I have spent the last week being besieged by the zealots of the “Bag Tax Initiative.”

Each time I said “No, I will not sign your petition,” and each time I got an argument. It goes like this:

“Do you know about the garbage dump in the Pacific Ocean?”

“Well yes I do.”

“Oh, and you still don’t want to sign the petition? You know the money stays here in Juneau, it goes into the general fund.”

I am a water safety instructor, and a lifeguard, and I work for the city pools at both Augustus Brown and Dimond Park. I was at Twin Lakes on Saturday for my grandson’s birthday party and I saw a disturbing sight. I witnessed several young children swimming with out life jackets. Some were in makeshift inner tubes with the bottoms closed off. The children got pretty far out in the lake. The danger in this is that, if the child flips over the tube with the closed bottom, he or she could suffocate if they can’t figure out how to get out from under the tube.

Over a lifetime I have studied and come to understand a little bit of what it means when a person says, “This is what I believe.”

It means, I think, that this is what a person accepts, believes not on the basis of some scientific evidence of explanation but what they feel emotionally, from experience or learning. The person may be a Christian, a Buddhist, a Muslim or Hindu that responds. Or even one apart from traditional, worldwide religions, like a belief in a spirit world, a personal feeling of a relationship with nature and the world around us.

I am not in favor of moving the Fishermen’s Memorial. Kate Troll’s recent article in the Empire spoke to my heart. Juneau is home for those who live here, work here, contribute to the community through paid and unpaid service. The community is special; it is home.