The Value of Diversity

     Thanks to the genealogical work of a relative on another branch of the family tree, we have learned that our forefather, Peter Horton, came to Long Island, from England, in the year 1640. So, while my ancestor didn’t come over on the Mayflower (like everyone else’s), he wasn’t too far behind.

   His descendants, I’m told, prospered, becoming prominent in that part of New York. Of course, the family tree by necessity kept branching out and, as the country grew, Horton’s (like the families of other early settlers) had kinfolk move westward.

   Aaron Horton arrived in the Fowlerville area, I believe, in the late 1840's or early1850's. He and his wife, Hannah (Mills), are buried in Miller Cemetery on Stow Road. The ensuing lineage saw their eldest son, Stephen R. Horton, marry a Duncan, which has made me a shirttail relative to half of the town. Their eldest son, my great grandfather Rollin, was united in marriage to a Durfee, a Swedish connection, and Grandpa Lloyd was wed to Illah Mae Bement, whose family had French ancestry.

The 'Right to Vote'

This was updated and published in the Fowlerville News & Views in the Dec. 20 issue.

    The ‘Right to Vote’ is a nice broad term. But within that breadth exists competing philosophies. Is it a natural, unencumbered right? Or does it (should it) have conditions? Pre-qualifications? And if the latter is preferable, what should those be?

   From the dawn of our country’s founding, those in power have sought to fortify and protect their political control of government, and all its spoils. Back then this political and social elite was comprised mainly of wealthy planters owning large tracts of land and prosperous merchants.

    One of the purposes of the U.S. Constitution, for all its virtues, was to create a republic, with a system of checks and balances, to guard against mobocracy—or as we know it, democracy. Also, with the control of voting and elections being a prerogative of the states, initially only property owner (stakeholders) could participate.

Letter-to-Editor Writers Weigh In on Separtion of Church & State Issue

   Over the past few weeks, three of our readers have weighed in on the issue of religious freedom as it pertains to government and, more specifically, public schools. This topic is more familiarly called ‘Separation of Church and State.’

    A student bringing a Bible or Koran or some other text sacred to them, or expressing opinions based on their beliefs (and citing that text to support their position) would seem an exercise in religious freedom as well as free speech. A teacher or administrator doing that in a public school—as a paid employee of government (i.e. the school district) causes a different consideration.

   While the adult, like the student, is entitled to his or her belief and right of free speech, doing so from a position of governmental authority and power has been judged by the courts to fall within the realm of an endorsement or sponsorship, thus a violation of the First Amendment.

   No everyone likes that judicial interpretation, or the concept of a wall of separation, thus the ongoing debate.

A Message of Thanksgiving

Published in the Fowlerville News & Views on Nov. 22

 In the midst of grief, a way ahead. In the midst of darkness, a guiding light. In the midst of despair, hope.

   The Book of Common Prayer used by the Anglican Communion since 1549, contains this passage for the “Order for the Burial of the Dead.”

   Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery. He cometh up and is cut down like a flower; he flieth as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one stay. In the midst of life we be in death.

   It’s hard to read (or hear) anything more forlorn, or seemingly more hopeless about the human condition. The words echo those at the beginning of Ecclesiastics: “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “All is meaningless!… What does a man gain for all the toil at which he toils under the sun? One generation comes, and another generation goes: but the earth abides forever… (and) All things are filled with weariness. . .”