- November 23, 2024
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Poverty certainly does exist nationally, locally
Dear Editor:
This is in response to a recent letter from Douglas Glover expressing strong disagreement with Merrill Shapiro on the issues of wealth and poverty in the U.S. Mr. Shapiro certainly doesn't need me to defend his position, but I was so appalled by Mr. Glover's letter that I have to jump into the discussion.
First, Mr. Glover expresses an outright denial that true poverty exists (“so-called poor in the U.S.”). Worse, he then goes off on a condescending tirade about the poor having cell phones, TVs and air conditioning. They even eat better than he does and thus are overweight! Such profoundly disturbing attitudes and prejudices are difficult to comprehend or combat, but I would suggest that Mr. Glover get out some and look around in his own backyard — Flagler and Volusia counties.
Check out our schools that must provide breakfast and lunch to children because without this help they wouldn't eat regularly. How about visiting the homeless shelters that give solace to hundreds of our most needy citizens who would otherwise sleep in the woods or under bridges? Has Mr. Glover ever met any of the hundreds of volunteers that devote their time to helping disadvantaged people get food, clothing, shelter and financial and legal aid? How about talking to people that “adopt” disadvantaged kids during the holiday season and provide gifts so these kids experience some sense of normalcy. And, how about spending some time at local hospital emergency rooms and watching people who can’t afford health insurance try to get help?
If he witnessed all this, would he still believe that poverty doesn't exist, that these people all have cell phones and TVs and in 80% of all other countries would be considered rich? I wonder.
Mike Cocchiola
Palm Coast
Tall landscaping: An accident waiting to happen
Dear Editor:
Regarding the letter from Bill Simpson in the Oct. 10 edition, "Landscaping too tall; can't see":
He's absolutely correct. I dread leaving the parking lot at Target for this very same reason. I can't believe the city and its landscape codes even allow this and would urge city leaders to go and experience it for themselves.
I wonder how many accidents and/or close calls have already occurred there? I've had several close calls — fortunately no accidents. It's only a question of time before someone is seriously hurt or killed because often is and the liability issues are huge. Let's not wait for that to happen and do something about it now!
Don White
Flagler County
Astounding! Modern marvels at students’ fingertips
Dear Editor:
Last week, my granddaughter’s high school, Flagler Palm Coast, distributed individual computers to all of its students, notably the Mac Book Air, a small, sophisticated machine that is quite versatile, and which retails for $999.
While waiting in the line with her for her machine, I reflected on my own high school days (September 1946 to June 1950) and tried to recall what were the wonders of that age that awaited us in high school. To put this in perspective, one must recall that World War II had just ended in August 1945. The country was in the throes of the segue from full wartime production to a peacetime economy, and there was a lot of pent up demand for goods such as autos, appliances, etc. Esoteric things like computers were confined to government installations and universities and bore names like ENIAC. Actually, all I knew then of computers was knowledge gleaned from Popular Science and Popular Mechanics, thus they were filed in the “out of reach” or “futuristic” recesses of my brain.
What was the breakout gadget of the day? In New York City, thanks to the hype created by a retailer, it was the Reynolds Pen, the marvel that could write underwater, $12.50. (Bear in mind in 1945 the minimum wage was 40 cents an hour, and $12.50 was more than enough for a night at the Waldorf Astoria.)
The crowds that greeted the Reynolds Pen debut were enormous, rivaling those of the iPhone of today in proportion, as more than 5,000 stormed Gimbel's. All of this for a ball point pen!
Students of the day had few choices in writing instruments: the ubiquitous No. 2 lead pencil, a quill pen or the fountain pen. The latter two put the student in peril of ink stains on our hands or clothing. The Reynolds Pen was touted to end those problems with its self-contained supply of ink. Some of my classmates in grade school were given one at graduation; I was not among them, so I entered high school with a supply of pencils and a trusty quill pen to dip in the inkwells found at each desk. My parents later took pity and provided me with the affordable version of the fountain pen then sold at Woolworth, a Waterman for about a dollar.
Thus there is a vast difference in my high school days and today's, with the distribution of electronic marvels like the Mac Book, as opposed to the comparatively primitive tools with which we had to equip ourselves. Cursive writing was the basic means of communicating for most of us, since typewriters were largely unavailable to mere students.
I pray the students who are the beneficiaries of the School Board’s largesse recognize the value of what they have at their disposal, the doors to learning they will have opened through them, and that they do as well with them as so many of my contemporaries did with their primitive communication and research tools.
Christopher J. Hoey
Palm Coast
