Leave The Past Behind

Marrissa Swetlikoe
123 Green Ave,
Penticton, B.C.
V2A 3W1

February 10, 2011

John Smith
Mayor
City Hall 568 Main Street
Small Village, B.C.

Dear Mr. Smith,
Although I am not excusing Mr.Grass' actions, I do believe that by exposing his past to the town it may result in a disruption of the peace due to his numerous contributions to the wellness of the community.

His past acts are clearly inexcusable but I have no doubt in my mind that Mr.Grass lives with the guilt and grizzly images of those trying times in the concentration camp everyday. I'm sure one could say that the contributions he has made to the community stem from his haunting guilt however, without those contributions many families would become very distraught. By putting  Mr.Grass in jail you would indirectly be taking the food out of mouths of those in poverty. His monthly contributions to families struggling to make ends meat makes all the difference in the world to them, they rely on his generosity.

Also, exposure of his past may result in an uprising of the factory he himself built. Workers would have a moral dilemma of their own in whether it is right to work under a man who was once responsible for the deaths of 1,000s of innocent people, and who's blood money no doubt contributed to the building of the factory. You may in fact have a uprising or boycott of the factory putting almost your entire town out of a job.

And lastly, his past is his past. Everyone has at least one black mark on their record and I understand his is a major one but either way, it is clear he has changed. A criminal is put in jail in order to change and then set free; Mr.Grass has been in his own personal jail and has evidently changed so he as well must be set free. Leave the past in the past and simply focus on the future. Mr.Grass' grandchildren do not need the guilt of their grandfather on their shoulders. Leave it be and keep the peace.

Thank you
Marrissa Swetlikoe

Same old song and dance

George looked up from shoeing the horse to see the outline of Curley's wife in the doorway of the barn. They were alone. She looked like a cool drink of water thought George.
     "All dressed up and nowhere to go?"  he enquired. She giggled and mumbled "Come hell or high  water, I'm gonna' look good". With a smile George replied "Well you're a chatty Cathy now aren't ya". She glared at him cold as ice "Just tryna' make conversation is all".
     "Cool your jets" George grumbled calmly, "Just pokin' fun".
     "Well you crossed the line". Curley's wife didn't like to be teased, she was sick to death of it. All her life she was made fun of at school for thinking that one day she'd get out of the small town and move on to bigger things, George's comment brought all those memories flooding back and she couldn't handle it. But she swallowed her pride and got her composure back for she was very lonely and it wasn't very often she got to talk to someone. George saw that it had upset her and bit his tongue. trying to make up for it he smiled softly.
     "Look don't cry over spilt milk" exclaimed George. Curley's wife turned up her nose and looked away. This angered George and he became defensive. "Why are you here anyways, just cut to the chase" he spat. Alarmed, Curley's wife drew a blank. She didn't know how to answer the question; she really had no reason for being in the barn so she stuck to her constant excuse and whispered "I'm lookin' for Curley" and she ran out.

Grade 12

Many see grade 12 as their year and their time to shine and 'live it up'; but I see it as the only thing standing in my way of getting out of this town and moving on to something bigger. Growing up in a small town with two obnoxious brothers, the only thing I can really look forward to is going to university and leaving Penticton behind. Grade 12 is simply a stepping stone in my life hopefully leading me on to better places and new people. Everyday I hear people talking about how great grade 12 is and how much fun it is and I can't help but wonder why I can't relate to them and feel the same way. In simple words it's because I don't care. All that matters to me is moving on from here and heading to a big city. Just like an 11 year old kid again, I find myself wanting to be the stars in the movies running away on an adventure, but instead I am stuck here for one more long, dragged out year. I find it unnecessary that at the age of 17 we are still stuck in a school after being here for 12 years already: learning math we will never use, history that is long gone, Spanish that we may speak once in our life, and writing techniques that, unless you are becoming a writer, we will never need. It's unnecessary, the level of learning we need doesn't venture past grade 11 at the most. By the age of 17 we should be able to choose our career and go off to school to pursue our dreams. I'm sure that I am not the only person who feels this way, most people have bigger dreams than small Penticton can handle and I am proud to say I am one of those people.