A recent edition of the Salt Lake Tribune left me perplexed. In one article, it is seemingly suggested that an LDS general authority must be disinvited from giving a graduation speech because his public apology for a racist remark is unforgivable.
Another article notes that an attorney with the Utah attorney general’s office has been placed on leave because someone has suggested he took part in a hazing ritual at Westminster College.
In a third article, Gordon Monson points out that the state of North Carolina has passed a new law prohibiting participation trophies for children playing in youth sports.
All of these events are highly reminiscent of the punishment inflicted upon Hester Prynne in Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter.” That novel was first published almost two centuries ago, but the hatred evinced toward poor Hester seems alive and well today. Can’t we do better?
Thomas N. Thompson, Salt Lake City
