Hey Royals owner John Sherman: Look at those ex-losers playing in the World Series now | Opinion
Turn it around
Both teams in this year’s World Series, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Texas Rangers, lost more than 100 games two years ago.
It can be done, John Sherman. Are the players the Royals draft not that good, or are the coaches that bad? We might give you a new stadium if you give us a new team.
- Joseph Gray, Kansas City
Mideast question
After all these centuries, decades and years — especially the 76 since 1947 — why is there no official Palestinian state?
History shows us that the Jewish people, against all odds, seized the opportunity to build a self-governing democratic state with clearly defined borders respecting international law. It’s called Israel.
History also tells us that a Palestinian state was envisioned at the same time as Israel in 1947. But some held that the Palestinians were not ready for statehood and that they should live under the governance of Egypt and Jordan.
The plight of the Palestinian people is gut-wrenching and sad beyond words. Billions of dollars in aid from countries around the world have been routinely invested in military arms and related supplies, used in the indoctrination of hate for the Jewish people at every level.
It seems that terrorists who claim to represent the Palestinian people have only one goal, and it’s not to grow and build their own peaceful, functioning state. Their goal is to eradicate Israel.
A bigger question has never been answered: What would the destruction of Israel do for the Palestinians? Their leaders have not shared the vision of that state.
- Richard F. Thomas Jr., Kansas City
Words to teach
In her Oct. 26 Star guest commentary “Time to lose that Andrew Jackson statue downtown” (12A), Neysa Page-Lieberman urges us to replace the Andrew Jackson statue outside the Jackson County courthouse in downtown Kansas City with vibrant stories, more “open and accessible to all, with the potential to shift and respond to new information and identities.”
Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker’s office has done that by placing plaques adding context at the sites of the Jackson statues there and at the courthouse in Independence. “Almost two centuries later, we hold a broader, more inclusive view of our nation,” they read. “This statue of Jackson reminds us we are on a path that, in the immortal words of Martin Luther King Jr., bends toward justice.”
By using the statues as physical evidence of past injustices, the plaques demonstrate the vital need for a more humane future: “In turn we must acknowledge past injustices to help us create a greater nation built upon humane policies to light our way and the way of humanity everywhere.”
Most important, the plaques acknowledge the importance of the personal stories of people entering the courthouses in the pursuit of truth or justice. “You may be entering this revered building today in a pursuit of truth or justice. Welcome. Your own history is still being written.”
Let the statues and the plaques together prompt those vibrant stories.
- James Heiman, Independence
Touching me
While I have no dog in this particular fight, it is interesting to follow the justifications and denials about plans for the possible reworking of rezoning laws in Prairie Village. (Oct. 31, 7A, “Stop Rezoning Prairie Village not your father’s Republicans”)
But if we are honest about this, the underlying feature can best be expressed by a George Carlin comedy routine, which is available on YouTube. In this monologue, Carlin discusses what he calls “NIMBY” — “Not In My Back Yard.” He points out that Americans will support many things, unless those things affect them directly. From nuclear power plants to facilities for handicapped people to affordable housing, we tend to act in our own self-interest, and many of our so-called idealized values are often overlooked in the process.
You can understand our many explanations for these issues by remembering NIMBY — the real motivation behind the fight in Prairie Village.
- Terry Rodenberg, Greenwood
