Passing light for democracy to next generation
As I write this, I am in Washington D.C. reading The Washington Post. Their byline, “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” shows their mission to shine the light. The front page focused on the Maryland resident “illegally sent to El Salvador,” “uncertainty about tariffs,” and law firms’ concerns about “peril in deals with the president.” A local resident told me the Post costs $60 a month, and the local talk is the loss of government jobs.
Staying in the same hotel, I met the leader of Atlanta’s Holy Innocents Episcopal School, taking 38 students on their 8th-grade trip to Washington. I believe that day, they were going to the Supreme Court and the White House.
As I looked at the fresh faces of these young Americans, I am hopeful that they represent America’s bright future and that we voters can deliver democracy within the law that I enjoyed from the WWII generation. Hopefully, this trip can give these students the light democracy needs to survive.
DANIEL F. KIRK, KENNESAW
Lifetime of scientific research is being destroyed
I spent 45 years of my life working at CDC. I was also lucky to work in and across many parts of the CDC. Through these years, I have met many smart and dedicated scientists. They were not working at CDC for the money but for the opportunity to look toward the future and help predict the need to prevent outbreaks that could face not only Americans but also the global population.
I was there during Legionnaires, Toxic Shock Syndrome, AIDS, Hantavirus, Ebola, and COVID. Just look at what CDC has done to combat these outbreaks. I remember quite well all the young males dying of AIDS in the early 1980s, some of who I knew personally.
I am truly saddened about the demise of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and all the good work they have done for the safety of workers in this country. Being from West Virginia, I am particularly saddened about the loss of research being done for coal miners. My grandfather was a coal miner who died at 69 years old, and I attribute his early death to the toxic exposures he faced every day going down into the mines to earn a living. Great strides have been made in this industry today thanks to NIOSH and the diligent work the scientists have conducted.
I have been working with NIOSH research grants for a number of years and am amazed at the diversity of research topics we receive for our grant reviews. There is still so much to do in safety and occupational research in so many areas of work Americans do every day — construction, agriculture, health workers, firefighters, to name a very few. The research we fund for universities is now likely to be canceled; data will be destroyed, and equipment will be useless. The backbone of America will be neglected.
PRICE CONNOR, ATLANTA
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
