Readers’ comments: March 6, 2026

Comfort zones are overrated
Dear editor:
I am in eighth grade at El Roble Intermediate School. I’m part of the band for my school and play soccer with a local club. For my International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program community service project, I wanted to reach outside the communities I’m already part of and interact with a new group of people. I decided to volunteer at Ivy Park, an assisted living home, since my grandmother spent many years in a place similar to it. While there, I helped out with the activities, like bingo, floral arranging, and even their own version of Olympic volleyball.
Throughout my experience, I got to learn all about the dynamics between residents living there. Some were sassy, some were quiet, some loved to annoy each other, and some were the sweetest people you’ve ever met. But something you could feel throughout all the residents was the sense of community, and I’m very grateful I got to witness and be a part of that. I hope that the residents benefited from having a fresh face around.
We all have our cliques we’re part of, but it’s important to branch out every now and then to broaden your Claremont connections.
Peregrine Hodge
Claremont

Oxymoron?
Dear editor:
A new oxymoron: “Trump” intelligence.
J. Carrigan
Claremont

Good advice in a chaotic world
Dear editor:
Shakespeare wrote: “The quality of mercy is not strained.” Likewise for love, the quality of love must not be strained. This would explain why Jesus Christ said: “Love your neighbor as yourself” and “love your enemy too.”
Opanyi Nasiali
Claremont

Regarding ‘God, religion, science, and certainty, etc.’
Dear editor:
When science examines the big bang, it describes that moment as the beginning of our known universe. Yet even within that framework, it cannot explain what, if anything, preceded it. Likewise, scientific projections suggest that in a distant future the universe may become so dispersed that matter itself is scattered across incomprehensible distances. A beginning. An end.
Our own lives follow the same pattern. We understand beginnings and endings because we experience them. But how can we fully grasp something that has neither? How do we comprehend an existence outside the boundaries of time when everything we observe is bound by it?
There comes a point where empirical observation reaches its limits. Beyond that horizon lies the realm of faith — trusting in truths we cannot personally witness or measure. Faith does not reject science; it simply acknowledges that not every reality can be confined to what we can see, test, or fully explain.
“We are called to walk by faith, not by sight,” 2 Corinthians 5:6-7.
Aaron Peterson
Claremont