SOCIETY
Everyone should be accountable to someone
Edward Young’s letter “More wrecks to come if we exalt men over God” (Readers write, Opinion, June 13) is absolutely true. Everybody should be accountable to someone — to God first, but also to other human beings. Why is it that the higher up a person gets in any organization, they seem to feel they are accountable to no one (whether in churches, government, business or schools)? When a person is not accountable to others, that person puts himself or herself in a vulnerable position.
Being accountable to others protects us, sometimes, from ourselves. No one is perfect. Everyone at some time will slip up or deliberately do something that he knows is wrong. Unless we are willing to have an honest person point out that wrong, we’re likely to continue in it. A person’s real character is judged by his integrity, which can only be strengthened by accountability.
Sue Shealy, Loganville
SOCIETY
Rescuer rushes in when tire blows out
My husband and I (who are both in our 80s) had a blowout while driving on I-85. Along came a nice young man, who immediately got to work and had it fixed in no time.
There are still good Samaritans in this world!
Carolyn Luker, Atlanta
POLITICS
Perhaps we should read Obama’s Illinois emails
Regarding “A portrait of Palin — from her emails” (News, June 12), I wonder what would have happened if all of Barack Obama’s emails as an Illinois state senator had been released before the 2008 campaign? I suspect that the left would have gone ballistic. I also doubt he would have won the nomination (much less the presidency).
Grant Essex, Woodstock
POLITICS
‘Propaganda forums' are not debates
The networks really need to stop calling events such as Monday’s program “debates.” They are “propaganda forums,” whereby each candidate is allowed varying lengths of time to communicate his or her platform. Their pre-rehearsed speeches are broken up by a moderator repeating rules (which are summarily ignored), and by insightful questions posed by citizens (which are never answered). Monday’s debate was a shallow, hollow, expensive waste of an opportunity.
Eddie Ross, Marietta
MENTAL HEALTH
Many who are poor need help but don’t get it
I am glad that U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner is seeking psychological treatment related to his aberrant behavior. Less-privileged people, however, with more serious psychiatric problems (such as schizophrenia) are punished for their behavior, and often don’t receive the mental health treatment they so desperately need. The prisons are full of them.
A system that treats the privileged and punishes the poor does not provide justice.
Daniel W. Phillips III, chair, division of social sciences, Lindsey Wilson College
