I read John Thompson’s In My View with interest, having been a product of the ’50s. I did not, however, fit the image of Ozzie and Harriet. I received degrees in economics and finance and applied for a trainee position at a major bank. I was told that successful trainees became branch managers, but where would they place a woman? I went to another bank that gave me every opportunity and spent 25 years in the profession.

I was not in the free-speech movement, the peace movement, the feminist movement, the sexual revolution or the drug culture. I just wanted to pursue my dream job the same as a white male would.

Maybe for Thompson the effect of the civil rights movement was short-lived. For those of us who needed laws to allow us to get credit in our own name, for example, the civil rights momentum is still at work today.

When more than 200 children age 6 and under were killed by guns last year, if statistics from prior years hold, none of those in schools, and few if any by assault-style weapons, we are looking in the wrong place for a solution to our ills. It requires a much more multipronged and extensive response than we are hearing either from the “ban some/all guns” or “arm all schools” contingents. As long as those are the only voices we are hearing, we are no closer to real progress.

Let’s try to work past our stereotypes of others, and work together for real solutions.

Adele Pelletier

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