Standing Proud as the Dust Settles

* For a community to bond together like Thousand Oaks did Tuesday is a history-making moment.

Not only did the recall of Elois Zeanah, my mother, show where the big money in this city is stored, it showed that the residents of Thousand Oaks took a stand to say “Your money will not buy our home.”

There were many votes from citizens who have never agreed with Elois or what she stands for. And those citizens didn’t cast their “no” votes to support her. Those residents cast their votes to make this statement: No one deserves what Elois has endured.

I applaud Thousand Oaks in a way I haven’t in my 18 years of living in this community. Thank you to that 67%. To quote my mother Tuesday night, “Thousand Oaks is a city worth fighting for.” I think this smear election has proven that to every heart in the city. Thank you, Thousand Oaks, you have the strength and integrity no other city does. Stand proud.

KRISTEN L. ZEANAH

Thousand Oaks

* Civil War Ends in the Conejo . . . Or Does It?

This letter was written on Nov. 3. I decided to write about the outcome of Thousand Oaks’ special election before the outcome was known.

Over the past few years, the Conejo has become a battleground for a modern-day civil war. Friends and neighbors have been pitted against each other and asked to take a side, essentially vilifying the conscientious position of the other.

Both sides of the recall, in one way or another, have nobly suggested that a healing would take place after the election, once the purported evils of the respective opposition were defeated.

I would argue that a better understanding of history and human nature must be garnered, before any lasting healing can be accomplished.

Were attitudes changed in people’s hearts after the Civil War was fought? It was suggested by some that “our war” was not against flesh and blood, but in fact a battle against a spirit of power, greed, fear and hatred--a veritable hell of human emotions.

Shortly after the end of the carnage of the Civil War, politicians and advisors urged President Lincoln to punish the South severely for the bloodshed it had caused. Lincoln responded by saying, “Do I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”

Yes, friends, the answers to the challenges our community faces will not come from the politicians. It is time for you and me to take responsibility for our own actions, get back to the business of good citizenry and stop vilifying and blaming our elected city officials.

Council members are mirror images of “we the people.” If we don’t like what we see in the mirror, we only need change our look.

In the recent bestseller “The Promise,” Eugene Peterson paraphrases a verse from the Good Book: “It is absolutely clear that God has called us to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out--in no time at all, you will be annihilating each other and where will your precious rights and freedom be then?”

Love brings unity! Unity does not mean sameness, it means oneness of purpose, the pointing of our uniqueness in the same direction in order to achieve a common goal.

JIM BRUNO

Westlake Village