OPINION:
GOP hopeful Newt Gingrich came under heavy fire recently for his comments that our youth need to do something with their minds and bodies and spend less time playing video games and watching TV, but I agree with him.
Everyone at some point in his life must learn to work. For some, this is a sobering experience and can be very painful; for others, it can be an extension of what they already know, something they learned at an early age. It is much easier for the latter.
When I was a kid, my father had a small dairy. I arose early and milked about eight cows by hand, toted the milk back to the house, helped my mother bottle it and then helped my father deliver it around town. After that, it was time to go to school.
I will admit that getting up that early and working before school was no easy task for a young boy, but I did learn how to work.
Today’s youth need a good education in order to have an edge in a highly competitive world. But if they can’t get up in the morning and make it to work on time, where’s the benefit of their education?
What we need is some kind of useful, safe work for today’s youth. It would be good not just for our kids, but for our nation as a whole.
GEORGE T. WEIR
Jacksboro, Texas
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