A rain-soaked pedestrian struggles to climb a hill

Recently, I was turning the pages of The Baltimore Sun and, as I had just woken up, I hadn’t shed sleep completely but came alive when I saw Kim Hairston’s photograph, “A walk in the rain” (“Baltimore weather: Rain to start off week, then sunny weather Thursday into weekend,” Dec. 9).

It was a startling and spectacular picture where a pedestrian with an umbrella is seen on Charles and 33rd streets, a lone figure, viewed and photographed through the sculpture of two circles, one small and incomplete within another circle large and complete.

The kaleidoscopic view was that of cars parked in a row on the downhill slope of a road, the empty branches of two trees making contact and lingering fall colors fringing the road on other vegetation. That picture to me was a metaphor for life in America: A human shielded from the rain by an umbrella, seen through man made art, standing in nature, facing an uphill road.

I asked myself, “Will the human get to the top of that road soaking wet, depleted and shivering, having lost the umbrella to gusty winds on arrival or will the person, no matter the downpour, be dry and triumphant with the umbrella still over the head?”

In these trying times, that person alone in the picture is every American and that umbrella, the American democracy, a shield not so effective in downpours and yet must be carried for protection. The journey is all the way uphill and gusty winds are here already to rob that protection.

Thank you for publishing Kim Hairston’s remarkable picture.

— Usha Nellore, Bel Air

Long live the Mangione family

It seems that everyone in Baltimore knows a Mangione, no matter how fleeting the meeting may have been (“Mangione arrest in CEO killing shakes Baltimore’s close-knit private school community,” Dec. 12).

I used to drink draft beer at a bar on Harford Road decades ago and there was a Mangione among the self-proclaimed innocuous group of drinkers nicknamed “The Pleasure Seekers.” I feel compelled to defend the Mangione family name.

It is incomprehensible how many jobs the Mangiones have created in the Baltimore region. They built an empire that helped the local economy to thrive.

My request is simple but heartfelt: Long live the Mangione family for their powerful, positive impact in the region.

— Patrick R. Lynch, Towson

Who else is robbing Americans blind? Credit card companies.

Recent events have led many of us to consider the outrageous treatment we receive from health care delivery and insurance companies (“Bottom line of health care should be health, not profits,” Dec. 12). It is time to add the outrageous interest rates charged by credit card companies.

These systemic problems did not develop overnight. Our elected leaders have failed miserably in protecting us against unethical people. People like U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren have been sounding the alarm bells for years but our Congressional leaders have been too weak to protect us.

I have no problem with people making a fair profit but I resent the fact that our political leaders are far too weak to protect us against the so-called powerful lobbies who are robbing us blind. We need serious government oversight if we intend to break the pattern of exploitative practices by the health care and banking industries which are totally unethical. It is time for Americans to take peaceful action against the institutions that are causing great harm to our families and communities.

Elect leaders who will take on these challenges. We are soon to become the nation destroyed by greed. It is time to wake up. Let our voices be heard until there is substantive change.

— Edward McCarey McDonnell, Baltimore

Alsobrooks should be concerned about Palestinians, too

The recent commentary, “Alsobrooks can be an advocate for Israeli women in Hamas captivity” (Dec.11), assumes that U.S. Senator-elect Angela Alsobrooks should only be concerned with issues relating to the foreign nation of Israel, rather than those that are important to the U.S.

And what about the 45,000 Palestinians who have been murdered by Israel, 70% of whom are women and children? Don’t their lives count for anything according to these writers?

The way to free the hostages is to have a permanent ceasefire in Gaza which, unfortunately, is opposed by both Israel and the United States.

— Ray Gordon, Bel Air