thinking pervades in the halls of Congress. And while this is true, it is also true that this very attitude so visibly being played out in Washington is really a reflection of much of the same attitudes present right within our own states and communities.
It builds from the ground up. We know this and so often say it will only be changed from the ground up. And this is so true. For me, one personal group connection that exemplifies this growth experience is Polson’s “Journey Be” gatherings on Sunday morning. We talk about these things, learn from materials presented, learn from each other, and come away inspired to act.
“From the ground up” speaks to the very foundational strength upon which our lives, our relationships, and our nation build.
Bob McClellan
Polson