Eliot Fisk’s Notes

Dear Friends,

The front page of the Jan. 31st issue of the Tab riveted my attention and won’t let me go yet. It seems to me that the headlines of this front page taken together offer wonderful lessons for all of us.

First, we read that the plans for Newton North have been approved by voters.
Now that most of the fierce debate about how to renovate the high school is over, even those of us who voted for this proposal (as the better of two imperfect alternatives) can step back and thank the passionate critics of the plan. The critics have kept the pressure up, have made the proponents of the plan really pay attention. It is a better plan for the intensity of the debate. Going forward we will all benefit from the fact that the entire process has been vetted democratically. Wouldn’t we like to be able to say the some about the decisions of our national government in Wash. DC! (Talk about wasteful use of public money!)

Under the headline entitled “Yikes!’ we read that, like our national government, our local government is not looking at a rosy financial future, that we will soon again face the necessity of choosing the least unpalatable of two unpleasant choices: of cutting services or raising taxes or perhaps of some combination of the two.

But at the bottom of page 1, the solution stares us back right in the face: There we read of two uniquely American heroes, lawyers, Ellen Lubell and Doris Tennant, who at their own very considerable expense are traveling to Guantanamo to defend a man they have never even met: “A Passion for Justice” indeed…and then some!

The morning that I picked up my free (!), plastic – wrapped copy of the Newton Tab from my front lawn I also drove my daughter all of 5 minutes to school. Along the way we did not have to worry about explosive devices left by lunatic insurgents, nor, when she ran into school, did I fear that some left over cluster bomblets from someone else’s war were going to blow her to bits. I was not afraid either that, were she exploring in the woods outside the school, some forgotten land mine would tear off one of her limbs or worse.

When I got home, I didn’t worry about some airplane dropping bombs on my house…I didn’t even worry about petty burglary during the time I was out. When I went to mail my letters at the local post office, the lady behind the counter greeted me courteously and had time for a little small talk. When I bought some croissants for breakfast, strangers held the door for me going in and smiled at me coming out. Needless to say the thought of a suicide bomber walking into the store never crossed my mind! I could go on and on about the blessings we Newtonians enjoy and take for granted.

I seem to recall reading of one great American president telling us that we had nothing to fear but fear itself, of another calling on us to ask not what our country could do for us but rather what we could do for our country. Surely it seems that if we each could find within ourselves a small particle of the courage and commitment to good citizenship shown us by Ms. Lubell and Ms. Tennant we wouldn’t need to say “Yikes” at all but would just roll up our shirtsleeves in a true spirit of community and get to work. Ms.Lubell and Ms. Tennant don’t just show us what it means to be great citizens of America; they show us what it means to be great citizens of the world!