It Pays To Complain!

I am a poet, musician and retired historian living in White Salmon, Wash. About 18 months ago, I began playing the piano at the senior center. Then I invited other musicians. I was put off by the individualized prayers led by volunteers--thanking god for fall colors, soldiers boys, and Pres. Bush! And sometimes by the "lord's prayer" or the singing of the "doxology." Complaints to the director of senior services for the county got me nowhere, nor did complaints to the county commissioners. There are five mealsites and they are funded by county as well as federal funds.

I knew there were people who stayed away or, in some cases, entered at the last moment, just as food was served, in order to avoid the prayer. I found the Freedom from Religion Foundation on the Internet and explained the situation. They wrote a letter which forced the county attorney to tell the seniors they could pray quietly or silently at their tables, but there could be no official, or led, prayer. To make a long story short, they are now pretty much following the law. Most don't pray at all, a few hold hands and mumble together. But it is inoffensive, as far as I am concerned.

Annie Laurie's letter was excellent: firm, but not too threatening. The situation for the county is solved--all people can feel welcomed--whether Jewish, Bahai, Wiccan, or any of the other hundreds of belief systems, or none at all.

I would like to see action so that each individual group doesn't have to fight alone. It is hard for anyone to stand up to a majority--well, I should say a vocal minority which intimidates others into silence--and we should honor the Constitution. This is a small victory. Let us hope that a new administration in DC will bring us more.

Diane Allen
Washington

About the writer: "I hold a doctorate from UCLA and have taught history in New Mexico, California, Oregon and Colorado. I have worked as a professional librarian in Zambia, and as an editor in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. I am a member of the Columbia River Fellowship for Peace, part of FOR, and have been a Chautauqua lecturer doing living history presentations of John Reed, the Portland radical, and the suffrage leader, Abigail Scott Duniway. At age 67, I have taken up the fiddle (I am a lifelong pianist) and am loving every minute. I grew up on an Illinois farm and came to the Wisconsin Dells every summer on vacation."