THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 26, 1996 TAG: 9606260012
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 39 lines
A recent MetroNews front page spotlights two radically different opinions of the causes of and solutions for many of society's ills.
Staff writer Elizabeth Simpson describes a wonderful YMCA program that teaches children moral values. These include ``set a good example, accept responsibility for your choices, respect authority and obey laws.''
On the same page, columnist Charlise Lyles outrageously describes a woman who stole four cases of baby formula and committed assault and battery on a store manager as a victim of ``hard times, Dickensian welfare and a criminal minimum wage.''
How can the YMCA teach children moral values when a columnist of a major newspaper tells them that stealing is O.K. if your welfare check isn't as large as you would like it or it's justified to punch a store manager in the face because the minimum wage is too low?
My grandparents reared seven children through the Great Depression. They worked as sharecroppers without food stamps, AFDC, Medicaid, or public housing.
My father tells me of going to bed hungry after a meal consisting of corn bread and collards.
My grandmother never stole food or blamed society for her situation. She taught all seven children the value of hard work, honesty and education. All finished high school and went on to raise my generation, which includes doctors, school teachers, ministers and nurses. We all work hard, raise our children and pay our taxes. A large portion of these taxes go to support people who refuse to work, continue to have illegitimate children, and abuse drugs and alcohol. For Ms. Lyles to now blame us for these people turning to crime is too much to swallow.
I'm glad my grandmother isn't alive today to see what passes for journalism in The Virginian-Pilot.
KENNETH E. HARDY D.D.S.
Suffolk, June 16, 1996 by CNB