Compassion

This is written by an "old and poor" Glendalian, who mistakenly voted for Bob Yousefian. I did not care for the remarks you made as quoted in the News-Press. Just because you can bleed the city of Glendale for an obscene amount of money, it doesn't set your up as a person who can be so judgmental. Some day, if you are fortunate, you will be considered "old" and, hopefully, you will have more than poverty-level income to live on. Some of us "old" people have had our income eroded by inflation and misfortunes and have no way to make it up now. Show more compassion for those who aren't as lucky as you. RUTH ANDERSON Glendale

When we lose compassion for "the other side," we lose our ability to resolve problems. If we can't or won't have empathy with their situation, the "other side" will simply remain angry and tune us out. Oscar Asbed Pogarian and Lenore Solis took a revolutionary approach to Iva Carrico in their recent letters to the News-Press. Instead of condemning Iva, they offered her empathy. Instead of punishment, they offered compassion. At the same time, they made it clear that they strongly disagree with, and feel saddened by, the words she spoke before the City Council.

Good life lessons no matter the planet Mary Burkin of Burbank is an actress, lawyer and writer. Sometimes, even with a penchant for implausible situations and shamelessly contrived tears, Steven Spielberg gets it right. He got it right 20 years ago with "E.T." -- one of those movies that has something of value for everyone. The kids can relate to a sweet, gentle, candy-loving alien from outer space, who really, really wants to go home. The grown-ups can relate to a single mom so devastated by her husband's abandonment that she doesn't even notice a small green man raiding her refrigerator.

When I read your April 17 editorial titled "Bigotry drives flag debate," I felt sad and discouraged. I would like to see everyone in Glendale treated with dignity and respect -- and labeling people's behavior as "bigotry" does not move us closer to this goal. In every ethnic group in Glendale, there are some who feel anger toward other groups. But, I suspect, if you look beneath their anger, you will find fear. Fear by some that the city is being taken over by foreign cultures and values, and that their way of life has been changed forever.

I haven't been reading too much of this part of the paper lately, but when I do it just amazes me how people take for granted becoming a true American and how they show their arrogance and disrespect for those of us who have had to struggle to survive to live in a society as one. First of all, you can say all you want to about me, and I will tell you this: My people died for this country, they were stripped of the ...

Gary Moskowitz DOWNTOWN -- First-time author Jacqueline Marcell was having a bad year. Her boss fired her, her boyfriend broke up with her, her cat died, she had extensive surgery done on her back and her father was losing his mind to dementia. When she went to see her parents, she found her mother, a victim of a recent heart attack, near death due to her father's inability to care for her. "In his state of dementia, my father was too stubborn to allow caregivers into his home," Marcell said.

Tim Willert LA CRESCENTA -- As this quiet hillside community continues to reel from the brutal slayings of teenagers Christopher McCulloch and Blaine Talmo, Ileana Geestman fondly remembered Christopher for the time he spent with her daughter after the girl was diagnosed with cancer. Desi Geestman and Christopher were neighbors and classmates at Monte Vista Elementary School. "For someone who wasn't a close friend, he cared enough to come by and visit her when she was sick," Geestman recalled Tuesday afternoon in front of Valley View Elementary School, where the bodies were discovered Sunday night.

What kind of community do we all share when a mural honoring a brother and sister killed in a car crash has to be removed? Louisa and Tim Jagoe lost their 23-year-old son Christopher and 21-year-old daughter Allison in October. With the blessing of the parents, artist Jason Totty painted a mural on the side of West Coast Video at 2218 Honolulu Ave. The siblings were customers at the store and the owner was more than happy to allow the artwork. Then the complaints started to roll in, along with some unusual coincidences.

Claudia Peschiutta THORNYCORFT -- In a solemn sanctuary where the sounds of the outside world are nothing more than whispers, JoAnn Banks tackled a tremendous amount of pain without making a move. She prayed. The 33-year-old Sunland resident said she came to the World AIDS Day interfaith prayer vigil at First Lutheran Church Wednesday night because she has seen the virus take whole circles of friends away from people. "There's a lot of pain and a lot of suffering and I guess that's what I'm praying about here today," Banks said.