Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 4, 1994 TAG: 9406060133
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
I work with college-age undergraduates, graduate students and recent graduates everyday. I know many of the 20-something generation, and I have a view of them that's available to anyone who opens his or her eyes and looks.
They're hard-working, positive, creative, and they care about co-workers. Many collect food for the hungry, help in emergency rooms late at night and on weekends when the rest of us are in bed, help and entertain our senior citizens, clean up roadsides, crusade against drunken driving, and work for political causes. They donate more hours to charity than many of their parents. They're responsible in their personal lives and personal finances, and they're independent. Sure, not every young adult is responsible. But don't ask those who are to defend themselves, a la letters of defense you published (May 24, Young Voices page).
Stereotyping serves no legitimate purpose, but it does serve to separate 20-somethings from the rest of us. And ``excuse'' the neglect heaped on them. Then we can sleep at night when we temp many out of permanent jobs. We mask their plight by not including recent graduates without jobs in unemployment figures. We refuse to fully fund schools, but require them to assume massive debt to attend college. Yet we discriminate against them in pricing and in loans. They aren't even taken seriously when going to a car showroom. Any age discrimination is wrong.
As if the above weren't bad enough, we deliver to them a country that's losing its battle for air, water and food quality because we haven't been stewards of the nation's resources. The national debt, while improving somewhat, is still a threat to their futures. Yet we have the nerve to call them the ``me'' generation.
Let's become the we generations and solve this nation's problems together. While we fight to assure that no senior is left behind, let's not scapegoat another generation. Let's make sure our legacy to the 20-something generation - our children - is worth having.
KATHRYN A. WELCH
BLACKSBURG
Writer unfairly gave Mac the knife
THE LETTER to the editor from Doug B. Rosier in the May 22 edition of this newspaper (``The Tour's toll on area businesses'') was a cheap shot at Roanoke city's Councilman Delvis ``Mac'' McCadden. There is no more unselfish political figure in the Roanoke Valley.
ED NICHOLSON ROANOKE
Question response needs clarification
IN THE column ``Why Things Are,'' by Joel Achenbach in the May 26 Extra section, the question was asked: ``Why is the Virgin Mary so important to Catholicism?''
Realizing that many columns are written with a comedic bend, this question's response deserves some clarification so as not to mislead non-Catholics or Catholic readers.
One main misconception was that Catholics don't pray directly to God. Had the writer ever been to Mass, he'd know that the entire Mass is a direct prayer to God and it's also scripturally based. (There was a statement that Catholics aren't strict constructionists when it concerns scripture.)
The Blessed Mother is so important to Catholics because she is God's mother. When Jesus was dying on the cross for our sins, he gave to us his mother and his mother to John (his disciple and a representative of all mankind, women included).
Because the Catholic Church has a ``shortage of women'' isn't a basis for Mary's importance. She was a human, prone to all mankind's failings, but kept from sin because she was to be the mother of God - a holy vessel for the joining of God to the human race. She's an example for all on how to live a life of faith, humility and obedience, just as Jesus is the supreme example of holiness and obedience. The shortage of women as examples in the Catholic Church negates all the examples of women from the Old Testament through the New. Mary is the new Eve, just as Jesus is the new Adam.
Misconceptions presented in the manner of this column will foster misunderstandings and discrimination, and cause dissension and division.
DENISE REECE
PULASKI
D-Day crucial for America's freedom
MEMORIAL Day in 1994 took on special meaning as we as free Americans approach the 50th anniversary of D-Day. We're beneficiaries of the bravery and colossal sacrifices made by thousands of Americans and Allies who went ashore in France on June 6, 1944, to free Nazi-occupied Europe.
Americans everywhere should take time in the next few days to read a book or an article, or view a TV documentary, about the Normandy invasion. In so doing, we gain appreciation for the fact that these military operations were crucial to our freedom and a turning point in history.
In increasing our awareness of D-Day, we cannot help but gain an appreciation for the depth of gratitude we owe to those who survived, and those who didn't survive that military action 50 years ago. As well, our gratitude is in order for brave veterans of other conflicts, whose sacrifices were so crucial to our freedom.
JAMES C. WILSON
ROANOKE
by CNB