Thanks to Joe Tarica, Greg Holt for promoting compassion, respect

I wish to thank Joe Tarica for his column (“What kind of world are we creating?” Feb. 19). Joe’s comments highlight our culture’s move away from the once-honored virtues of kindness, compassion and respect. It seems that those very virtues fall under the category of “political correctness” these days.

Joe cites the example of Greg Holt’s decision to close his restaurant, Big Sky Cafe, to honor the “Day Without Immigrants.” As 70 percent of Greg’s employees are immigrants as well as respected co-workers, his decision demonstrated his appreciation for those employees’ contributions to his business — and to America’s economic fabric. Now, Greg is assaulted with social media spewing hateful comments and threats of boycotts. It really is hard for me to imagine that we have a population in our community that buys into this brand of rage. What happened to American and Christian values?

In the current political climate, those precious values of compassion, respect and mercy are considered weak. We now have a president who hates losers, loves winners, spews insults without regret and is well practiced at yelling “you’re fired.”

Compassionate? Empathetic? No.

I thank Greg for his decision, honor his compassion and will proudly support his restaurant and his employees with my patronage of his business. He is not politically correct, but a hero.

This story was originally published March 12, 2017 at 8:29 PM with the headline "Thanks to Joe Tarica, Greg Holt for promoting compassion, respect."