There appears to be much concern by the government over the plight of the poor in this country. As a result, we have seen the government step in and do everything for these individuals that they could and should be doing for themselves.
This includes a wide range of services from providing food, housing and child care to the proposed furnishing of health care for everyone.When I was a child (I'm now 65), we had two parents and five children, all housed in a very small two-bedroom home with no plumbing. My mother was in the house to care for the children, who received loving discipline, and gave the children a desire for education. The children, with little help from the parents, and no help from the government, paid for it themselves.
We had meals that satisfied our needs but not to excess, so we were healthy. By today's standards, we (as well as the majority of those around us) would be judged to be deprived and very low in the poverty scale. Yet we didn't think of ourselves as poor. We were rich as to the things that were important.
1. A good home environment with parents who were there to administer love, discipline, knowledge and moral training, with home and school supporting each other in this area.
2. Help from schools independent of special government programs that reward anti-social and criminal behavior. The teacher was in control at all times, administering appropriate discipline when necessary.
I can never recall ever seeing a policeman in the town where I grew up. Crime was practically non-existent.
The result was individuals who grew up not only able to provide for themselves and families, but able to make significant contributions to society, making the world a better place for everyone.
Our country is on a speedy course to self-destruction. Unless we have a reversal back to doing for oneself instead of the government doing for us and get morals and discipline back into the schools, we will destroy ourselves and our country.
Elsie F. Nay
Brigham City