ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 16, 1993                   TAG: 9307160371
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FOREIGN AID ALSO HELPS AMERICA

WHILE Irene Groves (July 5 letter, "Worry about Americans first") finds herself mad, mad, mad, I find myself ashamed of the fact that in this world, which has become so close through technology and a whole new concept of world citizenship, there are still those who argue that their country ought to be the sole benefactor of any and all of the finite resources of this planet.

Ms. Groves first states that it is a travesty that we let all these suffering foreigners into our country. She then declares that it's appalling that we have attempted to aid Somalia and Russia, and that we should never forgive Cuba or Vietnam. What seems to have escaped her is that the aid given to these countries is a means of improving the standard of living in these troubled areas. While this is certainly ethical and moral in that it gives value to the lives of all human beings, it is also in the interest of the United States, the very country that Ms. Groves claims to be of the utmost importance. By aiding these countries, we level the socioeconomic geography.

As water runs downhill, so do most individuals seek to fulfill their needs. As it stands, the United States is, at least in the eyes of many disadvantaged foreigners, the valley of prosperity. Thus we have a torrent of foreigners streaming down the jagged and sparse mountainside of starvation and poverty, toward our nation's valley of plenty. By aiding their countries, we can level out the ground and decrease the flow of these aliens whom Ms. Groves so fears.

This very aid that she feels is unnecessary prevents the escalation of a perceived threat to her country's well-being. NATHAN PARRISH BLACKSBURG 


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