OTTUMWA —
Parents teaching their children RESPECT for themselves and RESPECT for others maybe, this does NOT mean letting the government elect day care givers, preschool administrators, baby-sitters, school teachers to do it. We have grown to a society of “succeed at any price.” Well, the price we have paid by BOTH parents having to work outside the home, leaving child rearing to others has proved to not be too successful. Out of greed, we have outsourced our jobs to other countries to require parents to choose between raising their children or getting a low-pay job to help make ends meet.
A terrible tragedy happens and many jump into action, even if they do not know what they are talking about, i.e. most do not know the difference between a clip and a magazine-fed firearm, an automatic from a semi-automatic, an assault weapon from a sporting weapon, a pistol from a revolver and to fire “ten shots in less than a second” by an individual with a semi-auto weapon. Well, I do not know of anyone who is able to do that, even in my several years in the USMC. I never saw anyone do that. When children who are taught respect for others, they grow up to respect their neighbors’ wishes and rights and their friends’ and peers’ beliefs and wishes also. They in turn pass these beliefs on to their children and on and on. Is it better to teach our children to NOT break the bottle rather than FIX the broken bottle? Rodney Dangerfield had a point when he said “I get no respect,” and he may have some merit. WE MUST RESPECT THE RIGHTS OF OTHERS EVEN THOUGH THEY MAY NOT BE THE SAME VIEWS AS EACH OF US HAVE, otherwise, agree to disagree.
Gene Irelan
Ottumwa
Letters to the Editor
January 23, 2013
Teaching children to respect goes a long way
- Letters to the Editor
-
- Pay attention to safety concerns Time to make Ottumwa a quiet zone for trains, it would make for safer crossings that cannot be driven around when the arms are down. Then they can also concentrate on that instead of changing all of the traffic flow at Evans Middle School, opening cl
- Injuries to infants, children can be prevented In the April 25 Courier, there were two stories of very young children who may have been severely harmed by a caretaker. We only know the circumstances revealed by the media, but our community has heard of these tragedies before. Only about 2 percent
- Church extends a heartfelt thanks As I sit here in my office that still smells of smoke from the fire our church suffered this past week, I remind myself how fortunate we are to be in a city where people still watch out for one another, and we, the members of the First Church of God,
- Program helps new parents In light of recent developments, I would like to increase the public's awareness of the NEST Program available through our Wapello County Extension and Outreach at 214 E. Main St. This program is available for parents of newborns through age 5, as we
- One giant mud hole to China Once upon a time, long, long ago, the neighbor kids and I used to like to dig in the ditch after a nice rain and make mud pies. We’d squat beside our hole in the ground with our long-handled spoons and take turns digging and filling our muffin pans
- Superintendent says 'thank you' May is School Board Appreciation Month. Today, the district held its Staff Appreciation and Teacher of the Year Breakfast, and last week was the Faculty Follies program organized by the Education Foundation for Fairfield Public Schools. I am full of
- Address mental health concerns for veterans Memorial Day will soon be here and we will pay tribute to our deceased loved ones. This Memorial Day, let's pay special tribute to our deceased veterans — like my dad — Don Butts, who served in World War II (Battle of the Bulge — one of the worst bat
- It's the death of a republic It's the death of a republic Our first president -- and founding father -- once said during his administration that "at best, government is a fearful master; at worst, it is a consuming fire." During the later 20th century, the number of defenseles
- Judicial system is out of whack
- LWV responds to letter The League of Women Voters — Ottumwa would like to respond to a recent letter to the editor. We will explain more about our forums that we co-host with the Chamber of Commerce every spring, specifically regarding the issue of asking Curt Hanson to
- More Letters to the Editor Headlines
