Walter responds to Jim Winston’s letter.
I know neither Mr. Jim Winston nor what inspired him to share his thoughts about the people of Haddonfield with all of Haddonfield. But being generally able to separate wheat from chaff, I do know a compelling work of Art when I see one. And Mr. Winston’s deserved plaudit to the people of Haddonfield rings so keenly spot-on — according to my own personal observation and experience — and so well-said in every detail, that I would call it Poetry.
I couldn’t help but contrast Mr. Winston’s elegance with so much of what I hear and read coming from the propagators he seemed to beever so subtly challenging — loud clamor about so-called racial and other prejudices in Haddonfield. Mountains of molehills, much ado about nothing, or whatever. Grain of salt stuff. The purpose it serves, ironically enough, is to create prejudice in the minds of others. And it works as does all advertising, especially the histrionic kind.
Thank you, Mr. Winston, good man, for not sitting idly by and doing nothing. How wonderful to see an Edmund Burke truism come to light so magnificently, right here in our lovely little town. And thank you, bellyachers galore, who, so it seems, prompted Mr. Winston to remind us that all of us “reap what we sow.”
