Beautiful Christmas in Grants
Dear editor,
I was on my way to Smith's the other night, when I noticed all the beautiful Christmas lights at the Grants City Hall. There is something very special about the Christmas Season! It is a time to spend with family, a lonely neighbor, or someone in need. The lights and colors bring back so many memories of Christmas Season's past. I just wanted to take a moment and say thank you the Grants City Employees that worked so hard to put up all those beautiful lights! They really lifted my heart, as I know it does for many others.
This coming Saturday the City of Grants will be having the 'Cookie Crawl' and the 'Christmas Holiday Electric Parade.' Two very fun family activities that can help make memories that will last forever! Please come and join in! Bring your kids and grandkids! Bring a neighbor!
Christmas was originally meant to honor and remember the birth of the Savior, Jesus Christ. I believe it is because of this focus that there is a very special spirit though out the world. We become kinder, more generous to our neighbors and our families. We are kinder to those we do not know. Wouldn't be great if we could always remember the Savior and perform his acts of love to others? To show more patience, kindness, love and service to those around us? Who would have known that the birth of a baby, a wondrous little stranger, would change the world? May His love fill our hearts with hope and peace as we celebrate the birthday of the Light of the World, the Savior of all mankind, Jesus the Christ. And may we be His Hands and Feet, in bringing this to pass.
Robert S. Windhorst Milan, New Mexico
Much Ado About Patriotism
Dear Editor,
It has come to my attention in recent weeks, reading this paper, that many Grants residents have a particular affinity for identifying with a particular kind of patriotism. In a country that, with each passing day, increasingly contorts itself into a bludgeon against its own civilians and a money-laundering machine for the richest people in the world, I don’t think there’s ever been a better time to unpack what patriotism actually means.
I’ve never been able to reconcile the typical patriotic sentiment that demands lip service to “the troops” but fails to demand any scrutiny of the politics that determines the fate of those troops. That kind of patriotism has never improved either the quantity or quality of American freedom.
The only thing that has consistently proven, time and time again, to enhance our freedom is this: revolutionary action from ordinary people in solidarity with one another, fighting to protect their collective rights. Every time our government has neglected to recognize the humanity of certain groups of humans, we’ve seen movements rise up to respond. There is not a single example in U.S. history where a people’s rights were suppressed but later upheld due to a sudden moral awakening of the government. The people have always had to wrest those protections from the reluctant grip of our politicians.
If our veterans have secured anything for the American people, it’s the space we have to assert and fight for our rights. It’s the spirit of freedom that has inspired high school students to organize walk-outs in protest of ICE kidnapping their peers and teachers; inspired municipalities to cut ties with corporations that profit from the ghoulish immigration policies persecuting their residents; inspired church and neighborhood groups to condemn ICE detention facilities in their communities. THAT’S what I would call patriotism.
As Trump America 2.0 continues to sink our country deeper into an authoritarian system in which our neighbors are disappeared, dissenting speech is classified as “terrorism,” and children’s access to food is ransomed against their access to healthcare, patriotism needs us to be brave. It demands an unwavering commitment to kindness, respect, and the defense of EVERY person’s right to live free and healthy lives. Indeed, freedom is never free. It demands a collective resistance against fascism in the spirit of those WWII veterans to whom we pay tribute. - Carly Monnin