Endangered keepsakes

Philadelphia’s original Benihana was in the Bala Cynwyd  complex where Saks Fifth Avenue is still located. The staff would take a “Polaroid” picture of your special occasion and stick an embroidered “red flower” on the corner of it. I have a birthday picture of my daughter, Marjorie, taken about 35 years ago, looking perfectly delighted.

My three grandchildren live in Santa Monica, Calif. near a Benihana that is their birthday restaurant of choice. Hiroaki’s amusing cooking concept continues to delight a third generation over a 45-year period of time. But, today that special picture is taken with your own cell phone — sadly foregoing the Benihana keepsake.

Linda C. Hirshorn
Fairmount

Gun control needed now

I am very disconcerted by the U.S. Congress’ failure to take up any legislation to control the distribution of firearms in our country.  They are intimidated by a well organized minority, the National Rifle Association, and its lobbying against any reasonable restrictions on gun sales.

This lack of political courage comes at a time of increasing loss of employment by a mass of our citizens and the awful economic pressure this puts on a significant percentage of our population.  It is highly likely that this will result in increased crime of epidemic proportions.  Stir into this mix the availability of guns and we are facing a national crisis, the extent of which we can only guess.

Additionally, there seems to be a mindless segment of our people who lack any restraint or social control and shoot our police on impulse.  Witness the assassination of three Pittsburgh policemen and the killing of our city’s police over the past year.

The only solution to this dreadful situation is for interested citizens to band together and put as much pressure on Congress as the N.R.A. does.  Guns are controlled in Europe and elsewhere, and it can be done here if we have the will to do it.  

Jack Nolan   
Mt. Airy

Emphasis on green is good for economy

President Obama recently introduced a budget for the coming year that would repower America with clean energy, jumpstart our economy, and put a cap on global warming pollution. At a time when we’re facing the greatest economic challenges since the Great Depression, President Obama’s vision for driving investment in clean energy  and halting global warming is just what this nation needs. Capping global warming pollution will create a market for investment in clean energy technology to spur job growth, improve our national security and protect our planet.

The recently passed economic recovery bill will create an estimated 1.6 million green jobs and is an important step toward a new energy economy. Reducing global warming emissions through a cap-and-trade system is the next vital step, and it will mobilize hundreds of billions of dollars for investment in clean energy and energy efficiency, which will not only protect our natural resources, but it will save Americans billions on their energy bills.

President Obama has laid out an impressive plan for taking our nation in a new direction, and his plan for an economic recovery demonstrates a firm commitment to our clean energy future. The challenges we face today offer real opportunity for growth, and President Obama is shrugging off the policies of the past and looking to new solutions that will repower our nation. Congress should follow his lead.

Jonathan Berger, PhD
Chestnut Hill

“The Miracle People”

While sitting on Germantown Avenue feeding my birds, I often speak to other people. What has saddened me was to hear that some are unemployed. Indeed, some have already exhausted their unemployment benefits. Some have even said they would be willing to accept a job that pays minimum wage.

What one said, which I firmly believe, was, “What we need is a miracle!”

A plan that I want to offer is to people everywhere — “offer suggestions vis-à-vis jobs.” Surely the past has shown us that ideas from little known sources have done much in various areas including employment.

It might also be worthwhile to have “contests” with the best plans receiving some type of award.

But it is not only in the area of employment where good plans can be offered. For instance, even in the medical field, as noted in one of my earlier articles in the Local, using stem cell research could help in finding ways to correct problem with optic nerves. Surely just this area alone would do so much for those among us who today are bereft of sight.

I truly believe that having people offer their plans as noted above will prove to be today’s blessing.

Gerald Samkofsky
Chestnut Hill

Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 21

It was a large clearing in the middle of a forest that surrounded the picturesque countryside of northern Germany. There were only faint traces left of the original site. Untold thousands spent their last days in this living hell, dying of disease and starvation. The camp was so full of rotting corpses and disease that the liberating troops burned it to the ground shortly after their horrible discovery in April, 1945.

There were four huge mounds with a weathered wooden marker on the side of each attesting to its contents: “5000 Bodies Buried Here.” No neat rows of crosses, stars of David, no flowers in memory, no neatly inscripted names, no manicured paths for the living to walk on. Just four mounds with growth of grass, weeds and wild flowers covering them.

Who were these victims of Nazi tyranny? What crimes did they commit to deserve such a horrible fate? As I pondered those thoughts, the cold penetrating drizzle and incessant wind caused my entire being to shiver as one would in the dead of winter. As I turned to leave, physically and emotionally spent, a mournful wailing arose from the hillocks of the dead.

Was it nature’s bleak chilling day giving rise to my imagination in this place of past horrors? … Or … Was it the nameless souls crying out asking me to never forget their suffering?

Never could I forget what I saw 53 years ago … April 1956!

Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp

Tom Woodruff
Oreland