Dear Editor:
I offer very sincere thanks to the editor for posting several letters in the last couple of Reader's Forums. I am referring to the original letter on materialism at BYU and subsequent responses by various individuals who were apparently offended by the original letter.
I was glad to see those letters for the following two reasons:
I am a senior here at BYU, and from my first days here I have loved reading the letters to the editor because of the high humor content which I assume is usually unintended. When I saw the letter on materialism -- which I really found to be amusing -- I could hardly wait to read the inevitable responses. The letters of response far exceeded my expectations and in my opinion take the cake for the best unintended humor ever produced in the Reader's Forum.
I am of the opinion that here at BYU the greatest factor in keeping students from understanding each other is not race, nationality or political orientation; but the difference between those who have money and those who don't. Our administration goes to commendable efforts to help students bridge gaps caused by many differences, but the only attempt I have seen for bridging the monetary gap is the recent 'Lighting the Way' campaign, which hopes to redistribute some of the funds but not really help people understand one another.
I thank the writers of the various letters for bringing this issue to light, even if they did not intend to. Now I personally don't have a solution to the money gap here at BYU (except maybe to say that all Californian students should split all their cash reserves with me), but it sure was great to see this issue sneak out between the lines of those letters. I graduate this April and will miss the Reader's Forum. Thanks for the laughs.
Michael Hatch
Provo