East Washingtonian - Your Hometown News Source

To the editor,

I've looked at life from both sides now..." by Joni Mitchell

A story told in our community is an older adult female went to CC Rural Public library and was immediately confronted by a large display featuring a book opened to a page with sexual images. She was upset, especially for the children. The library had been a place she enjoyed going to. Being of a similar generation I understand her shock at seeing a book with sexual content on display. It didn't happen when we were young. Instead, we continued in ignorance. Maybe hurting or insulting people we didn't understand. Others in our generations may have been curious and looked for information. Sometimes finding misinformation which, we chose to believe or not believe. Did we unintentionally hurt other people in our ignorance most likely, "Yes."

Does the above story tell us an accurate version of the situation? We will never know. Is it likely, there are different viewpoints and versions of it – probably? The contents of some library books suitability and visibility have certainly been a reality in our community for over the last year.

That is one side of the story. Now let's consider it from another viewpoint. A young teenager is upset and depressed. This child is considering suicide. This child doesn't feel like they belong in society. They feel somehow flawed. The child's church has told him/her what they feel is an abomination to the Lord. They have tried to not feel this way, but the feeling doesn't go away. This child, like many others, was born different from our society's norm. The kids at school tease & bully him/her. The child has a few friends, but most shy away from this child. Potential friends don't understand the circumstances and are ignorant of facts about sexuality. The child has not told their parents or other adults, because they are afraid of disapproval and possibly being kicked out of the house. This child feels totally alone in the world and thinks they are the only person like this. The child is suicidal. They walk into the library and for the first time see a glimmer of hope. A book that explains this child's situation is not unique, there are other just as lonely people in the world. The book can "teach". It can teach them where to go for help, how to say "No" when someone tries to abuse them. It can lead them onto a path of more education about people and how different societies handle human differences.

If a book prevents one child from suicide, we all benefit. That child could grow up to be the doctor that saves your life, or the person that discovers the cure for cancer, or maybe a beloved musician. If a book is banned, hidden or difficult to locate, a young person remains ignorant and left to a life of humiliation and rejection. That child stands a much greater chance of all sorts of actions society deems unacceptable, the least of which is suicide, we all lose. It's an unknown.

A book that some many consider inappropriate for children may be a lifeline for another child. Try to see both sides of the issue.

Carol Anderson

Dayton, Wash.

To the Editor,

When I was a child, the Dayton Memorial Library was a place my friends and I were always welcome. My father, an avid reader and well-respected schoolteacher, often requested books from that library to read, for pleasure or as resources for his lessons. Like my friends, my father, and me, members of the whole community drew on that splendid resource to enrich our lives. If we couldn't find something we needed, the librarian, Ms. Weatherford, would help us, thereby expanding the library's usefulness. The same was true for my wife, who grew up in the Ballard section of Seatle and made use of her neighborhood's public library.

When I graduated from Dayton High School, I went on to graduate from Whitman College, and, after serving my country, to graduate school. After I got my PhD, I spent a long and fruitful career teaching at the Johnstown Campus of the University of Pittsburgh, so my life has been devoted to educating others, as were those of my father and mother, Clarence and Lula McNair.

My successful educational career began in Dayton and I owe a great deal of my success to time spent in that Public Library. For others, many of whom remained in or around Dayton, that library has continued to provide resources for self-betterment (books, periodicals, computers, etc.) that would not have otherwise been available to them. Now, a few sanctimonious inhabitants of the area, ignoring the benefits of the library to the entire community, are again seeking to impose their narrow and short-sighted values on everyone else by forcing the withdrawal of the library's support. Shame on them!

According to historian Jon Meacham, one of the most important lessons for citizens of our two-party dominated democracy in the United States is that each citizen loses about half the time, and civility demands that we all become good losers. The community has spoken and the courts have spoken, and yet I'm told that these self-righteous and self-appointed "guardians of democracy and the public good" are at it again. Perhaps, if they had spent more time in the library, they would have learned Meacham's important lesson.

Dennis M. McNair PhD

Johnstown, Penn.