I recently read a Facebook post about a retired high school history teacher who witnessed the disappointment and shaming of a student whose family was unable to afford school lunch, and instead of a hot lunch, was handed a plain cheese sandwich. The teacher was filled with compassion and, against district policy, began a “secret” fund in collaboration with the school secretary to provide money for kids who were denied a regular school lunch. He started with $50 a month and was eventually “found out” by another student who started a fund among the student body to raise money for these less fortunate students. They quickly raised over $400 dollars.
This is the kind of humanity that should be playing out in America.
Instead, we’re seeing kids and their parents being violently separated by masked men with guns. We see a smarmy young aide to the president who sees himself as a “prince” who enforces his master’s diabolical programs. We see retribution being vigorously exacted by an increasingly senile man who wants to be a king. A government shutdown because one political party wants to take the food out of children’s mouths so that ultra-wealthy oligarchs in this country can have tax breaks to further increase their wealth.
How have we gone so far away from our Founders’ idea to provide “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” for every new American who broke away from an envious king by the shedding of blood, who wanted to maintain his empire?
Americans now live in a state of helplessness because of a few greedy men and women who respond to a mad “wanna-be” king out of fear of retribution. It’s criminal.
Mark Hurst, St. George
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