Build a bridge by voting yes on levy

As we approach the March 20 Lake Pend Oreille School District levy election there are many shortfalls and deficiencies we could point to.

I would urge you however to look at the larger picture. In the "what's in it for me" category consider this: whether we have children in the school system or not, we all benefit from educated citizens and that benefit will increase significantly in years to come.

The U.S. birth rate is 2.0, which is just below replacement. We are soon going to have a smaller number of workers contributing to a larger number of retirees collecting. This will increase the tax burden on the young, which unless they have good paying jobs will cause them to delay marriage and having families, which in turn will drive down the birth rate even further.

Currently we are the only country in the world where there are no age limits on medical procedures. There could be a dramatic change here.

Secondly, I believe we have a moral obligation to our youth to provide them the best opportunities possible. Certainly they need to learn to contribute themselves, but providing someone with the proper tools is not the same as doing the work for them.

The final lines of the poem, "The Bridge Builder" by Will Allen Dromgoole says it eloquently:

You've crossed the chasm, deep and wide.

Why build you this bridge at eventide?

The builder lifted his old gray head

"Good friend, in the path I have come", he said

"There followeth after me today

a youth whose feet must pass this way.

The chasm that was nought to me

To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;

He too must cross in the twilight dim-

Good friend, I am building this bridge for him"

We provide for those who come after because we can't repay those who came before.

RAY MILLER,

Mayor

Sandpoint