Letters

I admit to not being bowled over by Ayelet Waldman's first few Salon columns; they seemed the work of a talented writer who favored shock value over substance.

However, her latest column, "Suffer The Children," touched me enough to inspire my first Salon letter. Ms. Waldman's thoughtful treatment of her Israeli heritage spoke to my own faded memories of a Jewish childhood. More important, the introspection she showed in this column was inspiring to a writer like myself. It takes talent to question one's self while maintaining balance and perspective, and Ms. Waldman accomplished that beautifully. Similarly, it is a rare writer these days who can intelligently straddle the fence and retain a mature objectivity where the issue of Middle East peace is concerned.

I look forward to Ms. Waldman's next column.

-- Benjamin Marlin

Every single Salon article by Ayelet Waldman seems to be about the necessity to wrap your kids in bubble wrap and make them wear bicycle helmets well into their 20s. Are we supposed to conclude those dastardly settlers are no different from abusers and child molesters? OK, but where do we think the civil rights movement in America would be without Brown v. Board of Ed or children getting fire-hosed like everyone else? Perhaps the Ayelet Waldmans of the world need to keep their soccer-mom keening to themselves.

-- Stephen Rifkin

Ironically or coincidentally, I'm not sure, the kibbutznik sensibility from which Ayelet Waldman comes is the right approach, I think, when it comes to raising children in the most liberal way possible -- and that's liberal in the righteous sense, not its bowdlerized political form.

As children we're lucky to have two people on whom we can depend for both physical and emotional sustenance. Some of us don't even get that, whether because of disease, disappearance or death. We all know that role models are important in a child's life. The more loving and responsible adults in a young life, the better.

If we can't help but indoctrinate as we parent, then the more dogmas from which to choose, the better. It really does take a village to assure that the forces of reaction do not overtake the struggle for civilization.

So, ironically, one of the models for a different kind of future -- and maybe a much better one -- was in a country born of reaction.

-- Amy Tillem

• View blog reactions