'The Passion' emphatically, correctly says all are guilty

'The Passion' emphatically,correctly says all are guilty
EDITOR:
I am stumped as to how anyone can say & quot;The Passion of the Christ & quot; has & quot;brought to the fore the traditional attitude of Jewish collective guilt for the death of Jesus, & quot; as was quoted in a recent Vindicator. I can understand any Jewish person's residual defensive stance based on anti-Jewish violence by individual sinners of centuries past, and anti-Semitism of individual sinners today.
As a Catholic, I have been taught to embrace the faith of my spiritual ancestors, the Jews, which included Yeshua and his followers.
Individual Christians persecute Jews. Individual Jews, as well as individual Romans, not to mention one of the first 12 Christians picked by our Lord, were instrumental in the historical reality of the death of Christ. But every Christian knows that he himself is an individual sinner whose own sins are what crucified Christ. I can't see how Mel Gibson could have made that any plainer.
And what about all the individual Jews who were shown offering kindness to Christ along the Way of the Cross, such as Veronica, depicted wiping the face of Jesus?
With me, the emotion was not & quot;cheap, & quot; and the hope could not have been more beautifully depicted, to anyone who stayed to watch the last scene of the film.
THERESA D'ANGELO
Niles
Overtime trend doesn'talways work out for best
EDITOR:
I was appalled at the Feb. 29 article headlined "Bad weather forces the city to shovel out premium pay." And to boot, on the same page, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan focuses on job losses in this area -- namely WCI Steel in Warren and YSD Industries in Austintown.
ATTENTION, department chiefs and finance department in the city of Youngstown: Don't dare open up any jobs to the people who are affected by company closings. Let these people live on $7-an-hour jobs and this will go far in raising a family.
Or better yet, just let them continue with unemployment until they have used up all there extensions. Just keep cutting staff and never replace anyone and go ahead and pay out even higher premium pay during the year 2004.
How many jobs could you replace from the retirement list in just the overtime premium pay you paid out in 2003 -- $2 million-plus?
I realize there is the cost of health insurance and etc., but get with the program. You do not have to offer 100 percent health insurance paid by the employer. Most companies in this area are now offering a 50/50, 60/40 or 70/30 insurance plan.
You wonder why all of our children are uprooting and moving out of this area. What is here for them and why should they stay here? There is nothing here. It has been completely downhill in this area since all the steel mils began closing.
What new businesses have been brought into this area by our local politicians? They continue to let Youngstown and its surrounding area be known as a "depressed" area.
And while I am on my soapbox, perhaps some of the administrators in our local hospitals should take a look at this. Instead of offering your nursing staff double shifts and mandatory overtime, you too could hire more nursing staff.
I recently spoke to a nurse from one of our local hospitals who was offered an extra $12 per hour overtime pay to work weekends! How many people in this area would like to make a straight $12 per hour? But again, don't dare hire any more staff. Keep working your personnel overtime so they can continue to be so tired that the patients don't receive the care they deserve.
PHYLLIS WROBLEWSKI
Canfield
At YSU, why not just callit a recreation center?
EDITOR:
As a graduate of Youngstown State University (1976), an ordained minister of the Full Gospel Assemblies, director of the Pennsylvania division of Watchman Fellowship Inc. (an international Christian apologetics and discernment organization) and a longtime student of the scriptures, I am deeply concerned and troubled by a letter I recently received from Dr. David Sweet concerning the proposed Recreation and Wellness Center at YSU.
My concern is not about recreation but has to do with the code word wellness as used by so many so-called New Age advocates to further their spiritual agenda. Sweet states that he plans to "educate" our mind, body and spirit.
When did YSU enter the business of educating our spirits? Isn't the word spirit a religious term? Of course it is. Then just what kind of education will YSU give to spirits -- Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Islam? Since all of these religions teach and believe contradictory ideas, just how is such an education possible?
There will also be a meditation center. Just what kind of meditation are we talking about here? Is it Christian meditation where we meditate on the Word of God or is it some other meditation where we perhaps enter into an altered state of consciousness? Again, on what or whom will the students be meditating?
I suggest that Sweet and YSU are opening Pandora's box. I am all for a recreation center but not one that attempts to educate one's spirit. Better that YSU remove the word wellness and any attempt to educate one's spirit. Until that is done, I cannot endorse, nor should any thinking person endorse or contribute to such a project.
ROBERT T. ANDERSON
Pennsylvania state director
Watchman Fellowship Inc.
Murrysville, Pa.
It's time for Alan Greenspanto see what retirement is
EDITOR:
After all the time, money and loss of life we as a nation have spent in Iraq looking for weapons of mass destruction, I have found the culprit right here in America and this WMD has a name: Alan Greenspan.
The Federal Reserve chairman has urged Congress to deal with the country's escalating budget deficit by cutting benefits for future Social Security retirees.
I have a better idea, why not take the guaranteed government pension benefits off all their employees That would pretty much eradicate the national debt. Then let them try to live their lives with the same pension that the Enron workers or all the other big money companies, including our beloved CSC and LTV, that have left our local workers with no job, no pension and no health benefits.
This ludicrous call for action from Congress is a slap in the face to all the working people in the United States. At a time when retirees should be in their so-called "golden years" they find that they will simply have to work until they die.
All I have to say to Mr. Greenspan is, retire.
WILLIAM J. HUNTINGTON
Youngstown