Copyright Chicago Tribune
A reader wrote about the Nov. 1 Christmas season kickoff as one radio station continually plays holiday music (“Not Christmastime”). Deck the halls! Hang your stockings! Here comes another one. I like Christmas as many people do, but in its own time and place on the calendar. Of course, we all know the “Christmas rush” is driven by greed and commercialism. But on deeper reflection, it seems to me that people want to feel happy and rely on an external stimulus. So if we start Christmas sooner, we’ll be happier. Right? Not so. Happiness is within reach each day, each moment, each breath. Of course, we all deal with sadness, which is a part of life. But we don’t need Halloween, Christmas, Easter or any holiday in excess to make us feel happy. Has it come to this? Let us all pause and remember that it is Thanksgiving we celebrate in November, the holiday of no cookies, gifts, songs, more songs, endless celebrations and guilt. Oh! The guilt. Thanksgiving is the holiday of gratitude for family, friends, the earth’s harvest and all the blessings in our lives. It’s also the day when Santa concludes the Thanksgiving Day Parade and starts the season. Even he knows to wait. Be happy. — Cynthia Marks, Palos Park Older adults’ confusion? In response to a reader’s letter regarding the timing of holiday marketing, I understand why young children might be confused seeing “Christmas decorations being sold alongside Halloween masks” but am curious as to why this would be confusing to “older adults.” — Jase Frederick, Evanston Nightmare traffic jam The governor and the Illinois Department of Transportation are so proud of themselves for finishing the Kennedy Expressway rehab project early after years of reconstruction, including the Byrne Interchange project, but have any of them entered the expressway to head north from the ramps at Taylor Street, Jackson Boulevard, Madison Street or Adams Street at rush hour in the evening? The reengineered Byrne Interchange project created a nightmare of a traffic jam with intersecting ramps, which cause a delay of 20 to 30 minutes just to drive 1 mile to get to the express lanes or past the express lanes entrance. I live in the north suburbs, and my trip home in the evening takes around one hour: 30 minutes to drive 1 mile to the express lanes and then 30 minutes from the start of the express lanes to home (20 miles). No one has taken accountability for this engineering disaster and inconvenience. The engineers who designed this area should never be allowed to work on another highway project. — Michael Ginsburg, Northbrook Writer will be missed Sunday mornings are sacred at our house. My husband brings me coffee and the Trib in bed and promptly goes back to sleep while I leisurely enjoy two things that I thoroughly enjoy. The paper is always read in the same order, never skipping favorite columnists, and one of the many highlights was Motormouth. When Bob Weber’s column was missing a few Sundays ago, I looked for a notice stating that he was on vacation and would return the following week. To read in an obituary (“Longtime ‘Motormouth’ columnist ‘knew his stuff’,” Nov. 2) that he has died has affected me more than I can say. With his sound advice and his wonderful sense of humor, he had become a cherished part of my life and will be missed tremendously. — Nancy Knurek Bagley, Naperville Bob Weber’s columns I was disappointed to not find Bob Weber‘s weekly Motormouth column in the Sunday paper; it’s one of the first articles I look at. I hoped he wasn’t a victim of budget cuts. I found the answer when I turned to the obituary page. I will miss him and his humor and answers to questions, which I sometimes did not agree with. The questions ranged from quite technical to quite dumb. And he always came up with a good reply. I will miss him. — Joseph Bukovsky, Westmont Rental bicycle riders In the midst of a very divided country and lots of aggressive defensiveness, one thing that could change toward recovering some basic civility: how to use rental bikes and scooters. To start, they are not allowed on city sidewalks, at least if the driver is older than 12. Actual enforcement of the law is sorely lacking now. The rental business model allows for dumping the item at any spot the rider chooses. Our sidewalks and yards are littered with discarded bikes and scooters, sometimes in a groupthink way, i.e., one rider drops it someplace, and others treat the spot like a designated dumping spot. It is a rude, careless, self-serving and lazy model that may speak to the self-centeredness that seems to be driving so many decisions and behaviors of late. It looks trashy, put mildly. That may seem like a small complaint, more so during these times fraught with such hostility and challenging “oh yeah” mindsets in other realms, but I maintain that small steps can help us appreciate things, respect others and choose alternative behaviors reflective of mutual respect. This can start with companies changing their business model to enforce the use of docking stations when one completes their ride. — Jacqueline Roig, Chicago Celebrating new citizen A few days ago, in the early evening, I heard cheering and clapping coming from the dining room of the senior building where I live. A small group of residents had formed a half circle around one of our employees who was smiling broadly but also had some tears in her eyes. It turns out that this employee had just become a United States citizen the day before. What a lovely and welcome respite from the turmoil happening in Chicagoland. I cannot imagine what this precious lady went through to reach her goal of becoming a legal citizen. For sure, it required leaving her birthplace behind, the pain of relocating, tons of paperwork and interminable waiting. Once the clapping died down, our wonderful employee blew kisses to us and then turned to resume her job of setting the tables for breakfast. For once, I had no desire to watch the evening news. I just wanted to savor the moment. — Kathleen Melia, Niles Technological hurdles Is technology making your life better or throwing obstacles in your way? When was the last time you could call your doctor and talk to a person instead of a voicemail robot? How about at your bank? Your local school? Your church? The grocery store? My life is “on hold” every day trying to reach essential people. Voicemail prompts and recorded messages are the new reality for most of us each day. I am fed up. How about you? — Shirley Zager, Gurnee
