To the Journal editor:

Being, myself, a person who has an occasional tendency to shoot my mouth off and state my opinions in unreasonably strong terms, I feel a good bit of sympathy with Dan Adamini.

The difference between us is that he uses Facebook, etc. and I generally do not, so his remarks are more vulnerable to wide circulation.

There is a political difference, too: He is a Republican and is perhaps happy with Trumpty-Dumpty; I am far to the left of the Democrats and think our president is an idiot. (Although I do like that Trumpty, like some of my favorite friends, tends to shoot his mouth off. It’s genuinely refreshing.)

In spite of our differences, Dan Adamini (who I don’t believe I have ever spoken with) and myself are both members of the Marquette community. I would hope our neighbors would judge each of us by how we treat our children and other family members, how we treat friends and acquaintances and how we treat strangers. Not for expressive sentences we produce when we are irritated or frustrated.

Time permitting, I imagine Dan would help you when you got stuck in the snow, whether you were black or white or some other color, whether you were a socialist or way far to the right, whether you were a friend or a stranger, and probably whether you were wearing a toque or a turban. I hope I would, too.

To my way of thinking, ripping on a community member who has placed himself in an exposed position is neither a decent nor a constructive thing to do.

Dan may be a political individual, but first and foremost he is a person. Let’s stay civil, try to listen to and understand each other, and remember that we are a community. Criticism is fine, but let’s not be strident or shrill or holier than thou. All of us mess up or fall short at least occasionally.

No one of us is really qualified to throw the first stone.

John (Mac) MacDevitt

Marquett