Letters

Sunday, Jan. 19, 2003
    • Persons of the Year

    In a time when Big Business and government agencies worship at the altar of money and power, these women give us a reason to hope.
    JOAN C. BORGATTI
    Natick, Mass.


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    The selection of three courageous women — Cynthia Cooper of WorldCom, Coleen Rowley of the FBI and Sherron Watkins of Enron — as Persons of the Year was inspiring [Dec. 30--Jan. 6]. Each exemplifies "good work"--work that is excellent in quality and socially responsible. Their stories reveal that each had a strong sense of mission as well as one or more role models who sought to do the right thing. Most important, each was willing to take an unflinching look in the mirror to see whether she was proud or ashamed of the work she was performing. Thanks to your accolade, more workers will be motivated to take and act on this mirror test.
    HOWARD GARDNER
    Cambridge, Mass.

    These women are the opposite of heroines; they are traitors to the organizations that employed them. What happened to working within the system to fix what's wrong? Their motives were totally self-serving. They went out and made a name for themselves. I'm sorry you chose to bring them into the spotlight.
    MYRA SHIELDS
    Bensalem, Pa.

    These three whistle-blowers, who demonstrated the highest ethics, worked in settings dominated by men. That says it's time for a woman U.S. President.
    STANLEY HERZ
    Somers, N.Y.

    Cooper, Watkins and Rowley are admirable people, but I thought TIME selected Persons of the Year on the basis of their influence on the whole world. I can't see that these whistle-blowers had the slightest influence on global events. The people who changed our lives the most all over the world were the terrorists. Not only do we have to live every day with anxiety and fear, but we must also send our loved ones to war in places like Afghanistan. The terrorists even boosted George W. Bush's popularity and gave his party a victory in the midterm elections. Who knows what kind of President Bush would have been without Sept. 11 and its aftermath?
    IRAJ NIROOMAND
    Annweiler, Germany

    Having the courage to face a situation that has a huge downside and scant probability of a positive outcome is the very reason that these three women should be recognized. While other people may have had a stronger impact in 2002, these three put faces on an issue we each must confront every day: doing a tough thing for the right reasons.
    KRISS A. MORRIS
    Ellisville, Mo.

    Some readers felt that Cooper, Rowley and Watkins deserved a better designation than whistle-blowers. "The term has a disloyal and shady connotation," wrote a Connecticut reader. "Surely you could have found a more kindly word to describe what they did." A Los Angeles woman concurred: "Calling them whistle-blowers sold these women short and subtly undermined the example of conviction and courage they set." Joining the chorus was a man from New York State: "The headline did little justice to their contribution to society. How about calling them just plain courageous?"

    The Team at the Top

    Your article on the partnership between President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney [Dec. 30--Jan. 6] helped clarify why, despite my political neutrality, I trust this Administration. I evaluate a President by seeing whether he surrounds himself with the most qualified people he can find and then provides Executive leadership but lets them do their job. The photo of Bush with Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and members of his Cabinet crystallized for me why I'm still calm despite the volatility of the world today. I'm confident that these intelligent leaders and our President are doing their job and that they are the people most qualified to make the right decisions for our nation.
    KEVIN J. PAYNE
    Dayton, Ohio

    You stated, "Bush knows his limitations but does not feel compelled to overcome them, learn what he doesn't know or master what he knows only superficially." Would TIME have heaped praise upon Winston Churchill if in its estimation he hadn't felt compelled to overcome his limitations? How about Dwight Eisenhower, if he hadn't wanted to learn what he didn't know? Why don't Americans demand that the U.S. President possess the basic characteristics of any effective leader?
    JAMES CLARK
    Chislehurst, England