LETTERS: EVENTS OF MODERN TIMES AREN'T ALL BAD

To the editor:

Recently I had occasion to see a letter published in your newspaper from a gentleman who bemoaned the pervasive moral failures of today. "I remember," he said of the wonderful times gone by. Though he has a point to some extent, I would like to remind him of a few other circumstances in recent American history which he should also remember.

I remember when black Americans were routinely lynched and their murderers went unpunished to be regarded as heroes of the Deep South.

I remember when young victims who complained of child molestation -- not those who raped them -- were treated as troublemakers.

I remember when the mentally ill were held against their will in prisons disguised as hospitals, shunned as an embarrassment to their families and subjected to horrific medical procedures without their consent.

I remember when our rivers and skies were chokes with poison, but the federal government protected the industrial polluters, not our priceless natural resources.

I remember when the president of the United States didn't have sexual dalliances because he was too busy plotting the felony break-in at the Watergate, overseeing the illegal use of the IRS to hound his political opponents and conducting a massive, illegal campaign of dirty tricks to smear his election rivals.

I remember when doctors refused contraception to young unmarried women. Those who happened to get pregnant were ostracized by a rigidly unforgiving society, while the young fathers bore no responsibility for child support.

I remember when blacks were niggers, Latinos were spicks, Asians were chinks and Jews were kikes. When these despicable terms were used in public, polite society laughed at the joke.

I remember when young men, not smart bombs, offered the first line of attack during wartime.

I remember when we heard the news of children starving in foreign lands, turned our backs on the suffering of these tiny, helpless creatures and said with a complete lack of compassion, "I don't care. They're not Americans, so that's no business of ours."

By and large, our society has begun to grown beyond these problems. Yes, we still live in troubled times, but when have we not? It is unwise and misleading to focus exclusively on an idealized view of the past while reciting a relentlessly negative view of modern times. There is much in today's news for us to regret, but there is also much for which we should be grateful. I am happy to live in these times, in this country and on this beautiful Earth.

SALLY IRVINE

La Crosse, Wis.