Letter about
a return to decency…
To the Editor,
It was over 30 years ago that I sat with our neighbor Elton Redalen at our kitchen table drinking coffee. Elton stopped by after plowing snow. I asked him who he’d plowed out and he listed several people. I knew from a previous conversation that one of those people was not one of his favorites.
I said, “Elton didn’t you say you’re not particularly fond of that person?”
He replied, “Well that has nothing to do with it — their driveway needed plowing!”
At that moment I felt that I just might belong in this community — that I was in a place where people cared about one another.
For those of you who did not have an opportunity to know Elton, he was a fifth-generation farmer, a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, served as the Minnesota Commissioner of Agriculture, a good husband, proud father and grandfather, and an old-school Republican.
I cannot but wonder what Elton would think about the lack of grace and dignity that seems to be present in our political world today. I pray at this time, when we have the opportunity to vote, that we choose leaders with the depth of character that reflect Elton’s good example.
Mary Bell
Lanesboro, Minn.
Kindra Ramaker says
Amen – you can say that again! I miss old school Republicans.