Doing good things, all year

Regarding the commentary, ‘Santa needs to bring us some sanity before rage consumes our Christmas spirit” by Petula Dvorak of the Washington Post: Thanks to Petula Dvorak for reminding us that Santa needs to bring Americans courage, sanity and reason. But why wait for Santa? The Herald often sets an example of what media can do by reporting about the good things, like the Mukilteo police helping an out-of-state family when their gifts were stolen (“Mukilteo police help family visiting from Alabama after gifts were stolen” by Rikki King, Dec. 26.)

Congress, too, did a good thing by making the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit permanent. Now 16 million Americans won’t be falling into or deeper into poverty thanks to this good work. We can also encourage the positive by asking Congress to pass the Reach Every Mother and Child Act (House: H.B. 3706 and Senate: S. 1911). Sen. Murray, along with Reps. Larsen and DelBene have cosponsored this bill that works to end the preventable deaths of children under five and mothers in our world. At the same time, this bill ensures our aid dollars will be spent more efficiently, calls for no new money, and is supported on both sides of the aisle. We can thank them and ask them to redouble their efforts to pass this bill that would help save millions of lives every year. Actions like this lead to more courage, sanity and reason.

Willie Dickerson

Snohomish