OPINION — Many are ungrateful despite receiving the blessings of America
LIBERAL FIRST
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Looks like someone shut the door marked “free money,” and USD 480 is moaning and whining about it. If the school engine could only recognize that the school is not composed of teachers, board members and administrators all dedicated to take over every job — only the education of young people.
With about $10 million cut off, the school might have to focus on objective concretes and let “emotional education” go.
A milestone birthday earlier this month got me thinking about my parents and what their lives looked like at my age, which is vastly different from my life. In reflecting on the differences, it was really to see how my parents’ choices in their 20s and 30s have had a foundational impact on who I am and what my life is like today.
My parents' involvement in one organization, which I was never a member of myself, more than any other created lifelong friendships and influenced how I interact with my community and the world. Throughout my childhood, my parents were members of the local Jaycee’s organization. In a town of 800 people, the Jaycees chapter had 20 to 30 active members for the 15 years my parents were involved until they aged out.
Before I eclipsed the 50-year-old mark, I was one of the younger people in the room where discussions about Liberal’s future were taking place. I started working at the newspaper when I was 19, and that exposed me to a lot of the ideas that were being kicked around.
Several came true, like the restoration of the Rock Island Depot. Before that, I grew up watching Liberal become the home of Dorothy, the establishment of the Mid-America Air Museum, the construction of a fountain in Downtown Liberal, the construction of an overpass, the construction of the Seward County Activity Center and other community enhancements.
I knew it was going to rain. I looked up the weather before I headed out, and there was a 94% chance of rain at 7:00. That was precisely the hour I planned to walk home.
“It’s going to rain,” I told my husband, Peter.
“Not until later,” he said. “Google says it’s not going to rain until 9:00.”
“Hmmm.”