The following letter is only 1 of several in the New London Day today, in regards to a word in a comic strip. I have loved " Better or Worse" comic strip more than any other because the creator has actually dealt with reality, an aged her characters, my gosh the Peanut characters have been 7 years old forever, Hi 'n Lois never age or do their kids and is Beatle Bailey ever getting out of the army? Believe me, I love all of these strips but this peticular one obviously, makes people think and talk about it.

The word is "RETARDED", I have a cousin who has been called this her whole life, she is mentally challenged. She works, pays rent and is a vital citizen of society and she was always hurt by the word. It would of been nice if people had sensitivity training back then as they do now. At my hotel right now is a conference for the Disabled, physically an mentally and everyone of us had to go to training to make sure we treated them with respect they deserve, and to not offend anyone when offering to help.

What Lynn Johnston did in her strip was bring to light the other side, the person who is being called the word, she was not offending anyone. It is better to start a dialogue then to just ignore that there is a problem. I picked this letter for how well he made his point. Please remember words hurt more than punches, because punches heal, words stay with you forever.





"I am really appalled that these people who “deal with this on a daily basis” failed to get the whole idea of the cartoon strip. (“ 'Better or Worse' comic strip not for the better,” and “Wrong for cartoonist to use derogatory term,” both March 18.) It was a conversation between two young women. One of the young women was upset by a name her sister called her — “Picky Face.” The other young woman merely remarked that it was better than being called “retarded.” The other young woman, April, immediately demanded, “Who called you that?” Needless to say, if those letter writers had looked at the next day's cartoon, they would have found out that it was not a joke, it was a lesson about humanity. You know the old adage, “I met a man who had no shoes, and then I met a man who had no feet.”
This cartoon has also run a strip about the grandfather having a stroke. I have had several minor strokes, and after one I could not even talk right. No one could understand a word I was trying to say, except my husband. I am grateful to cartoonist Lynn Johnston for dealing with upsetting subjects, and doing it with compassion and humor.