Letters to the Editor

Comments Unwelcome

The Long Beach mayor and seven city council members have made it abundantly clear that your opinions and potential comments are not welcome. Basically, they are proposing a draconian reduction in time for public input in pertinent matters before them. How conveniently they waited until after the June election to drop their bomb.

Firstly, this is a flagrant violation of the California Brown Act and its open meeting requirements.

Secondly, it undermines our California and U.S. Constitutions.

Thirdly, while this city is in the midst of a supposed budget crisis brought on by their blatant frivolous spending, they are irresponsibly inviting a constitutional lawsuit. (Where is the city attorney?)

Fourth, the LB City Code of Conduct states: “I will work to make sure that all of the people in our city have the ability to actively participate and engage, and will work to eliminate barriers to public involvement in decisions, programs, and services.”

All of these eight office holders were required to sign for receipt/reading of this clause.

Wake up before they try to steal any more of your rights. Write, call, post, or better yet show up at the Oct. 6 LB council meeting to voice your objection. It may be the last time you will ever be allowed.

Diana Lejins,
Greater Long Beach
Taxpayers Union
 

Interdependence

I just returned from a convention where a woman struck up a conversation with me and asked about my family.

Naturally, I bragged about my wife and our two daughters.

Then she asked, “Are you raising your daughters to be independent women who will never need a man?”

I said, “Absolutely not. Why would I do that to them?”

To be clear, I’m raising capable, confident women who can stand on their own two feet. Their value will never depend on whether they have a husband.

But I will not teach them that strength means never needing anyone or that depending on the right man somehow makes them weak.

I need my wife, and my wife needs me. That doesn’t diminish either of us. It makes us stronger.

I believe one of the most fulfilling relationships a man or woman can experience is marriage. Two people becoming one, committing their lives to each other, and building something neither could build alone.

That requires the right kind of man.

A husband should love his wife, remain faithful, protect and provide for his family, honor his commitments, and sacrifice when necessary. He should work every day to become a man worthy of his wife’s love and respect.

I’m raising my daughters to recognize that kind of man and to become women capable of building a strong marriage alongside him.

We have confused independence with isolation and dependence with helplessness.

Marriage is not helpless dependence. It is chosen interdependence.

It is two strong people saying, “I can live on my own, but I choose to build my life with you.”

I don’t want my daughters growing up believing they need a man to establish their worth. But I also don’t want them robbed of the love, partnership, and purpose that can come from building a life with a good one.

There is nothing weak about becoming a devoted wife or husband.

There is nothing small about building a family.

And there is nothing oppressive about two becoming one.

Nate Olsen, Via Facebook