Don't create forest out of a single tree

Regarding the incident involving Carpentersville Trustee Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski.

I believe this isan overreaction as well as an opportunity to cause alarm in the midst of the election by the media.

I don't read any implication of racism into this incidentat all and do believe it will go away and Linda and her neighbors will work to establish a more neighborly bond if the media let it die.

Since the boys were climbing trees,there is aparallel.

Unfortunately, we live in a time where anything said by one butterfly toanother can be taken the wrong way, especially comments such as Linda's that can be conceived as racism.

When we as humans feel vulnerable, a single tree can look like a forest even though we know it's only one tree.

As I read the articles, I recalled an incident in the early 1990swhile working at AT&T, when a contracted public relations firmpublished an articlepromotingAT&T's growth in international telecommunications.

The artist used pictures of humans in various representative dressfor sixof the countries involved and pictures of monkeys to represent Africa.

My first option would have been the flag of each country.

I thought it a lack of creativity on the artist's partrather than deliberate incitement, but who really knows what his intention was besides doing his job? There are many monkeys in Africa.

Some blackemployees didn't think it fair and filed a complaint against AT&T, calling it insensitive.

This resulted in the demise of a publication read quarterlyby almost every employee at AT&T. This great magazine was banned forever.

This illustrationbirthed "mandatory diversity training"for every employee and possibly was the start of diversity trainingfor all of corporate America.

Thisresulted in an opendialogue and a better understanding for everyone and might not have ever happened had it not been for this one picture.

What I'm getting at is this: What we say, who we say it to and why we say it can have a very powerful influence on the negative and positive side.

Regardless of the claim of ongoing neighborly feuding, I don't believe Sliwinski had any intention of causing harm to those boys or anyone else.

I believe she wasjust being creativewithout realizing itin her wordingto illustrate that "monkeys, not boys, should climb trees." Monkeys do climb trees. If someone calls me a chair, it does not make me a chair.

I think we all know or at leastsuspect what the real truthisabout this whole thing.

One more thing. I don't want the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton in our communitytrying to turnthis into a forest when we all know that it is just a tree.

Belva Thomas

Carpentersville