To the editor:

OK. Don’t you all think it is time for a truce of sorts?

Why don’t we all learn from the past and stop trying to relive it?

History should be for us to learn from past mistakes as well as successes and move on.

To acknowledge past injustices and improve upon that which we can today that is good should be our goal.

And, we should appreciate the struggles that many of our people had to endure to get where we are today.

And, to realize that we all have to continue to struggle even today to achieve goals.

And, as a community we need to assist those with difficulties who want to live a decent life and achieve a good life.

One of the finest examples of moving on is Richmond Community College.

It is an equal-opportunity educational facility as well as employer.

Many community leaders have labored long and hard to develop that institution for everyone in this community.

They did it for you and me, not themselves.

People in Richmond County are not living in the Dark Ages, although some would have us believe that.

Rockingham once had numerous textile mills which provided many jobs.

Because of no fault of community leaders, that industry has moved overseas.

Don’t judge the area because of empty buildings. In case you haven’t noticed, there are empty buildings all across the United States.

Local leadership has spent years to replace the textile industry with other industries and develop the infrastructure needed to keep the economy going.

Unfortunately, the local economy in the past grew mainly on the textile industry.

Local leaders have done their best to recover and diversify.

Those who think otherwise need to get into public office and try to meet the challenges and understand the difficulties from outside forces beyond their control they will face in doing so.

True, not every personal employment goal can be met here.

That is why RCC, in addition to training for local industry, trains and educates people in other fields so they can be able to find a job they want elsewhere.

Not every decision you, I or any political leader makes today may stand the test of time as being the best ever.

It is so easy to judge people in the past for what they did or didn’t do in the glaring light of hindsight.

When it comes to conquering acts or wars, I can offer my opinion, but based only on my personal experience.

In my day, men were drafted into military service. War was not a personal choice.

At the end of basic training, we were told to be prepared to invade Cuba.

Being 90-day wonders at Fort Jackson, S.C., we would have gone anywhere and done anything to get out of Fort Jackson.

My main personal hand-to-hand combat there was getting in fights over mops and brooms for cleaning barracks.

The camp cleverly omitted them from every other barrack so we had to fight for them in the middle of the night.

Not exactly Marine Corps training.

But we were psyched up for whatever the U.S. Army wanted.

I suspect it has been that way for centuries.

I will not judge any soldier asked to do what his community, state or nation expected him to do to uphold the honor of his community, state or nation in any generation or place.

I think that feeling still drives me today. I’m willing to be judged by it. Everyone has some feeling which guides their behavior, be it good or bad.

But as a community, we should control our individual feelings in public and channel them for the good of all, not to just satisfy ourselves.

I have met a diverse number of people in Richmond County who hold a diverse number of opinions.

Most want to do what is right for the good of the community.

That being said, don’t you all think it is time, perhaps, for us to be more civil and call a truce when it comes to expressing feelings that can be hurtful to others?

In the upcoming political atmosphere, it will be helpful to offer solutions rather than just criticisms which achieve nothing.

If we just continue to shout invectives at each other and become frustrated, the end result may be a fistfight in front of a store — which occurred recently in Rockingham.

That is just how wars get started.

A truce is more civil.

Perhaps we can move on to other ways to express opinions in attempting to engender support for one’s ideas.

I promise not to try to steal your mop.

Tom MacCallum

Rockingham