Home Page

Opinion

Are you ready for a challenge?

To the editor:
When I was younger I didnít understand a lot of the things my parents did. I didnít understand why we couldnít have all the cool clothes and ìstuffî it seemed everyone else had. I knew that my dad worked very hard and that we didnít waste any money that we had.
My dad built the little rambler that we lived in and looking back, it seems like that house had more space in it than any house Iíve lived in since.
(For those too young to know, a rambler was a style of house built all on one level. Imagine no stairs.)
When I became a parent myself, many of their decisions became more understandable to me. There are many things I have chosen to do differently than my parents, mostly because I have the opportunity to do things differently.
But my parents and their generation taught me the most important lessons of my life. They taught me the value of hard work, and its value was not always tied to the money you made doing it.
They told me that while there were many things I might feel entitled to, I had to earn them and deserve them in order to have them.
They taught me to set priorities and that those priorities had to extend beyond myself.
The size of the house was not as important as the amount of love that was in it.
Whatís important in a community is the care and concern given to each of your neighbors.
Each generation gives to the next hopefully better opportunities, which does not mean they hand them a free ride. On the contrary, they hand them the challenge to do as much as they did and more.
Have we taken this challenge? Our parents and grandparents, who had far less than we do, gave most of us a good education. My father was a diesel mechanic. I would venture to say that after high school he never set foot in a library.
But my father always supported the schools and the libraries in our community.
He knew that children needed to have these tools, just as much as he needed the tools in his garage. A good tool is never a wasted investment he told us.
Our schools and our libraries are some of the most important tools this society has to offer. The priorities we set in our families now will teach the next generation and challenge them.
I hope that we will teach them to respect what they are fortunate to have and to know that there was a price paid for it that they will one day have to pay for the next generation.
I hope we will teach them to take pride in what they can contribute to society and not just their own bank account.
But as my dad taught me, all the hoping and wishing in the world wonít get the job done. You have to get in there, get your hands dirty and do something.
So I am challenging you to do something. This communitiesí libraries are not supported like they should be. I am sad to say that I drive to Roseville to give my children the opportunity I was given. This school district has squeezed more education out of a dollar than any I know of and yet they are being asked to do with less.
Programs like Meals on Wheels and other social services serving people who gave the most to get you where you are are being told ìsorry we just donít have the money,î while we live in bigger houses, drive bigger cars that consume more gas and feel entitled to more yet.
Many young and not-so-young men and women took the challenge to defend our freedom and the freedom of others after 9/11. They knew there was a price to what we feel entitled to, and they paid it.
Are you ready for a good challenge?
Lynne Pepin
Stacy

Top of Page

©ECM Post Review

6448 Main Street
North Branch, MN 55056
Telephone: 651-674-7025
Fax: 651-674-7026
E-mail: editor.postreview@ecm-inc.com