Letters to the Editor 09/08/2010

To the Editor:

Midge Rose has touched countless lives the many years she has been teaching at Sisters Middle School. Those of you who had the pleasure of sitting in one of Midge Rose's classes at the middle school also had the pleasure of knowing Graver, her beloved dog.

Sadly, on Thursday, September 2 Graver passed away. She had a long and adventurous life with Midge and many students and staff members also called Graver their friend.

Graver hiked mountains, spent countless hours at Hoodoo, sat next to students being tutored, walked up and down the isles of Midge's classroom while she taught and loved receiving pats and hugs from the students.

Graver went to assemblies, snuck into the cafeteria on occasion, and most of all she loved kids.

I personally will miss Graver terribly when Midge and Mary Lesowske and I hike together. Graver was just another buddy on the trail, and for me this is a sad time.

Midge, we all loved her, thanks for sharing her with so many.

Mim Burke and Mary Lesowske

•••

To the Editor:

Regarding the mosque (or community center) at Ground Zero: if all these angry Americans knew anything about religious history, they'd see this differently, but of course most religious Americans don't take the time to actually study their religious history.

There are commentaries all over the news media by angry Americans and Brits ranting about the "Islamization of Europe and America." Well, please tell me, how is this different than the Christianization of the New World?

America right now is no different than a nation/tribe of Jews, pagans or indigenous people who were invaded by Christians at some point during the last 1,500 years. During the Crusades, Christian armies killed thousands of people in the name of converting them. Then they built churches and shrines in their conquered lands, and now, Christians are the ruling power on

earth.

So if it's true that Islam is taking over the world (and this is a very big "if"), then it's no different than what happened when Christianity took over the world. If only Christian Americans could see this!

The Islamic belief is that the Koran is Book Three in the Abrahamic trilogy (Old Testament, New Testament, Koran), and is the direct word from God, so how is this different than what Christians believe about their book?

Andrew Gorayeb's op-ed piece was brilliant ("Religious freedom is for all of us, The Nugget, September 1, page 2). It shines a glaring light on the narrow-mindedness of most Americans when it comes to spiritual matters.

The truth is that we are all ONE. It doesn't matter if you build a mosque at ground zero or in the middle of Sisters. The more merged we are, the closer to the real God we become. There IS no separation! It is only the belief in separateness that causes bigotry

and war.

Terri Daniel