Letter to the editor

I am new to this community, having lived for many years in Long Beach.

It is a fine thing to live so close to the enormity of the Pacific Ocean

and for the most part, my family has adjusted to the differences we find

in terms of population, distances between points A and N, and the myriad

of sensory details that make up daily experience.

My daughter and I, wanting to get to some comforting vibration,

decided to go to the candlelight vigil on the pier on Thursday evening.

On our way down Main Street, we heard one young man threatening violence

on those of Arab decent.

If it was a joke, I would say that it is a very bad joke, and not to

be taken lightly.

At the pier, there were a number of heartfelt and simple protestations

of patriotism, gratitude, respect and religious conviction.

I wanted to speak, but felt, as I do at this writing, somewhat outside

of the picture -- more a visitor to than a member of this community. I

wanted to say that I wondered why we were all there. Was it curiosity,

compulsion, a vague sense of longing for connection with something or

someone who would make sense of all of that spent jet fuel, rage and

shock?

Rather than congratulate ourselves on having shown up, didn’t we need

to mark this moment as the beginning of a challenge? What I heard on the

street are the bricks that we build up and blow up and rebuild. The hate

they perpetuate is the psychic rubble under which we all lay. I am trying

to consciously allow the good in me to fight the ignorance, complacency

and simplistic impulse to get even and to guide me through the pain I

feel for us all.

Lighting a candle is one step in what needs to be a lifelong journey.

It’s enough light to see where to start digging.

BARBARA JUNE DODGE

Huntington Beach