The May 17 News Journal featured three letters. Two in particular struck me as the absolute reflection of our current state of the Divided States of America. One insisted that all of us should watch Fox News in order to know what’s going on. The other provided a comprehensive list of people and groups of people targeted by the negative tweets and rhetoric of our current president. Although I admit to being in far greater agreement with the latter than the former, the book-ended letters also left me deeply saddened.

I don’t watch Fox News. With the recent hiring of former Fox anchors and contributing analysts by MSNBC, that cable format now gives me both with one click. But no one, not even I, should rely on any one source of information during these times. CNN, PBS, NPR, BBC, CNBC, Bloomberg, CSpan 1 and CSpan 2 as well as the regulars ABC, CBS and NBC continue to report and provide various insights and information.

Today on Bloomberg News the Senate Finance Committee met with Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and some very relevant information came out regarding the Republican healthcare bill, which is really a tax relief bill for millionaires and billionaires while gutting Medicaid and significantly decreasing funding streams to Medicare as well. As a senior reliant on Social Security and Medicare, it provided information I appreciated hearing.

We now live in times when critical thinking skills are imperative to be remotely informed and aware. Sadly, no single source of information provides the information and news required to be informed citizens. As citizens, our work has gotten harder. As human beings, we are still called to be caring, kind and open-minded. I guess I don’t see the challenges before us as Democrat vs. Republican, but rather as humane vs. less humane. To find our way, we may all need to simply turn off our TVs.

Rev. Elaine Silverstrim

Wilmington