Oh, Cal, the 1950s called, and they would love to have you back! “The decline of a nation,” (June 22): Do you really think that a boy who wants to wear a dress and be called Ashley is leading to the moral downfall and destruction of a nation? Or is it the drag queens reading to children? (Insert gasp and pearl clutching here!) Do you long for the days when women only wore pants to do housework and cook and a menstrual cycle was just whispered about? Seriously though, look around, this nation (and any nation for that matter) needs to take a long hard look at their definition of morality. Kindness, understanding, compassion, forgiveness, and acceptance: This lays the foundation for a successful society and should be the foundation for any faith-based organization. But it is not. And here is where we go off the rails: Rude, mean, judgmental, screaming crybabies (and that’s just radio show hosts!). It is not a boy in a dress, Cal — it is the hate and rage people are being taught to feel when they see a boy in a dress. Our inability to think outside ourselves is what will lead to our downfall. Be kind to all kinds and it will come back to you tenfold. It is our only hope.

Julie Dionne

Mystic