Tom Ault
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
I have read with great interest the Sunday News Tribune article regarding poverty. Understandably, there are circumstances beyond control regarding this unfortunate situation, but among them, there are a couple that could be controlled that stand out.
First, the wholesome person that has had the fortunate advantage of being brought up with understanding, love, and caring about themselves and others, seldom is the one that suffers from this situation. Unlike today’s “living together,” marriage was taught to me to be something a man and woman did according to God’s law and because they loved each other, had plans for their future, and either decided to, or not to, have children.
It appears that today the opposite is being pushed by television, books, movies and the advertising industry suggesting that one should have as much safe sex as possible without concern about marriage responsibility.
As a consequence, we have many single parents today that we did not have in the years past. Our government and many citizen groups have made it possible to receive money for every child born to that unwed single mother rather than encouraging them to be responsible for their actions.
Second, it stood out, when I read the article, that the mother who wrote it stated that she worked in a low-paying job, had no husband, had more than one child, and could not “keep up with the Joneses” next door. She was spending money on gas, sports paraphernalia, and no doubt, although not stated, fast food, which is expensive as she has little time to take care of her family at home.
My question is why are the folks who are supposed to be helping this person not teaching her that creating a better home environment and teaching love and responsibility rather than seeing how many activities she could enroll her children in, that she cannot afford, might be the right thing to do?
I believe activities are good, but in reasonable moderation. When any mother has to work every day at a job, then come home and try to take her children to every activity that is offered, just to keep them occupied, they are overlooking the obvious…home is where the heart is.
It is time for our educational system to rethink the compulsory activities and get back to selective ones, realizing that there should be more to family unity than an activity calendar!