Week after week, we tend to hear from our more “liberal-minded” neighbors, so I wanted to give a balanced viewpoint from the “other side” – remember, despite what CNN and MSNBC says, there are two sides to every story. However, we just are not allowed to speak it on social media.

Enumclaw is a great town, beautiful and, for the most part, conservative, with that “small town feeling” – and that’s OK. I used to live a lot closer to Seattle, and so it was commonplace to find drug use, street begging, tent towns, low-income housing, etc. Speaking for me and my family, I have great empathy for those poor souls, but I would prefer to not develop that culture out here.

Since everyone is striving for “Identity Politics” here are mine: I am a Christian, conservative, Constitutionalist, and an American. And since everybody and their dog is screaming “race” as loud as they can, I am a white male. But the definition of the word ‘prejudice’ is to pre-judge somebody based on the color of their skin. Through no fault of my own, I was born of two white parents, that taught me a work ethic, and to “play well with others.” I studied hard, and worked hard, and on my own time, achieved certifications that helped me to excel in the IT field. I believe that you have to do what you have to do to get the work done, and that you take responsibility for yourself.

For anyone to call me a racist because of the color of my skin? That is so 1960s. Are there not laws against that sort of thing?

Here in Happy Valley – even in Enumclaw, I hear that we have children coming home from school and feeling depressed because they just learned the truth – as taught in school – that they are “White Supremacists” and that they are racist and that there is nothing that they can do about it. And that they should feel ashamed of it. Doubt it? I encourage each of the parents and grandparents to have a conversation with their kids, and ask them what is their understanding of racism and what does it mean to be white.

Remember – Abraham Lincoln once famously gave a talk, where he stated “A House divided against itself, cannot stand.” Many people today do not realize that he was quoting the Book of Mark, chapter three, where Jesus Christ stated “and if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand, and if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”

Do you remember way back when public schools used to say the Pledge of Allegiance? There are the lines that go “One Nation, Under God, Indivisible.”

Play well with others. And as “Bill and Ted” once said, “Be Excellent to each other!” Amen.

David Cannon

Enumclaw