Bad news? Better never than late

(EDITOR’S NOTE: While written in the dead of winter, the gist of this letter remains relevant in spring, so it is running, although a bit late.)

By JENNY LA SORTE

Would you kindly relegate the bad news to the back page for a while so I have some hope of recovery from my SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder)? Of course, sunshine would help, too.

After two consecutive days of seeing on the front page of the Daily Inter Lake that a new abortion clinic has sprouted up like a weed in a garden in Whitefish (Jan. 24) and that the beer brewing program staff at FVCC are going full steam ahead with selling their beer in an “exploding industry” (Jan. 25), I am depressed.

That’s all we need — one more abortion clinic to teach young girls that killing their baby as a matter of convenience, for alleviation of mental anguish, or because of economic hardship, is OK. God isn’t responsible for their mistake, and once made, there are too few babies available for adoption. And all we need is one more micro brewery or college brewery in a state suffering a high rate of alcohol and substance abuse, domestic violence, and suicide. If you make any bad thing more readily available, more people will fall victim to the worst side of their nature. We’re trying to make progress on social issues in our state with one hand, and slapping it down with the other.

Whoops! I waited a day too long to submit my letter, and there it was again — more bad news on the front page: “State grants permit to water bottling plant” (Jan. 27), and “County to stop taking plastic, tin recycling” (Jan. 28). More on those another day, but, Mr. Miele, if you will put the bad news on the back page from now on, I promise I won’t look.

La Sorte is a resident of Kalispell.