Sherry Allen – 9/23/10

This page was last updated on September 23, 2010.

Just appreciate the here and now; Sherry Allen; Beaver County Times; September 23, 2010.

Ms. Allen wrote three previous letters I didn’t critique. One (“Conserving water for future,” 1/13/08) asked us to conserve water (primarily by not eating meat) and another (“Say ‘no’ to push polling,” 2/10/08) complained about alleged telephone “push polls” by Republicans, and the third was (“Plant a garden to offset oil usage,” 8/1/08). In one letter I did critique, Ms. Allen gushed about a book she found “that has hundreds of ideas on how to save our planet.” In a partisan letter, Ms. Allen concluded with “Let’s endeavor to walk together peacefully.” In one letter, Ms. Allen related a story of disaffected Republicans voting for Mr. Obama. In another letter, Ms. Allen tried to compare abortion and war in an effort to promote Barack Obama over John McCain. Other letters from Ms. Allen were entitled “Let’s be proactive on the environment,” “Arena a valuable community asset,” “Time to get behind health-care reform,” “A state budget we can all live with,” “Keep pushing for a public option,” “Election ruling terrible for nation,” “Practicing small acts of kindness,” “It’s how we act after events that matters,” “Use freedom of speech wisely,” “Let’s reduce our carbon footprints,” “Natural gas drilling impacts our water,” and “Don’t take shortcuts on drilling for gas.”

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“Recently, a neighbor asked, ‘What do you think about the Mayan 2012 prophecy about the end of the world?’

“I’m a recovering survivor of 24 years of believing and fearing end time dates starting in 1972.

“It was scary growing up with a neighbor building a bomb shelter in his basement, my high school being a shelter, and friends storing a year’s supply of food.”

[RWC] My recollection is the bomb shelter “craze” ended long before 1972. Most government building are/were shelters.

“Things look bad.

“Last month, a friend said, ‘War is making us poor. Beaver County for the last 10 years has paid annually $54.4 million for our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan’ - while, sadly, 14 percent of working Americans are living at poverty level.”

[RWC] I could be wrong, but I believe Ms. Allen’s “friend” is Beaver County Reds. A quick Google search found no other sources for this claim. Further, “War is making us poor” is a currently-popular lefty slogan, also appearing on Beaver County Reds. I suspect this paragraph was the starting point for the letter and the real message Ms. Allen wanted to convey. The rest of the letter is simply trim.

“The Mayan-predicted catastrophe is an unlikely scenario. Some friends sense the earth is evicting us; we’re expendable. Being prepared is important, but worrying needlessly sabotages our precious lives.”

[RWC] Despite this, her letters indicate Ms. Allen is a member of the church of manmade global warming, built on hysteria.

“Smile. Take a deep breath. Our future is unwritten. We don’t have a script. I suspect 2012 will be more like a period at the end of a sentence. We will begin a new chapter.

“Mahatma Gandhi said, ‘The future depends on what we do in the present.’

“The comic character Ziggy said, ‘We should appreciate the here and now, ‘cause it’s only here now.’”