June 28, 2020: Rocketeers or rioters * Letters to the Editor * OPINION * Del Rio News-Herald






Letter to the Editor,

Rocketeers or rioters 

After a storm, some people look out their window, raise their gaze up and see the beautifully colored rainbow magnificently spanning across the sky; while other people look out their window, hang their head down and see the mud, muck and mire that is savagely strewn across the landscape. 

Both scenes are the reality of the aftermath of a violent storm. 

There is the reality of the rainbow and the reality of the ruins. 

Some people only focus on the rainbow and are oblivious to the ruins, while others only spotlight the ruins and are unaware of the rainbow. 

The storm created both the rainbow and the ruins. 

Those who see both of them have the hope that the rainbow brings while diligently working to clean up the mess that the storm created. 

There were two news stories: one was heavily covered while the other was hardly covered at all. 

The riots received the most coverage, while the rocket successfully launched into space in more than ten years was barely mentioned. 

The rioters looked down, saw the injustice and had a fatalistic mindset that struck out in anger and rage with arson, looting and violence; not having learned the lessons of great leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi that only peaceful protests produce positive change because violence breeds more violence and their righteous cause is lost to the unrighteous acts of the rioters.

The rocketeers had a futuristic vision that saw the hope for humanity in space exploration. 

They set their sights on learning and preparing for a hope-filled journey in a space craft that would take them to new adventures and add to the further possibilities of what might be beyond this world.

Some people chose to be rioters and allies of rioters and others chose to be rocketeers and allies of rocketeers.

We must all choose who we will be and with whom we will ally ourselves with; those who seek to tear down or those who seek to build up.

Marian Casillas, Ed.D.

Del Rio, Texas