If I may reply to the letter writer about the Mideast (March 27), comparing the Israelis and Palestinians to the U.S. and Al-Qaida is baseless. You cannot compare the two, because the former is an occupier and the occupied. If the occupation ends, so does the violence against Israelis. And if the Israelis keep on killing more and more Palestinian civilians like it has been doing for decades now, the Palestinians will be forced into a situation of desperation.
The suicide bombings are wrong, but so are the Israeli attacks against Palestinians which happen so often and yet receive little attention in the media.
Israel keeps on saying that Arafat should control the suicide bombers, but how can he when Israel keeps on sieging his Ramallah headquarters and keeps on bombing Palestinian police stations?
You obviously haven’t studied about the 1967 Six-Day War and the events leading up to the war. The truth is that Israel, which admitted that it faced no threat from any Arab state, started that war and occupied Arab lands.
You talk of the Palestinians like they can be transported like they weren’t a people. Why should they have to go to the Arab nations and forget about their homeland, Palestine? This would be like asking the Native Americans to go to Asia. And you can’t call all Palestinians “fanatics” only for the actions of some.
Sean Jobst
Oxford
Sportsmanship
My grandson decided he would like to play little league baseball this year. He is only 10 years old and has only played baseball in the yard or at school, so his skills would need improving.
He showed up for practice and at the end of the practice session his coach told him if he didn’t improve in two weeks, he could quit if he wanted to because he wouldn’t be playing.
Some of the parents overheard the comment, called my son to apologize, and evidently told the league president as he called my grandson to apologize and told him he could play if he wanted to. My grandson declined.
When I look at the world of sports, it seems to me that sports are out of control. Sportsmanship is almost non-existent. Games are full of fighting, cursing, disrespectful players abusing referees and umpires. They pay their fines and do the same thing all over again.
Young men and women have for heroes, rule breaking, drug using, overpaid brats.
My own sons played little league baseball and by contrast to my grandson’s coach he was a man who was willing to work with a boy so he could do the best that he could.
He cared about each little boy on his team and he made them all feel a part of the team regardless of their skills. Every boy played in every game at one time or another. If they made a mistake he calmed them down with “That’s okay, just shake it off.”
Before each game he would say “Now let’s go out and have some fun.” They did have fun but they also won a lot of games. He never yelled, scolded or made a boy feel bad about himself. Today’s little league coaches could learn a lot from him.
When all my little league players get home at one time and they sit around talking about the grand old days 30 or more years ago, they’ve never forgotten our good neighbor and their coach, Eskell Smith.
Thank you, Eskell, you did a great job with our boys.
Gladys Nunnally
Anniston
