We need financial literacy
“If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish you feed him for a lifetime.”
If you teach him well enough, that man will be able to make sure his family eats well for multiple generations to come.
If you educate a person on how to manage their money through budgeting and tracking income and expenses, and by being disciplined, there is a much higher probability that they will be able to create economic stability, and not suffer constant stress and financial struggle.
It is very important that all people are armed with a sound K-12 education. Higher education also makes a huge difference. With education comes greater job and business ownership opportunities. Both of these put a person in a situation where they are better positioned to provide a good lifestyle for them and their family.
The government needs to divert some of the money it now spends on welfare programs and stimulus, and invest in public education. Help those of our citizens who need help, but do not continue to support those who abuse these programs and work the system. They hurt those who really need the financial support.
In addition to the current curriculum in our schools, we need classes on financial literacy. We need to educate our students about the value of saving and investing, the importance of having good credit, planning for retirement at an early age, and the difference between assets and liabilities.
For example, there is a huge demand for quality tradesmen that are professional; not only in their craft, but also in business administration. We should educate those tradesmen so they can learn how to run a business.
Instead of throwing money at the problem, let’s fix it. Handouts, instead of a hand up, demean our citizens, and tells them someone else needs to take care of them.
Educated people make better informed decisions for their future and their family. A high quality education that is also heavily rooted in basic personal finance is key to leveling up and breaking generational cycles. Financial literacy is the equalizer for true equity for all.
— Greg Coverdale, Wilmington
The COVID-19 pandemic and how to end it
The word pandemic did not debut as a household term until 2020. Dinner conversations shifted from synopses of the day to the most searched words on Google, “COVID-19 Pandemic.” Day-to-day lives began to shift as the fear of the pandemic set in. Families began to prepare for the unknown, trying to protect loved ones at all costs
The Borgen Project was not only an innovative non-profit ready to fight global poverty, but an organization which truly cared for the people and gave them a voice. During my time there, I learned what it meant to be active in the community and a citizen and friend to all. Due to the pandemic, connections with those around us shifted yet it was my passion for advocacy which grounded me. It is time that we unite as a community and begin to combat the COVID-19 pandemic together and learn from one another.
With the support of each other, we can gain Congress’s attention for COVAX-Initiative. This initiative would begin to support the communities all around the world with a monetary relief package of $11 billion. Helping the communities around is just as essential to nearing the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. Once we unite and mobilize congress to take charge, we can promote a healthier life for communities around us.
— Drishti Khandelwal, Middletown
Pandemic ain’t over
“It ain’t over till it’s over” — Yogi Berra
That is as true for the COVID-19 pandemic as it is for baseball, and in my opinion we are only in the third inning.
You might say, “Now wait a minute, I thought the vaccines protected us enough to stop wearing masks and get back to living life the way we used to.” That depends on a number of factors. First of all, we’re relying on vaccines that are up to 95% effective against getting COVID-19 (and up to 100% effective against serious COVID disease and death from COVID), but this was against the original virus that spread across the U.S. There is now a new variant from India called the Delta variant, and it now accounts for between 10 to 20% of all COVID-19 cases in the U.S. It is the number one variant in the U.K.
The point is this: Remain vigilant and cautious (despite reassurances), continue to wear a mask when indoors in public places, or when very close to others in outdoor settings such as in stadiums, and when given an option, eat outdoors at restaurants. I realize that this is against CDC guidelines for vaccinated individuals, but their guidance has been proven wrong before. I just think that it’s too early to claim victory over this virus. Yogi Berra was right — about a lot of things). It ain’t over yet.
Stay safe, be smart, and follow the science.
— David Krasner, D.O., Wilmington
GOP must dump Trump
Former President Donald Trump recently visited the southern border with Republican lawmakers.
Why would Republican lawmakers be going anywhere with Trump? Don’t they know the world is watching?
Trump downplayed COVID-19, costing hundreds of thousands of American lives. Then came his Big Lie — his fraudulent claims that he’d won the 2020 election — that ultimately lead to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Multiple people died and hundreds were injured as seditious insurrectionists chanted “Kill Pence.”
The world watched and listened. Why would anyone go anywhere with this psychopath? Especially current lawmakers. How this man is not in jail boggles my mind and the rest of the world is laughing at us.
Wake up, Republicans. Please do so for the good of the American people and the rest of the world.
Leave this toxic man in your past.
— Thomas Rubincan, Wilmington
