Dear Editor:

If I looked into a crystal ball last year, I doubt I would have seen the events that have unfolded and our response to them. The future is seen as bright and hopeful and yet in just one year what I learned and what has been uncovered in the press and unfolded on our border and in every state has been eye opening and heart wrenching.

Learning about the death of Mainer’s denied access to Medicaid began in January and learning about the deaths of prisoners of war at the hands of the military with the express approval up the chain of command was another severe disappointment in my belief — one that was recently expressed by Senator John McCain: “We are better than that.” McCain is the best person to express that out loud as he has firsthand experience with captivity and torture.

Many waited for the release of the “Redacted Executive Summary of the Torture Report,” but I did not. I have been reading Jane Mayer’s book “The Dark Side” that documents every memo and event contained in the redacted documents made available to the press. It also contains confirmations from many people named in the document or included in witness’ stories. I also read Matt Taibbi’s “The Divide — American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap” an eye opener on the laws that have been changed in our states and nation by the John Birch Society (JBS) established by Fred Koch. For an uplifting book, gratefully I found Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor’s “My Beloved World.”

If I had looked into a 2014 crystal ball and saw the unimaginable events, I would not have believed it possible.

As 2015 comes into view, I am committed to fight back — for a balance of power in income and wealth with minimum wage increases whose passage consistently results in increased jobs and growth of the economy; for the right to say, “We are better than that” by ending torture within and outside of the military, and to find hope, love and joy in all that life has to offer, even when it includes painful and depressing struggles.

Happy New Year.

Jarryl Larson

Edgecomb