Editor,

When did we stop taking responsibility for our own actions?

Why are we always looking to blame others for our misfortunes, either real or perceived?

This is the case of the so-called Citizens Of Ebey’s Reserve. The COER want to blame the jets for their alleged misfortunes, yet refuse to acknowledge their own responsibilities for moving here, in the first place.

The base has been here since World War II.

The jets have flown all of this time without incident, so I must ask, if this causes you so much distress, why did you come here, in the first place?

If these planes you complain about are so “hazardous,” why do you remain? Why do you subject yourselves to such self-perceived hardships?

Before anybody pretends this is about the Growlers, the same complaints were made for the Intruders and the Prowlers, from the same people complaining today.

Before you say anything about how long your family has been here, or how many generations of your kin have existed, ask yourself this, “Where did they come from?”

Obviously they didn’t just spawn here spontaneously.

Nothing prevented them from moving here, so nothing is preventing you from leaving and starting your own “multi-generational” homestead elsewhere, just as your ancestors did.

It’s time to take responsibility for your own perceived misfortunes. In the end, you are the only one causing them.

Tim Cook

Oak Harbor