Letters to the Editor - The Millerton News - 1-26-23

In defense of the other

I am a covid-vaccinated and covid-boosted woman of 70 years. I am privileged to have the means and the choice to do so. I am a partner in a public-serving business in which we determined, a year ago, that staff would also be vaccinated and boosted. But we also decided that we would not limit our clientele to vaccinated persons only. During these ebbing and flowing covid times, we have sometimes required all to mask and sometimes awaited our clients wishes in that regard, depending on our perception of the general need. We’re doing the best we can, as we understand it, for ourselves and our clients.

But I write today to comment on others in my life and the decisions they have made. I count among my closest friends those who have vaccinated against covid, but not boosted, and those who have chosen not to vaccinate. Each of these individuals has made a conscious choice based on their best understanding of their own body’s need. None of them have endangered me nor, to the best of my knowledge, anyone else.

I am quite certain that my own behavior in the world of covid has sometimes been careless, such as not always masking in group gatherings. Just because I am vaccinated doesn’t mean I can’t endanger myself or another. Many in the world, regardless of vaccination status, behave carelessly. And many in the world, regardless of vaccination status, behave respectfully.

We all get to make a choice about who we see and in what settings, and hopefully, all of us are respectful of those we encounter. I’m suggesting, in these difficult times, that we relinquish some of our judgements and spread a bit of kindness. We’re just doing the best we can.

Janice Hylton

Millerton

Re: the film ‘The View From Hiroshima’

Few people in the world would be against a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the film’s author is to be commended for her untiring efforts to obtain such a treaty.

However, the bombing of Hiroshima, referred to in the film, perhaps should have been put in perspective ie.  a war started by Japan, the subsequent ravaging of Korea, China, The Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Indo-China and Pearl Harbor, which resulted in the deaths of millions of people, all done with the attitude and rational by  Japan that their nation, and  the Japanese people,  possessed a superior  culture to all others and thus they were justified in their conquests. An attitude not unlike that of Nazi Germany.

An attempt at negotiations with Japan was to begin in December, 1941, but instead Admiral Yamamoto decided to destroy the U.S. naval base in Hawaii, resulting in the beginning of a long war for America and thousands of lives lost.

The realism of parts of the film, for a good reason, “pulled on the heart strings of its viewers.” At the same time, shouldn’t we also recognize those millions who lost their loved ones as a result of the Japanese aggression?

In early August, 1945, terms of surrender were given to the Japanese government but they were turned down. The war had to end, Japan had to be defeated, the options were few. An invasion of their country would prolong the conflict and result in thousands more killed on both sides.

Again, terms of surrender were presented after Hiroshima and again rejected.

To end the war the way we did will always be debated,  but a perspective, (a reality check)  on the “why” this happened should certainly be considered and presented to the hundreds of student and adult  viewers of “The View From Hiroshima.”

Peter Smith

Taconic, Conn.