I’ve read in the Sun-Times about all the problems Chicagoans are having with mail delivery. That problem is not confined to Chicago. I live in the south suburbs and do not receive mail for days at a time. It takes two months to receive personal checks. Cards I mail either never reach their destination, or take two or more months to be delivered even when mailed by priority mail. Bills I pay are not delivered, and I am charged late fees.
Now, someone broken into one of the mail boxes at the post office, and the local police cannot do anything because it’s a federal crime. We have no one to turn to, and the United States Postal Service website is difficult to navigate.
When is something going to be done? When we mail something, we expect it to be delivered or arrive in a timely manner.
Judy Weingartner, Homewood
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Fire Postmaster DeJoy
Thank you to U.S. Rep. Sean Casten for speaking out on the issue of Postmaster Louis DeJoy and the USPS. It is sad, and frankly ridiculous, this man is still in charge.
There is no way Congress can make sure “DeJoy does his job.” He must be fired. I cannot believe Congress has allowed the approval of two nominated members of the USPS Board of Governors to languish.
They should be approved immediately, high priority, and Mr. DeJoy should be removed.
The Post Office is slowly being strangled under his aegis, by design. Staff are cut, sorting machines removed, service is slower and much less reliable. Mail is lost, and we can’t depend on daily service any more, while prices are increasing. As people lose confidence, profits go down and the institution dies.
Postal workers are doing a yeoman’s job under difficult circumstances. Our politicians are failing us by not immediately removing this man, whose mission is to destroy the USPS.
Carol Kraines, Deerfield
We already have socialism
I am writing regarding a recent letter from Martin Nicholson of Niles on socialism and the Republican Party. The letter confuses socialism with communism. Having been born in communist Hungary, I can tell you there is a big difference.
The Soviet Union was communist, not socialist, and guilty of all the misdeeds in the aforementioned letter. Socialism is alive and well in the United States, ever since FDR’s New Deal. Social Security is socialism. Medicare is socialized medicine. Food stamps, welfare, etc. are all socialist programs. The Republicans could not be further from socialism. They do not seem to care about the welfare of people in this country, only about their personal power and wealth.
Regina Gomory, Crystal Lake
Be an organ donor
Last June, while scrolling through social media, I read a tweet from an old friend about his brother who had a severe liver condition. After months on the donor registry, his family was looking for a living donor to help save his brother’s life.
I, along with over a hundred Twitter users, expressed interest. I didn’t expect to be a match. But after doctors at Northwestern ran several tests, I learned I was a match — I could help save this person’s life by donating 70% of my liver.
I was terrified. At 22, donating my liver would be the most challenging thing I’d ever experienced. But in the days after my surgery, despite being at my weakest physically, the knowledge I helped save someone’s life left me feeling mentally stronger than ever. After a 14-hour surgery, my liver recipient said he felt instant relief from the pain he had been experiencing for years, and my body was already growing back an organ.
This year, my liver recipient will start his medical residency program, continuing his journey as a doctor to help people who suffer from the same disease he has. His health is a reminder that every day, we face opportunities, both large and small, to show love for others.
Over 4,000 people in Illinois are waiting for transplants, and others are in urgent need of blood. In honor of Valentine’s Day and National Organ Donor Day, which both fall on Feb. 14, please consider spreading love by signing up to be on the organ donor registry at LifeGoesOn.com or by donating blood at redcross.org.
Nabeela Syed, Inverness
Humans need life-saving vaccines
I remember my parents’ joy when in 1957 I got the polio vaccine, because their kid would be safe from a terrible malady and escape the possibility of lying immobilized in an iron lung.
I just don’t understand parents who are anti-vaccine. Maybe they need to understand that humans may be at the apex of the life pyramid, but we are the ideal prey for a host of viruses. Less than 100 years ago we were the hunted — hunted by smallpox, rubella, mumps, whooping cough, etc.
We enjoy our “personal freedom” lifestyle because of vaccines.
Warren Rodgers Jr., Matteson
