Dear Editor,
In 1725, writer and satirist Jonathan Swift wrote 'A Modest Proposal,' a short letter suggesting that the Irish in the town of Dublin sell their one-year-old babies as food.
This would, Swift stated, help those who had no money and decrease the surplus population. The irony of the letter was so apparent that no explanation was required, and it has survived as one of the most powerful works of satire in the English language.
In writing my letter to the editor about moral reasoning that recently ran, I had hoped that the reading public would recognize the connection between my letter and Swift's, taking into consideration the outrageous nature of my claims and the words 'a modest proposal' being in the body of my letter.
Judging by the tenor of the responses I have received, some people still just don't get it.
I write this letter now to make clear the intention of my remarks and hope that they will be taken in the right context as a satirical comment on the cultural relativism that grips our nation.
As for those who still don't seem to get the point and direction of my comments, I would humbly propose what a friend of mine always suggests to me when I don't seem to be catching on: 'Read a book.'
Jesse Coleman
Honolulu, Hawaii