To the editor,

We have just come out of the Christmas season and materialist revelry aside there is an undercurrent of wonderful sentiment that persists and renews the importance of our caring for each other. We wish glad tidings, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year to complete strangers and find comfort in the basic good of each other. Many families gather around each other as best they can to appreciate the love and kinship they share in common. We have our differences, and flare-ups of this grievance or that occur, but it is safe to say that in general there is a spirit of forget and forgive and enjoy some special moments together.

Forgiveness becomes a central theme of Christian religious activity as the story of Christ's ministry and central message is retold over the next several weeks leading to Lent and the Easter season. Many Christian inspirational texts began Jan. 1 with the scriptural message from Colossians 3:13 "Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” And the message is repeated again in the Lord's prayer, "...as we forgive our trespassers." 

What a wonderful sentiment. We should not be too pollyannaish though, as the Christmas message from Donald Trump to the majority of Americans on Christmas Eve was that we should "rot in hell" for not supporting his false claims of being cheated out of an election he lost by eight million, that's 8,000,000, votes. A claim that has been to court all over the country, heard by some judges Trump appointed, and at last count it was 0-62 against Trump's claims. The sad thing is he has followers that fly his flag, and parrot his mantra and have voiced no outcry of objection about his message. Some are our neighbors, really decent people at every level who sadly, by not objecting, confirm that they too have chosen Trump's message of anger and retribution over Christ's message of forgiveness and compassion.

Ron Ginsbach

Elmwood