Children Need a Moral Compass

It was absolutely refreshing to have read John Balzar’s Feb. 27 commentary, “We Are in Danger of Losing Our Way.” I sometimes feel as if we already have. Like the environmentalists who fervently want to leave behind a clean planet for future generations to inhabit, I believe as strongly that we should be teaching our youngsters about right and wrong and the consequences of one’s actions. The points Balzar illustrates merit hanging his commentary in clear view in any home, classroom or place of employment.

It is the duty of responsible adults to convey to their children that it is not OK to excel at the expense of another. Shame on us if we fail to educate our children, and if we fail at that task, perhaps we are deserving of biting into that habanero that Balzar talks about.

Joe R. Ponce

Valencia

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Kudos to Balzar for pinpointing the moral and ethical malaise that links Enron and Napster and the whole gamut of behavior and attitudes in between. Better still to have connected a few more dots, especially those huddled around the 2000 election.

It was greed, not justice and not truth, that landed this President Bush in the White House. What has followed in its wake--national and world events notwithstanding--is an amen chorus of, in Balzar’s apt words, “apologists, explainers or excuse makers.”

If we teach and learn by example, then the line from Crawford, Texas, to Enron and Napster should indeed stand in bold relief.

Ken Greenberg

Bell Canyon