Suffering in Katrina's wake has biblical implications

Suffering in Katrina's wake has biblical implications
EDITOR:
In one of my sociology classes, I asked students to identify who they thought was the most important person in history. Many answered Jesus Christ. Few, however, would equate Christ with that mass of poor folk along the Gulf Coast abandoned on a cross of government neglect, social sin and impoverished public policy as prophetically described in Matthew 25: "For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink; I was a stranger and you did not invite me in."
In other words, Christ is being crucified right now, once again, by social sin at the top created by a power elite of hypocrites and masters of deceit.
Katrina was a cross erected by the social sin of global warming that graphically exposed the Other America long neglected by politicians who hear only the voice of their donors. The homeless and penniless in devastated communities along the Gulf Coast are the collective incarnation of Christ now being crucified on a cross erected by the social sin of poverty and neglect. They are joined by countless consumers being crucified at the gas pumps on a cross of corporate greed.
Those responsible for this social sin and national disaster will not always escape the consequences. For those who sow the wind inherit the whirlwind. There is a storm of righteous anger brewing in the hearts of Americans who, unlike those who have hijacked the cross and flag, take seriously the word of God and the last three words of our pledge of allegiance.
WERNER LANGE
Newton Falls
YSU graduates keep the Mahoning Valley running
EDITOR:
I thought it would be almost impossible for The Vindicator to become more out of step with the community and its readership.
I was wrong.
A column by Bertram de Souza outlining his thoughts on the actions and attitudes of the Youngstown State University faculty during the recent contract discussions would have been entirely appropriate if it had remained focused on the labor issues at hand. Unfortunately, Mr. de Souza's Aug. 28 column wandered well off-course into a misguided bash of the quality of the YSU education, consigning the diplomas earned by thousands of its graduates as worth little more than the paper that they were written on.
He is wrong.
Despite his admittedly uninformed view of higher education in general, and YSU education in particular, the education I received, as well as that received by virtually every other member of my family, was both challenging and robust. Like many of my colleagues, I went on to complete a graduate degree at Youngstown State, and to successfully compete for doctoral research positions at Division I universities. When I look around at the mid-level and senior management of the company for which I am proud to work, I find myself surrounded by astute, well-qualified, Youngstown State University graduates.
This did not happen by accident.
Youngstown State University has changed the academic, professional, and physical landscape of our area. If you have a quarrel with the position or attitude of the faculty, Mr. de Souza, please feel free to express those concerns in your column. Should you seek to again malign the quality of the YSU education and the capabilities and qualifications of those who have secured degrees through hard work and the high quality of education offered by our local university, I would strongly suggest that you remember one fundamental reality: the engineers, teachers, doctors, attorneys, and business professionals educated at Youngstown State University are the same people that keep our local communities, hospitals, and industries running. Coincidentally, these are the very same people that subscribe to the Vindicator and ultimately keep you in what could easily be described as a cushy position of your own.
DAVID E. BELL
Liberty