UV: Students identified in noose incident

The human heart is complex and does have perverse as well as altruistic tendencies. But the ignorance of history is unforgivable. The “noose” incident at Unadilla Valley may uncover a deeper appalling ignorance of the Constitutional Amendments and the price paid for them in such places as Shiloh, Antietam Creek, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and many other battlefields. How could any young human being read the Gettysburg Address and not feel a sense of connection to the rest of the human struggle for dignity? Is this two minute document discussed in any of our schools? Students intending in participating in the American democracy must be introduced to the speech and the hallowed battlefields that enabled it. Don’t just punish these students for offensive acts, but teach them about the price and the decision that has already been made in American history. I would suggest that Superintendent Mackey approve a field trip to the “Angle” at Gettysburg where the fate of a nation and its true proposition of freedom was perilously tested. If Gettysburg is too far, then maybe a visit to the monuments to the New York regiments in the villages of Sherburne, Fabius, or Smithfield in Madison County. Or for a more intimate visit, try the Preferred Manor in New Berlin and uncover its history as a stop on the Underground Railroad. The monument in Sherburne is dedicated to people who came from the towns of upper Chenango and lower Madison Counties to give of themselves to a more transcendent purpose of unity and dignity. The casualty list for the 157Th Volunteer Infantry (from towns such as Sherburne, Smyrna and Hamilton) were 98 killed and wounded at Chancellorsville and 307 at Gettysburg. The statues have true symbolic meaning. For what a rural community of New York State gave in life and limb to preserve the Union and destroy human bondage, how dare anybody disgrace it with a noose. I have hope that the ‘seed’ of Chenango County is still rooted in the full measure of human decency. Punitive measures will only correct or channel behavior, but it appears that a good history lesson is needed to change the deeper existential of the human heart.

Michael T. Pusz
Georgetown, NY

Have you heard the old saying, "The seed doesn't fall to far from the tree." Who knows how deep this prejudice is planted in our area and communities? It is not politically correct to display a prejudice attitude but "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men."