For Verna

     The Seattle Times ran a story about Verna Oller yesterday.  Within a few hours it was the most read story in the Times and was Number One on the Most e-mailed – 68 comments the last time I looked early yesterday afternoon.  The story was written by one of the Times staff which at first disappointed me.  For a little minute I wished that it had been the original story about Verna – the one I had written that appeared in the Chinook Observer on May 19^th.  But as I read the comments I was glad they were directed at what someone else had written.
    Those online comments about Verna and her $4.5 legacy were unbelievable.  The first one I read said:  Obviously this woman suffered from a mental condition…either that or she was just plain stupid.  That infuriated me.  I had to force myself to read further.  There were some positive comments but all too many of them were of this ilk:  If I had that kind of cash, I would live it up… and Life is too short to be putting away money like that.  And there were some that were just plain evil — not based on any knowledge of Verna at all, not even on what was written about her in the news.  And so many were angry sounding.  Why?  That people have reasons for anger I have no doubt, but why direct it toward Verna and her gift? 
    I found myself thinking things like:  “Now, just what dent has education made in the critical thinking skills of the populace?” And “Why is it again that we think democracy will work?”   So I quit reading.  It was way too depressing.  Verna was absolutely right to ask that her secret be kept until her death.  How awful it would have been for her otherwise.