Editor,
Last fall, I moved to Falls Church and began frequenting local businesses and restaurants to acclimate to my new environment. Whenever possible, I pick up the Falls Church News-Press to see what is going on in my new hometown. And most recently, I read Nicholas Benton’s essay “Empathy in the Face of Evil, the Universe’s Dark Matter?”

I wanted to thank Nicholas for his calm words in a news realm so fraught with extreme partisanship, doom and gloom. It was refreshing and hopeful to hear such wise words anchoring readers in the storm of our daily lives.

I appreciated reading and I hope he continues these anecdotes of reason. For unfortunately, there are far too many voices breaking through the static with extremist points speaking charismatic chaos.

The layman may not know it, but there is a battle for the fourth estate, and reasonable voices are lost in the hurricane of emotions that run through the veins of every beautifully imperfect one of us.

Thank you again for your grounding words.

Ross Alexander Whitley
Falls Church