My View:

How Cruel are These People?
What Kind of Hate Guides Them?

   by Dixie A. Walter
   October 9, 2005

   This is not a rhetorical question. This is a question which begs an answer in our community. Below you  will see part of an anonymous letter mailed to mayoral candidate and Councilmember Bobbi Allison Monday, October 3, 2005. The rest of the letter can be seen at Cruel People. Why don't these people have the gumption to sign their names to the nasty and sick mail they send? An easy answer. They are cowards of the worst kind.
    I have been involved, albeit reluctantly, with local, Tacoma, Pierce County and state politics since I moved back to Eatonville in 1960. I have seen politicians rise and fall. But until I read the letter below, which was sent to Bobbi Allison last week, I really had never seen the most repellent part of human nature. 
    Yes, some people do say small towns are a wonderful place to live. And, yes, some people say they don't like small towns because everyone knows too much about each other. And then there is the gossip. We all know about gossip. Whether we live in a neighborhood in New York City or on a small, quiet street in some little town, gossip is a part of everyday human life. It isn't always destructive.
    However, on occasion something truly malevolent creeps into the gossip of neighborhoods, Gotham or small town. A form of malevolence has been hovering over Eatonville for nearly two years. In my mind this malevolence reached the pinnacle of cruelty with the following letter mailed to Bobbi Allison.
     I really don't understand how anyone with a soul could write such a letter. What kind of person maliciously strikes out at another person who tragically lost her child?  How in heaven's name could anyone, male or female, attack a bereaved mother (mothers never cease to grieve for their lost children) in such an aggressive, heartless manner? Why is this person, and company, so frightened of Bobbi Allison as to attack the grief she keeps within her heart for her lost daughter? 
     I would really like to say I don't have a clue who is doing this. But I would be lying. I do have a clue. When the hate mail started with me in January 2003 it was tacky. No punctuation, no paragraphs, plenty of misspelled words, lots of screaming in capital letters This particular, poisonous hate mail aimed at Bobbi Allison was obviously written by a more educated person than the one(s) who have been "communicating" with me. This piece of venom is nicely put together with bullets, paragraphs and accurate punctuation. 
     However, the wrath of the hate writer(s) is the same even if the punctuation is better. Constant personal attacks designed to intimidate the recipient are standard operations. Personal attacks which, by the way, are never proven, but continually tossed about in print and by word of mouth. The anonymous ones quiver with hope that their personal attacks will cause enormous pain. And in this case, their attacks do cause pain. 
     I barely knew Bobbi Allison when her daughter, Brinda, was stricken with an extremely rare disease and died within days of being stricken. The family, and Tom Van Eaton, then Eatonville's only doctor, were at Brinda's side as she fought for her young life for less than a week in intensive care. She was barely twenty. The disorder which took her is so rare there was only forty-nine cases in the world at the time. 
     How anyone can viciously attack a mother in the manner that Bobbi Allison has been attacked is truly beyond my comprehension. I have had too many women friends who have lost a child not to understand, a little, just how devastating that loss can be. I thank heaven that my only child still lives. I simply cannot imagine what Bobbi Allison could have possibly done to another human being that would set off the hatred poured into this letter. 
     Yes, there was a small benefit held for Brinda. It was a spaghetti feed with an art auction.  Renowned western artist Fred Oldfield, a family friend, painted an original piece for the auction. Approximately $4,500 was raised, most of the money coming from the Oldfield original. The benefit was held at the Eatonville Community Center. Kirk Heinz was mayor at the time and waived the community center rental fee. Bobbi Allison was not involved in local politics until several years later.
     Benefits are an integral part of this small town's identity.  In the past year and a half there have been benefits for a number of people with medical problems. Some have been for the living and some have been for the families of those who died. Eatonville folks pride themselves for their generous outpouring of sympathy and funds for those in need, as well they should. 
     I am still shaking my head in disbelief that anyone would strike out against a mother  who lost her child in this manner. What is wrong with this person and why does Bobbi Allison's run for mayor bring out the meanest part of the writer? 
     The saddest part of this story is that a mother lost her young daughter suddenly. One day Brinda is fine, a few hours later she is in intensive care and a few days later she is dead. No one is ever prepared for that heart wrenching loss.
     Another sad part of the story is that the mother didn't want the death of her daughter to ever be an issue in this election. The sick side of the opposition decided to bring Brinda's death into the fray. And don't think for a minute the letter writer hasn't verbalized the same sentiments it has written in this ugly, but telling, letter.
     Notice the writer uses the word "us" in the letter. I believe that's a slip of the mind. The writer really is speaking for a small group of "us" and is only anonymous to the rest of "us." Another interesting part of the letter refers to "employers." This makes me wonder if the writer is familiar with hiring practices?
     Whoever the writer is he/she may get caught someday.

Hate Doesn't Take a Holiday...