Dear Editor,

The greatest of our ghettos is not to be found in any geographically handicapped location, however horrifying. Nor is it found in any physically depressed or decrepit communities, however formidable the imposition on our sense of decency and civilised upbringing. It is not the slum and dungeons that tarnish a city and get constant reports in the news for bloodshed and infighting. It is the enduring mould and posture of an infirmed mind — a debilitation that would transform possibilities into disaster the way a pig would show appreciation for a clean bath and a mudless existence.

The reverse is true, too, where no slum could constrain a healthy, upward mind bent on elevation and development.

A physically upscale circle is no more immune to ghettoish infiltration than a downtown community is to civility and good taste. It’s all in the mind. For, indeed, just as Bethlehem could never determine the quality of who walked there, if our minds are first raised to high levels of human relationship and moral fortitude, the physical will become natural branches of our experience. Therefore, a demolition and reversal of this ghetto fortification that persists in our minds could only see an erection of a new way of life, as well as a more physically pleasing environment.

Homer Sylvester

Mt Vernon, NY, USA

h2sylvester@gmail.com