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Honor and Respect for Every Person
By Tom Bado, Torrington
In an apparent attempt to trap me, Matthew P. Valenti, in his November 2 letter "Helping Teachers for the Future," repeats his request that I state what I do for a living. Even though my means of income is irrelevant to the crisis in education, I will provide him with an answer. At the same time, I assume he already knows the answer. It seems to me that Mr. Valenti has been snooping around or has received some information that he thinks will bring me embarrassment. I believe it is Mr. Valenti's face that will turn red.
His statement that "There is honor and respect in any job" is amazing coming from someone who has put down his own profession. In previous letters, he said that teachers get little or no respect. "A babysitter gets more respect," he cried. More importantly, I feel he fails to apply honor and respect for every person. He seems to think that janitors, dishwashers, waitresses, store clerks, factory workers and people with a disability are unqualified to speak on issues of education. Or incapable of brilliance. Or helping "anyone out." While my present lot and source of income is one of the above, I'd be damned if I were to underestimate and judge others. That's not my bus. My bus is filled with hope, kindness, understanding, and love.
In his bus, Mr. Valenti gets a $3,000 annual salary for taking the public for a ride—or what he calls "helping education and teachers for the future"—in his position as president of the Torrington Education Association. My bus has taken me to Charlotte Hungerford Hospital to speak on psychological abuse and to the Northwest Mental Health Authority to give a seminar on human motivation. These engagements were undertaken for no charge or fee. So I ask you, Mr. Valenti, what have you done, without pay, to help people?
Through past letters, we know of Mr. Valenti's less than sound thinking and inability to disagree politely. Now he has insulted his colleagues even further. In defending his profession, he has done it harm. In pushing for a pay hike, he has give us another reason for a wage freeze. He has, in essence, trapped himself.
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