Training vs. experience: Letters to the editor, Feb. 16, 2019

Value of training vs. experience

In the article, “Dad, this is what I want to do.’ Now, father of fallen cop mourns” by Marcos Breton on the death of the 22-year-old rookie police officer Natalie Corona: She was on call for a “routine traffic accident” that was supposed to be simple, when a man pulled out a gun and murdered her for no reason.

She had just finished her training a few weeks prior and was recently certified. Many people would find that she received an adequate amount of training to be able to enter the field alone, but she lacked the necessary amount of experience that most officers gain in the line of duty.

The training can give you the skills to do the job, but experience will give you the means to put those skills to use.

Apology for ‘Mexican mind’

It has come to my attention, and was told by several people in the past, my letter to The Fresno Bee many months ago, which described the Mexican people as envious and jealous people, was not taken well by many. My letter compared values and ideals with our Caucasian neighbors as a theory. I was wrong in doing so.

To set the record straight, I was mimicking and paraphrasing, true or not, the late Octavio Paz, who made this analysis of the values and history of what makes the Mexican mind tick in his writings, “The Making of the Mexican Mind.” These were not my conclusions about the Mexican personality. My fault was being close to plagiarizing, by not noting these were opinions of Mr. Paz and not mine.

My failure of clarification has brought me much criticism and embarrassment. My apologies to the Mexican community for a bad presentation of Mr. Paz’s opinions, which may be outdated and not relevant to our present social situation.

Trump never loses, so watch in 2020

Let’s suppose that Donald Trump is the Republican nominee in 2020 and he loses the election. We can recall in the last election that No. 1, he never loses and No. 2 if he did, the vote was rigged. He had us all prepared for that predicted outcome.

Surprise, surprise, especially to him! He won the electoral vote with a little help from Putin, and H. C. graciously conceded. So here we are and 2020 is quickly approaching. The Democrat wins and since DT doesn’t have a gracious bone in his body and he never loses, the election must have been rigged.

Trump screams to his base and Fox how he got robbed. All the Dems and some Repubs will of course refuse a recount, and he sits in the corner, sucks his thumb and pouts and won’t concede.

If this really happened, how would he be removed? The chances of this actually happening is, of course, pretty low, since he will probably resign, not run, or get impeached before the 2020 election.

U.S. has military around the world

Most people realize some of the costs of the lastest government shutdown. Many federal workers couldn’t pay their mortgages, buy gas to get to work or have enough money for food. Thnk of what would happen to all of us if we were at war. No banks available, no way to pay bills, no use of credit cards, to name the obvious.

Our government, in our name and with our tax dollars, is waging war in at least seven countries with no authorization from Congress . We have at least 400 military bases all over the world. Is this the way we want to continue to militarize the world and in the process neglect the necessities at home?

“War is Man’s greatest fall from grace, of course, especially perhaps when we feel a moral imperative to fight it and find ourselves twisted in ethical knots.” These are the words of Kate Atkinson in her book “A God In Ruins” where she describes the bombing of Germany in World War II. She goes on to describe the carpet bombing — we now do it by drones — “pulverizing a dying Germany into annihilation more like a biblical punishment than a military strategy.” Further she states “We have been plagued by questions about the morality of the strategic bombing offensive ever since the end of the war as we attacked the very people — the old, the young, women — that civilization is supposed to defend.”

Isn’t it time for us to fully realize what our country has become — as Kate Atkinson realized about her country — and do something to bring bring back our democracy and a peaceful way of living with ourselves and others?