Wonder Woman in an Uncertain World

Last Monday morning, October 2, I became deeply sad because I was me, not Wonder Woman. If I was Wonder Woman, I would have jumped to the the window on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay and stopped the bullets with my magic arm band. This was not a joke to me, I was weeping as I told my friend at the gym that I was so disappointed that I was not Wonder Woman.

As I pondered where this craziness came from, I considered that it was my impotence as a “village elder” to explain or fix the great uncertainty of random acts of unfathomable violence. From the largest questions like what causes man’s inhumanity to man, to the smaller no less vexing questions of how come gun shows do not require background checks, I am at a loss.

I live in the greatest country in the world where I am free to speak my mind, protest with a million other women, vote for my representatives and hold them accountable, and pursue the “American dream.” Why am I so darn scared for the future of my six grandchildren?

Perhaps this is the legacy to all succeeding generations: we leave you with wars we have created, economic disparity linked to race and gender, increasing ruination of the planet we all inhabit, and a great variety of political systems which have found no answers to the problems. Good luck!

My wise and loving friends tell me that the best a person can do is to keep an inner peace and be kind to everyone you meet. This is good advice I am sure, but can I also fly into outer space and suck all the weapons big and small off the face of the earth and throw them into a black hole? My inner Wonder Woman fantasy dies hard.

Claudia Frost,

Harpswell

Dark Money and a York County Casino

On the same day that The Times Record published a guest column on “dark money” in politics, I received a letter addressed “Dear Neighbor” from a “citizens committee” called “Progress for Maine.” The campaign supports a “yes” vote on referendum “Question One” which will apparently be on our ballots in November. This is a good example of “dark” money being poured into a referendum campaign that is euphemistically being described as a “modest gaming and entertainment venue in York County.” The thrust of the letter is to characterize this as an “opportunity” to generate sources of revenue for important government services. The letter highlights an alleged set aside for “aging and disability services” having apparently identified me as a “senior” who would like “funding for programs important to seniors all across Maine.”

What the letter fails to address is the costs of yet another gambling facility to the citizens of Maine, and the millions of dollars that the unnamed owner of such a facility hopes to reap from people who will be gambling there. Notably, the word “gambling” does not appear in the letter. We have seen these kinds of campaigns before, and I hope this one fails. I will be voting “no.” I hope none of my real neighbors will be fooled by letters surely funded by “dark money” involved in this nonpartisan issue.

Lucinda E. White,

Freeport