Dear Editor,
In her October 24th letter to the editor, Shari Ulrich accuses Murray Skeels of playing “a significant role in the discourse of countless issues in the community over the years”. I couldn’t agree more. However, it’s my opinion that it has been a significant positive role, not the “divisive” role that she asserts.
Divisiveness is behaviour that creates disunity or dissension. Our disunity does not originate from any one person, rather it lies in the issues that divide us and our collective inability to listen to each other. Murray has simply, and bravely, stuck his neck out and put a voice to another side of the issues … a perspective, by the way, which many of us resonate with.
You may not have liked The Bulletin because you disagree with him. It may have made you uncomfortable because you don’t like conflict. But what he has done is not much different than what Tim has done with BITE, BowenLife, and his blog. There are differences, though, huge differences. Unlike BITE, Murray’s editorials were not funded by, amongst others, The Cape on Bowen. One, after all, doesn’t BITE the hand that feeds you!
I believe it is our right, if not our responsibility, to voice our opinions, respectfully of course, especially if there is much at stake. Murray has provided a valuable community service over many years, and many councils … NOT just the current one.
So my hat is off to Murray for the time and energy he has put into his editorials, even if he might not have connected the dots correctly 100% of the time. Hey, we are all intelligent people on this island and can make up our own minds about what we read … and they are, after all, editorials which are opinions by definition.
Dennis Vetter
