Waitsfield resident Fred Messer, in a letter to the editor in this week’s paper, offers an apology that we reject as unnecessary.
Messer is the creator of the pastel bunny family that has been seen at various locations around The Valley, including the Wait House, the Waitsfield town office, the Masonic Lodge and others.
The cheerful bunnies are a fun and whimsical sign of spring and of the things we celebrate when the sun melts the snow. They are not religious. They are not offensive. They are not political and they are assuredly not “gay” as one person told Mr. Messer.
The pastel bunnies are no different than the lighted wooden stars that adorn The Valley from Moretown and Duxbury to Warren in the darkest nights of the winter. The bunnies, like the stars, are a sign of the season meant to bring cheer to the sometimes dismal days of April and mud season. The bunnies, who move around town, are as lighthearted and festive as the phantom Valentine hearts that appear overnight in various locations in Central Vermont.
Read Mr. Messer’s letter; understand his intent and how happy it makes him that children are excited to discover where the bunnies move to each week. Read too, the sentence about a leader from one organization finding the bunnies “too gay.” Those are patently offensive and extremely inappropriate words for any leader of any organization in our community to utter.
It is that person who needs to apologize to all of us and specifically to Mr. Messer for that homophobic, bigoted, cruel and nasty remark. What kind of a leader is this person? And what kind of an organization does he lead that finds that sentiment acceptable?
The bunny family was simply a lighthearted way to welcome spring to our Valley. They are colored plywood – not a threat to anyone’s belief system. They do not represent any faith or creed – other than a universal belief in spring following winter.
We would like to offer an apology – in absentia – for the boor who chastised Mr. Messer for his efforts to welcome spring to The Valley with the happy bunnies and we’d like Mr. Messer to know that the bunnies are welcome to hop onto our lawn or porch at The Valley Reporter anytime.
