Just Sayin’: Apparent mail theft is frustrating
A first-class envelope at a post office in San Jose, Calif. Credit: AP / Paul Sakuma
Two years in a row, I mailed my adult granddaughter a birthday card in July with cash, but she never got either one. I know, we’re told not to put cash in cards, but I’d never had a problem before. In addition, she never got a card from her father that included a prepaid gift card.
Frustrated, I mailed her a fake card with fake currency inside. I wrote inside, “Aha, you thief! Are you the one who took my granddaughter’s gift? I bet your mother’s really proud of you. You’re nothing but a slug.”
My granddaughter never got that mail either.
When another granddaughter graduated from college in May, friends sent her a card that included a gift card. The only thing she got was a torn envelope!
What is going on with the Postal Service? There is no excuse for this to happen! When I call to complain, I’m told to call other post offices, but I get no clear answers.
Pat Maggiulli, Floral Park
A loss of faith in elected officials
In 1939, when I was age 3, my parents, my brother and I escaped the Holocaust in Germany. When we could not enter the United States because of an immigration quota, we wound up in the Dominican Republic.
While there, my friends and I went to see American movies every time we could. We saw how the heroes always caught the bad guys. We thought the Americans were giants and could do no wrong.
My brother came to the United States in 1948, and after a year he joined the Army. My parents and I arrived in the United States on July 1, 1953. Of course, I was in awe of New York. I had lived on a farm in the Dominican Republic in a small town. New York was larger and more crowded than anything I had ever seen.
On July 1, 1958, I applied for citizenship, and I voted as soon as I could.
Little by little, I found out all about the people I voted for. Many were admirable officials worthy of our trust.
These days, how can I encourage my children and grandchildren whom to vote for when seemingly every day I pick up the paper and find the people who are supposed to represent us are being prosecuted for some kind of law they broke? What happened to all my “heroes” in public service? What is happening with our leaders? How do we know whom we should place in positions of responsibility?
Alfred Weinberg, Farmingdale
