Readers Write: Annunciation Church shooting, birds

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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Labor Day is meant to celebrate hard work, prosperity and well-being. In Minnesota, where summer is precious, many of us will spend the holiday at lakes, picnics or gatherings with family and friends.

But this year, the Annunciation School community is saying goodbye to two young children killed in a school shooting. Their families are laboring not to celebrate, but simply to find the strength to endure.

Principal Matt DeBoer reminded his community of a West African proverb often shared by John Lewis: “When you pray, move your feet.” His words have echoed in my mind since I first heard them.

After the Uvalde, Texas, shooting in 2022, I wrote a reflection called Locked Glass Doors about how school violence shapes teachers’ daily lives and children’s sense of safety. I ended it with: “These kids are your kids. This school is your school.”

Now, just three years later, another school shooting has struck — this time in Minnesota, just miles from where I once taught. There is no buffer of metaphor. These are literally our kids.

Her image left me asking: Am I working hard enough? Am I running — or just dragging my feet?

I remember another sleepless night as a young mother, nursing my son at 3 a.m. In that haze, I felt the presence of all mothers before and after me — connected in strength, in love, and yes, in labor. As dawn broke, I found hope in knowing I wasn’t alone.

This Labor Day, let’s honor not only the work behind us but the work ahead of us. We need to stop asking if others are working hard enough — and start asking ourselves.

It’s time to move our feet. Run, don’t walk.

Liz Denn, Excelsior

A few years ago, my family and I visited Zambia, a country in sub-Saharan Africa. On three separate occasions, upon learning we were from the U.S., locals asked us why school shootings are so common here. This is not a normal phenomenon around the world; school shootings are uniquely and maddeningly an American problem. Because of their devotion to protecting access to weapons of war, a powerful minority are endangering the rest of us. To those who won’t compromise on this tragic issue, know this: Your unwillingness to support comprehensive and common-sense gun safety policies enables people halfway around the world to view us as a violent people who support guns more than human life. The more we do nothing, the more they are right.

Benjamin George, Milwaukee

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I was interested in the newspaper’s quote from Rob Doar, a leader of Minnesota’s guns-for-all caucus. He said that instead of “chasing our tails when we’re trying to figure out what type of law could have prevented this,” we should look at the signs that preceded the shootings (“Suspected shooter legally purchased rifle, pistol and shotgun; local politicians call for action,” Aug. 27).

Here’s one: Police say Westman purchased three firearms in a short period of time. How about making multiple gun buys in a limited time frame a red flag in and of itself?

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When we meet a person in a military uniform, it’s not uncommon to say, “Thank you for your service.” Immediately after the horrific mass shooting at Annunciation Church, Minneapolis police rushed in, rendered medical care, emotional support and, had it been necessary, would have confronted the shooter. Police officers see the worst of the worst our society has to offer every day. So the next time you see a police officer, I suggest saying, “Thank you for your service.”

Rich Jansen, Cumberland, Wis.

Aaron Brown’s Aug. 27 column “Smart forestry saves birds — and people, too” showed his big heart and love of birds. He bought a bird feeder for his son and voilà, birds were visiting and their love for birds has grown every since.

However, Brown also wrote, “It just takes a little effort” to stop the declines in bird population. Tinker with woodland practices, leave up dead trees, etc. That is wishful thinking.

This year, the numbers are way down. I heard a kingfisher for one week in late spring, but they have not lived on the shoreline for some years now. Why? Because they need overhanging trees along the lake in order to view the water for small fry. Our shoreline is 1,500 feet — not long enough — but vacant shoreline adding to ours existed back then. Year after year, it sold, and new city dwellers cut trees to see the lake from their new lake home. Kingfisher? Well, they vanished.

Everyone wants “a slice of the North Woods”! But ... they also want big boats, dirt bikes and four-wheelers. Woodland birds love peace and quiet. Our personal desires are the reason birds are dying off. And butterflies and bees and other insects too. They are down 30-plus percent from the last 50 years.

For 20 years, I could hear three pairs of barred owls every year. “Who cooks for you, who cooks for you?” This year, only one. Previous three years? None.

The only new birds up north are here because of climate change. Not too cold for newbies.

Jim Davidson, St. Paul

Here’s a rescue with a happier ending than the story by Val Cunningham on Aug. 14 of this year ("A good Samaritan tries to save a pileated woodpecker“). My husband and I are avid birders, and we frequently see pileated woodpeckers at our feeders. One day we noticed one in the front yard, hopping around on the ground. We quickly realized it was unable to fly, so my husband grabbed a beach towel and was eventually able to capture the bird by tossing the towel over it. He placed it inside a larger cat carrier with an additional blanket and drove it to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, which at that time was located in an old house on the University of Minnesota campus. During the drive to the center the woodpecker tapped repeatedly on the sides of the carrier.

At the center they took our contact information in order to give us an update on the bird. A day later we were told the bird would never fly, but would be transferred to a wildlife center to become part of an educational program. We were happy this bird would live out its life in a safe place. However, a couple of weeks later we received another call from the Wildlife Center. This time we were told the woodpecker was ready to be released on our property! Confused, I replied we had been told this bird would never fly again. As it happened, one day in the large cage where it was kept as it regained its strength, the bird started flying! A date and time were set up for us to meet the staff so we could watch it being released in our wooded backyard. It was so thrilling to open the crate door and watch this majestic bird fly into one of our nearby trees!

For the next few years we were able to identify this bird when it came to our feeders as one wing wasn’t tucked in as neatly as the other.