Fighting for freedom

To the Editor:

I must commend Jim Cornelius and The Nugget staff for the June 30 edition of The Nugget.

On July 4, 1776, my grandfather, John Hart (eight generations back), was one of those brave men who signed the Declaration of Independence. That event marked the establishment of the most blessed nation ever in the history of this world. I honor him every July 4 for his willingness to “pledge his life, his fortune and his sacred honor” in order to establish the United States of America.

Have there been mistakes made in the governance of the nation? Of course. Slavery was one of the most egregious. My grandfather did not own slaves and was opposed to such an egregious practice and, I’m told, vehemently supported inserting the phrase, “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” in the document. Later generations in our family fought, and some died, in the Civil War that ended slavery, and I also honor those who fought on the side of right.

Other family members fought and some died in other wars because they were dedicated to the cause of freedom for everyone. We are privileged to have been able to overcome extreme poverty. We have been privileged to share our homes with people from around the world, and to have the blood of many nations flowing through our veins.

July 4 has a special place in our family history, and our family has a fierce loyalty to this nation. It is incomprehensible to me, and is just wrong, that anyone who dwells under such blessings could be working to destroy this nation by preaching all forms of Marxism, communism, totalitarianism. They must not fully understand our history.

Thank you for printing the entire Declaration, and for the two-page flag, which I was honored to serve under for over 31 years as a member of the U.S. Air Force.

John Miller

Celebrating 93 years

To the Editor:

The other Bull. Yes, it’s me, Maggie.

Today, July 7, I turn 93.

I never dreamed I would still be here, 41 years in Sisters.

My daughter, Janelle, was Rodeo Queen in 1981, and my husband, Bill Bull, was Grand Marshall in 1990, the 50th anniversary of the Rodeo.

You old-timers remember Bill, easy going, laid back, “The Wind Beneath my Wings.” Unfortunately, he left us at 67 from cancer.

At 93, I’m still doing custom sewing for people’s homes. Been at it for 25 years since I retired from interior designing (original owner of Village Interiors).

My dear friends the Mark Conklin Band are helping me celebrate my birthday on the deck at Takoda’s around 6 p.m. on Wednesday, July 7. All are welcome. Come help me celebrate!

Maggie Bull

Thinking about race

To the Editor:

I read with interest the article and opinion column in last week’s Nugget about Critical Race Theory.

I appreciated how both you and Bill Bartlett pointed out the politicized and muddy confusion swamping any discussion of what the term means.

Isabel Wilkerson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, offers a metaphor in her book “Caste” that I have found helpful. Wilkerson suggests we think of our nation as an old house that we have inherited and in which we all presently live. Like most old structures, there are problems. As the current residents, we are not responsible for causing the cracks in the foundation or for the corrosive rust in the plumbing system, but we do have the responsibility now to identify the mistakes that were made, and it is up to us to correct them.

The “we’re all living in an old house” metaphor removes present-day racist accusations/defensiveness and directs our attention to communal problem-solving and repair of our sheltering structure.

I highly recommend both of Wilkerson’s books: “The Warmth of Other Suns” (2010), for which she won the Pulitzer, and “Caste” (2020).

(Rev.) Anne Bartlett