Pinthouse Pizza
Aahhh, Sweet Utopia! Just Forget Institutionalized Segregation, the Cold War, Religious Prejudice, Blacklisting, Labor Unrest, Inequality of Women, and Polio
RECEIVED Mon., Jan. 9, 2006
Dear Editor,
The truth about how things have changed in this country during the last 50 years. There was a time when most people had very little money, but they had something greater: true compassion for their fellow man and doing what was right. Doctors went into their practice because they wanted to help the sick and lived by an oath. A merchant would not think of overcharging for a product because of how it would affect the people he served. The people back then tried to live by the golden rule, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” An honest day's work for an honest day's pay! But you don't find much of that today. Just look at the convictions of some executives in major companies and how they defrauded their employees. The government spends tax dollars in great amounts on foolish projects, useless grants, and pork-barrel items while there are some American families with babies that go to bed hungry and cold. I realize that a lot of this comes from laws that legislatures have passed and actions of certain judges and juries. But no one forced us to pay more than an item was worth, we did this ourselves and forced the price up for others. The government spends way too much money on committees investigating what the other party did.
My dad used to tell a joke about a Mrs. Jones that had left her churn uncovered with the cream in it overnight, and a rat had fallen in and drowned. Well, she took the rat out and churned the butter. Back then the local grocery store would buy butter and eggs from local people. Well Mrs. Jones carried the butter to the local grocer, Mr. Smith, and told him what had happened, said she could not eat it herself but asked him to swap it for one of his, as what people didn't know would not hurt them. Mr. Smith took the pound of butter to the back room and slid it off on a different plate and brought it right back to Mrs. Jones. In about two weeks Mrs. Jones was back in the store and Mr. Smith asked her, “How was the butter I swapped you?” She replied, “Oh, it was great.” Mr. Smith said, "Well I guess you were right, what people don't know won't hurt them!" That kind of describes our country today.
The truth about how things have changed in this country during the last 50 years. There was a time when most people had very little money, but they had something greater: true compassion for their fellow man and doing what was right. Doctors went into their practice because they wanted to help the sick and lived by an oath. A merchant would not think of overcharging for a product because of how it would affect the people he served. The people back then tried to live by the golden rule, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” An honest day's work for an honest day's pay! But you don't find much of that today. Just look at the convictions of some executives in major companies and how they defrauded their employees. The government spends tax dollars in great amounts on foolish projects, useless grants, and pork-barrel items while there are some American families with babies that go to bed hungry and cold. I realize that a lot of this comes from laws that legislatures have passed and actions of certain judges and juries. But no one forced us to pay more than an item was worth, we did this ourselves and forced the price up for others. The government spends way too much money on committees investigating what the other party did.
My dad used to tell a joke about a Mrs. Jones that had left her churn uncovered with the cream in it overnight, and a rat had fallen in and drowned. Well, she took the rat out and churned the butter. Back then the local grocery store would buy butter and eggs from local people. Well Mrs. Jones carried the butter to the local grocer, Mr. Smith, and told him what had happened, said she could not eat it herself but asked him to swap it for one of his, as what people didn't know would not hurt them. Mr. Smith took the pound of butter to the back room and slid it off on a different plate and brought it right back to Mrs. Jones. In about two weeks Mrs. Jones was back in the store and Mr. Smith asked her, “How was the butter I swapped you?” She replied, “Oh, it was great.” Mr. Smith said, "Well I guess you were right, what people don't know won't hurt them!" That kind of describes our country today.
Daniel Younger
Itasca
Itasca