To the editor:

A steroid-suspected baseball player broke the home run record the same day that a second Wal-Mart comes to Lawrence. What is the world coming to? Letting go of what we think is right or wrong is so hard. It is a struggle adapting to change even as we hold on to our values, but in my opinion, that defines sustainable growth.

I followed the debate about Wal-Mart intently, but the arguments do not fly with me. Traffic is certainly a concern, but I did not hear any outcry with the CVS pharmacy. Nor did we fret about the local pharmacies going under if another big retailer comes to town.

Inconsistency aside, the retail competition argument does not hold up for me either. I shop at Wal-Mart for cheap, wholesale items (my last purchase: a pair of painter’s pants). I shop downtown for the aesthetics of walking in Lawrence, dining in Lawrence and buying what I can only find in Lawrence. I go to a local pharmacy, because I trust the pharmacist. Intimacy attracted me to Lawrence, not the economics.

Frankly, Wal-Mart on the west side is OK to me with only one request from the city commissioners. Please insist on a recycling center. It will save gas or, better, I can bike my rubbish to the bins. Since we cannot hold onto the old, I want to recycle our waste, preserve our conviviality and adapt.

John Whipple,

Lawrence