Letters: Sense of common humanity under attack

Twenty-five years ago, I taught an English class for adults in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. In a conversational class, a Slovak woman spoke of a trip to Canada and into the United States. She reported that as soon as she crossed the boundary, she became afraid. When I asked her why, she replied, “Because of all the violence in the United States.” I asked her if she found any, and she said no. I told that was because there wasn’t any.

I couldn’t make the same claim today. Something has been lost in our sense of the common humanity of all Americans. And we need to do something about it.

This story was originally published June 13, 2017 at 5:40 PM with the headline "Letters: Sense of common humanity under attack."