Letters from Linden
by JACK LINDEN

We hear a lot about government spending these days and little about either saving or investment. We need to get our senses together and differentiate between spending and investment. It seems to me that spending is that which is expended on what and where we are and investment is in how we live.

This is not to say that how we live does not depend on where we live and what we do but where and what is not everything. Too many people see spending on how we live as where we need to cut government expenditures. They are perfectly willing to spend on items such as roads, airplanes, weaponry and buildings. Those items do not speak directly to how we live.

I will not get into the two expenditures that most people don’t understand, namely Medicare and Medicaid. Generally speaking, people who are opposed to those programs are only opposed until you ask one simple question – is one of your relatives on either program? That ends the argument except the person will say that we shouldn’t have started it anyway. They do not see that those programs are the “how” we live.

When it comes to the educational system in the United States, there are myriad ways that people want to cut “spending” on education. “Education is too top heavy” they say. “Schools are not educating kids today.” “We are educating too many illegals” is another of the arguments. Too many people see expenditures on schools as spending and not an investment. Yes, it is an investment because we are relying on those we are educating to sustain us in the future. They may not be getting the education you and I did, but they are not living in the same world that we did or the world of the future.

When pushed to elaborate on what should be cut from the education funds, normally the first answer that most give is there is no purpose in teaching art and music. The question is always, “How will those subjects help them get a job?” You see, that answer speaks to the “what” of living and not the how. What if we stopped the expenditures on extracurricular athletics? How do those help one get a job? If that proposal comes up in school board meetings, there is instant opposition.

Roads and buildings invariably take precedence over new libraries or parks. There are those who will argue that libraries are outdated. “We will not need libraries because of the new technology of computers and other electronic instruments.” Those who argue that way are still thinking that a library is nothing more than books on a shelf. The library can be the key to the world out there that we have not imagined. It is the focal point for the accumulation of learned material, the equipment, and staff to tap into that material. The library is a way to enhance “how” we live as well as “what” we live.

Watching a child chase a butterfly in a park is worth the million words that all of us wish we could write. The joy of being outdoors, of exploring nature, and of breathing the fresh air is the “how” of living. It is through the parks and recreation areas of this great nation and the governments that provide them that we are able to use our imaginations. We are not being told or shown, but rather experiencing things about which we might know little, but will want to learn about. It is parks in the cities and towns that allow us to get away from the electronic world that so dominates our lives. Parks are not expenditure; they are an investment in the quality of life.

The more we invest in the “how we live” the more this nation will prosper. There is more to the quality of life that we should expect from our governments. Yes, governments can provide some of that but we must also expect to give something back. Not just money, but of ourselves.  It is easy to spend money, but it takes effort for one to invest in his community. Let’s all do some of the latter.

jdlinden@satx.rr.com