Robbing our children Find something that you love, I don't care what it is as long as you love it. Then dive in headfirst and live it, eat it, sleep it, breathe it, dream it, and it will teach you who you are. That was my father's advice to me as I struggled through those most crucial formative, decision-making years of adolescence.
Destructive options surrounded me then as they surround our youth now. What have unfortunately come to be called "extra-curricular" activities, what I prefer to call "higher-curricular" or "ultra-curricular" activities, were then and still are essential to the healthy development of our children. These should not be seen as "extra." Nor should they be seen as dispensable.
Through such activities, our children build the character and values that will serve them as they labor to undo the damage that we have done to their futures. Our children did not create the economic crisis of our day. They should not be robbed of their opportunities to develop the fortitude of character that they will need to undo the fiasco that we will leave to them. They should not have to pay for the greed of their elders. They are the hope of our future, and we need to nurture them. With even more destructive options facing our children today, we kill their futures if we allow the cuts proposed in Volusia County for education.
By following my father's advice, I came to know who I am. I am not a person who expects my children to pay for my mistakes. We should be ashamed of ourselves to even consider letting them pay for our mistakes. We are supposed to grow their opportunities and to leave them a better world.
I urge all to write and to call their elected representatives in order to support our young ones. Cut somewhere else or raise a half-cent county sales tax but don't let them mess with your young ones. Let us do what societies do and give our young ones the best of what we have to offer. Let that be who we are.
JEANINE RICCHETTI, Daytona Beach
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