COLUMN: Bob was a blessing

My wife Rosa said recently “that she was faithful to ‘Faithful Observations!’” That was a column written by teacher and scholar Bob Shillingstad. Bob’s articles appeared on Saturdays near the tail-end of the “Local” section.

Shillingstad actually read books for his columns — like those 400-plus pagers! I know, because on the “Miracle of Midway” (June 1942), he loaned us a book on it. What Bob did not know from his vast experiences and his enviable work ethic, he did what good journalists do. He interviewed folks.

Do we understand what has happened to newspapers like the “San Francisco Chronicle?” I do, I was born In San Francisco (1942). Mostly they have become similar to Russia’s “Pravda.”

I learned an important lesson when radical leftists were rioting and damaging police cars at University of California, Berkeley (1964). The best way to attempt to get at truth is not to censor journalists who do not cater to our biases and philosophies.

Down the street from where I worked as a geologist, a two-week experiment had to be discontinued after only six days. It is called the “Lucifer Effect” (1971). Students at Stanford University playing guards and other students playing inmates soon began to abuse each other. People of faith call this the sin nature of mankind.

We must not censor those who “politely” give alternate viewpoints than ours. Mankind is “flawed” — note his wars. If we become “thought police,” our nation, our families and children will suffer as freedom is lost.

We miss Bob!

JIM PEARL

Hayden Lake