Giving thanks

As we approach Thanksgiving it becomes difficult for many families to fully enjoy the holiday as inflation and other factors have have negatively impacted their livelihood.

When family and friends gather this year, focus on all the gifts and benefits we all receive from the many services that are provided by living in this great country of ours.

Many are fully apparent such as our strong military, heroic first responders, medical providers and our religious communities.

There are also educators, truck drivers for essential needs, entertainers and sport’s teams for our enjoyment, municipal workers, government officials, commercial and retail businesses among many others.

Yes we do have current difficulties that may or may not pass soon so focus on just a few things this year that make your life safer and more rewarding.

Bob Sweeney

Warwick, RI

Fossil fuels

Remember the marshmallow test?  Little kids were put in front of a marshmallow, and told that if they could wait for 10 minutes before eating it, they would get a second marshmallow. The kids who were able to wait apparently did better in life.

The Herald editorial staff (“Bay Staters almost caught a break on energy costs”) want to eat the first marshmallow, right away.  They want more of the fossil fuels that we have right now, and that lobbyists tell us taste so good.

Bemoaning the stalling of a bill that would allow Massachusetts to throw out the climate targets that the legislature passed, they advocate for more fossil gas, less support for clean energy.  This ignores two facts.  One is the appalling expense that climate change is going to bring, for all of us. The other is the fact that clean energy – solar – is now the cheapest form of energy available, and that much of the rising cost of energy represents the fixing of outdated fossil energy systems. Clean energy brings price stability, longer term reduced cost, and even more – good jobs.

We all want energy to be affordable, but Massachusetts residents are smart enough to wait for the second marshmallow. Don’t grab this first bite!

Susan Donaldson

Northampton

Democrats

As as a veteran of foreign wars, and the son and grandson of veterans of foreign wars, I can’t say just how embarrassed and disgusted I am by the political display currently being put on by a group of Democrats including our own Representative Maggie Goodlander. This group of politicians are using intentional subversion of the military for their political gains, and it should not be countenanced by any self-respecting, patriotic American.

This pattern of subversion of our president by radical Democrats is not new.  People like John Kerry, Mark Milley, and Anthony Blinken having clandestine meetings with world leaders undermining our executive’s authority, the leaking of classified documents by James Comey, John Bolton, and others, the whole Article 25 sham from the same people who would later hide Joe Biden’s incompetence from the American people, these are just nasty, power-mad people, and they need to be held accountable.

Nick McNulty

Windham, NH