To the editor:

I am so grateful for, and heartened by, the attitude and words of Chiara D’Angelo-Patricio at the March 13 city council meeting regarding the Shoreline Master Program update.

I was not in attendance, but from everything I’ve read in the Review and on special interest web pages, it was obviously an emotional and heated meeting. In the face of the Shoreline Homeowners Association’s large, well-organized and powerful lobby, whose fear- and entitlement-based rhetoric threatens loud and clear, Chiara may have felt a bit like David facing Goliath.

Apparently undaunted, Chiara, speaking on behalf of fellow BHS students, some of whom may reside in waterfront homes, urged our city council to put environmental health first.

She expressed, essentially, the difficult and wise counsel of our Native American brethren: In all of your deliberations, in your efforts at law making, in all your official acts, self-interest shall be cast into oblivion. Cast not over your shoulder behind you the warnings of the nephews and nieces should they chide you for any error or wrong you may do, but return to the way of the Great Law which is just and right. Look and listen for the welfare of the whole people and have always in view not only the present but also the coming generations, even those whose faces are yet beneath the surface of the ground – the unborn of the future Nation.

These are difficult words to take to heart because we all harbor fears of losing what we have or what we want to have.

They are wise words, as well, for the very same reason: If we do not take to heart the significance of sacrifice for the sake of future generations (human and all other life), then … (the consequences are clear for those with eyes and ears to see and hear).

Thank you, Chiara, for daring to remind us of our responsibilities to your future.

JENNIFER MERRILL

Bainbridge Island