Rest of the world isn't like Naperville

To the five sophomores from Naperville who wrote to the April 18 Fence Post regarding the current economic crisis, your grammar and sentence structure was impeccable. It was a testament to your fine education. But the content of the letter and your thought processes reveal you lack a great deal of historical background, and you don't wander outside the Naperville ZIP code too often. What bubble is protecting you? What island are you living on? In a perfect world, in a perfect society, all children would receive the quality education that you have received, regardless of the ZIP code into which they were born. The real world isn't like that. The real United States isn't like that. Consequently, we try to create a government that concentrates on the common good. We're not always successful in that goal.

The attitude expressed in your letter is "We've got ours, everyone else... under the bus." Count your blessings, and thank your parents, for living in a city with a median household income over $110,000 a year. But resist the urge to project your good fortune on the rest of the country, because conditions are not the same in every ZIP code in this country. You wrote, "The principles we hold are identical to those held by the founders of this country." Quoting Benjamin Franklin, one of those founding fathers, "Great beauty, great wealth and great riches are really and truly of no great use; a right heart exceeds all." Work toward making cities like Naperville the norm in this country, rather than the exception; then you can write about your accomplishments.

Diane Niesman

Wheaton