To the editor;
The misanthropic letter to the Star/Journal by Michel Letour published the week before Christmas reminded me of a decades old “Peanuts” cartoon where Lucy in a darkened frame is cursing the darkness. In the second frame Schroeder enters with a lighted candle, saying that it is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness. The final frame sees Lucy in the dark, still cursing the dark.
Letour starts with a brief critique of present day youth where I disagree with her strenuously. Having had the privilege of teaching high school for 35 years, and having had the opportunity of seeing the present youth in action in both elementary and secondary school, at least partly through activities of my grandchildren, I have somewhat of a different perspective. In the elementary grades I see energetic children, embracing diverse learning from both school and home, while in the secondary grades I see enthusiastic youth, committed to a more tolerant, cleaner, more diverse, safer and more just world. These children and youth, who give one hope for the future, are largely being raised and taught by young adults of the last generation of which I was a teacher. These present parents and teachers ought to be ecstatic that this present new generation are their children and students. Ms. Letour ought to also be ecstatic that they are the future.
As far as the rest of Letour’s complaints, they could easily be alleviated or reduced by spending money, but I assume that she is like the many who would object to taxes being increased to solve those problems.
Glenn M. Andrews,
Barriere, B.C.
