To the Editor:
The mass shootings this past weekend at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia, and at Brown University in Providence, R.I., are horrific reminders that the confluence of gun violence, racial hatred and deranged, evil perpetrators knows no borders and can manifest itself anytime, anywhere, to deadly effect.
There are seemingly no answers to the scourge, least of all in the United States, where common-sense gun control legislation — including a renewal of the federal assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004 — is much talked about, but never implemented.
At the news conferences that follow these tragedies, officials give updates on death tallies and the status of the criminal investigation. They also express their deepest condolences to the victims and their families. What they are never able to say with any real conviction, however, is that the latest senseless mass shooting to befall their community will be the last.
Mark Godes Chelsea, Mass.
To the Editor:
Antisemitism has been in my life since I was growing up in the 1960s. Back then, it consisted of vandals painting a swastika on my religious school, antisemites littering my synagogue’s parking lot with blood-libel screeds before Passover and local hoods screaming “Jew boy” at me. I learned not to be afraid. Instead, I basked in a proud heritage, thousands of years old, that also gave birth to two other world religions.
The horrific murders in Sydney, Australia — like the attacks at Tree of Life in Pittsburgh in 2018, and synagogues in Poway, Calif., in 2019 and in Manchester, England, this year — are examples of the violent turn that antisemitism has taken in the 21st century.
Even after these acts of raw hatred, though, I’m not frightened away from attending services or visiting Jewish institutions. That is a lesson to be learned from the story of the Maccabees and of Hanukkah. Be proud of your Judaism, and don’t be afraid.
Paul L. Newman Merion Station, Pa.
To the Editor:
We planned to take our 18-month-old granddaughter to her first Hanukkah lighting, the big menorah in Midtown Manhattan. Because of the massacre in Sydney, Australia, we did not go. Instead we lit the candles at home. The joy of the celebration remained, but something communal was lost.
In the age of hatred we must guard against shrunken lives.
George Klas New York
To the Editor:
I can’t stop thinking about all of the high school seniors across the country who this fall carefully chose to apply to Brown University. The visit, the talks with their parents, the talks with their favorite teacher. The dreams.
Yes, they can still apply to Brown and maybe attend. But nothing will ever feel the same.
Nina Butts Denver
What Is Old?
To the Editor:
Re “At What Age Are You Old? It Depends,” by Ken Stern (Opinion guest essay, Nov. 30):
Having once thought that 30 was old, at 71, I now define people as old only if they are more than 15 years older than I am.
People age so differently. Some in their late 70s still outperform me at the gym, while others struggle with everyday tasks. Age is far more about energy, health and engagement than a calendar number.
Treating 65 as a universal cutoff undervalues experience and encourages unnecessary ageism. Let’s start judging people by what they can do, not by the year they were born.
Enda Cullen Armagh, Northern Ireland
To the Editor:
Ken Stern’s guest essay caught my attention. He is 62.
I am 77, and every day I go to a job site where I am remodeling a house for my son. All my subcontractors are a fraction of my age. They all respect me, and I respect them.
My husband is 76 and still works more than full time as a physician-scientist.
What is old?
Kristina Cannon-Bonventre Boston
The East Wing Teardown
To the Editor:
Re “Preoccupied With ‘Renovating’” (Sunday Styles, Dec. 14):
Yes, Americans love a makeover. You might say it’s in our genes and the foundation of our origin story. But the East Wing’s teardown is not just another D.I.Y. For one thing, it’s not the president’s house to remodel. It’s ours. Our heritage. Its beauty is in its simplicity.
We’re not talking about a celebrity’s facelift here. What we’re seeing is the physical embodiment of lawless destruction — of a house and of a democracy.
Susan Bodiker Washington
The post After Two Mass Shootings, Grief and Resilience appeared first on New York Times.
