I hope that the people in Wayne, Mount Vernon and Manchester are proud of themselves for passing the budget for Regional School Unit 38.

Readfield couldn’t afford it, and we spoke up. Passage of the budget shows how much people in the rest of the school unit care about their family, friends, neighbors, elderly, low-income or even average-income families that have a hard time making ends meet.

Do they have so much money in their town that others don’t matter? When those others lose their homes, can’t buy medicine, fuel, health insurance, feed or clothe their children, are those residents going to give them the money to do so? Of course not, because they didn’t care about them when they voted.

What’s it going to take for people to understand there is no more money?

We used to be a society that cared about others; what happened? I hope those “yes” voters don’t all of a sudden lose their job, become sick or have some other negative impact on their income. Then they would realize what they have done.

In today’s economy, every dollar counts to some of us, but apparently not to them.

When they go to bed, they should think about the older woman living down the street who has nowhere to turn for help. They go to bed with a belly full of food, but should think about their neighbor’s children who don’t have enough food and shiver because they have no heat.

They may say everyone makes their own choices, but some choices are made the hard way in life. Some people could better their lives, but most don’t have that luxury.

Lenny Reay

Readfield