Letter: Listen to Hillary Clinton with open mind

Regarding the May 18 letter 'Clinton can't identify with middle class”:

Did the letter writer listen with an open mind to what Hillary Clinton has said about her mother?

Dorothy Rodham, Clinton's mother, was born to dysfunctional parents who lived in a Chicago boardinghouse. They paid sporadic attention to their children and, according to Cook County records, sometimes fought violently. The divorced parents sent Dorothy at age 8 and her younger sister unaccompanied on a train to California to live with unwelcoming grandparents.

Dorothy at age 14 left that home during the Depression and worked for a family as a nanny/housekeeper. The woman of this house, according to Clinton, responded to Dorothy's desire to learn. Dorothy got up early and finished her household chores, then went to high school. Eventually Hillary's mother because a clerk-typist in Chicago and married. She got no college education, but encouraged Clinton.

It pays to listen with an open mind to people who think you don't agree with. You sometimes learn valuable things. Also, watch Clinton when she hears ordinary people tell her about autism of their youngsters and other hardships. Yes, Clinton has more money than most of us, but from her mother's background I know she understands the situation of the poor and cares about the fate of children, their education and their families. Maintain openness and everybody still is free to be a Republican or a Democrat. It's just that we'll be closer to truth and appreciate each other more.

Linda Svoboda

Cedar Rapids