THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 15, 1995 TAG: 9503140017
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 37 lines
A recent study says that 31 percent of all public-school students received free or low-cost lunches. So far, so good.
Now let's read the menu. Baked chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, salad bar, fruit roll-up and milk. Hey! I don't eat that well at home!
When I went to school, I carried either a peanut butter, a cream cheese and jelly or an apple jelly sandwich. At home for dinner we often ate corn meal, franks and beans, or spaghetti with tomato soup. Not a food stamp was to be found anywhere. Yet under this meager diet, which was shared by most of the nation, we produced one of the finest generations of Americans to come down the pike. Belief in God permeated the country, family values were strong, abortion was virtually non-existent and the crime rate was so low most of us did not lock our doors. We cherished our rights but realized our responsibilities.
Did peanut butter, cream cheese and apple butter sandwiches accomplish all this? Not likely. But the fact that we had to stand on our own feet without today's cradle-to-grave safety net most certainly did.
The time is now at hand to stop coddling this nation. A little hunger has never hurt anyone; in fact, some of our greatest achievers were propelled by it.
Let's forget the half-eaten gourmet lunches and return to good old peanut butter, cream cheese and jelly sandwiches.
ROBERT J. HOWE
Virginia Beach, Feb. 27, 1995 by CNB