Mr. Coffey presumes to advise me to mind my own business.
I confess that I cannot understand why he feels he has to scold me. Have I touched a nerve, and what is that nerve? No one is perfect and I never would claim that I am. In a long life in which I have had to confront serious challenges, and succeeded or failed, but I have not been cowed by them. I think I have learned that one does not preach, one influences by example. If I express a hope that people develop their better natures or urge that others take time to learn what a problem consists of before developing a constructive plan of action, it is because that has worked for me. Every day presents challenges and I try to meet them.
I have sometimes been asked, perhaps because of something in my demeanor, if I was a teacher. Formally, I was for a few years, but beyond that I accepted that my role was to share the raising of my dearly loved family with my husband so that they would honor their upbringing by being honorable, curious, tolerant and considerate. My late husband would often get through the usual chaos by saying, “I don’t care about how you act at home, but do not ever disgrace us when you are out in the world!” And they have remembered.
Perhaps to a fault, I have a strong sense of responsibility. If that irritates you, you need not read what I write.
Esther Confino
New Hyde Park
