Hate is an old human failing

Regarding "Hateful outlook sadly common" (Letters, July 30): I, too, read the original letter with a mournful shake of the head. But, please don't put this ugly point of view onto any one generation, and don't get your hopes too high for the future.

How does one explain racism in multiple forms rampant in this country nearly 150 years after the last slave was freed? Or the existence of anti-Semitism for hundreds if not thousands of years? Or anti-gay hatred? Or anti-Catholicism? Or anti-(name of religion/group/ culture goes here)? It is not just my generation, nor the previous. "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in our selves."

Each generation teaches its value system. And each new generation learns both the good and the evil. To see the truth of that, just watch any TV documentary on neo-Nazi skinheads and listen to the gut-wrenching evil spoken by twenty-somethings, by teens, by pre-teens, both male and female. But also watch footage of the destruction of the Berlin Wall, the end of open warfare in Ireland, the worldwide outpouring of aid in the aftermath of disasters, natural and manmade. There is hope, but the advances are small, slow, unsteady, and accompanied by much back-sliding.

And one final thing. I can't tell you how much joy I feel knowing that you wait each day for me and my generation to just "pass on." Your time's coming, kiddo. So here's the baton. Let's see what you can do.

LARRY ASKEW

Ceres