A library is a basic necessity

A library is a basic necessity

Surely there are a hundred other things that would have to happen before we ever allowed our libraries to close. While there are any number of things that make Mahoning County a great place to live, there are a few basics that are crucial to the survival of any community, any civilization. The access to books for our children is as basic as access to food, clothing and shelter.

It’s at our libraries that our children learn what the dreams of humanity have been; the heights and greatness that peoples have reached and the reasons for the downfall of dynasties, empires and civilizations. Our children and young people go to libraries to learn how to build; how their heroes lived, and how to stretch their imaginations and to envision what the world might be and could be.

In some of our inner-city neighborhoods libraries are a haven not only for the mind and heart, but for the child who needs to escape the insanity of the streets for the certainty of knowledge. Everywhere in the county where a library is open we have hope that a young person will walk in and make a discovery that not only changes her life or his, but quite possibly changes the way we all live.

Every voter has a chance to be a hero by voting yes on Issue 4. We can’t afford to let a tough economy steal away the knowledge and opportunities that our children find at the library. For all the bad things in life that there seems no easy answer for, here’s one sure thing you can do to keep one of the basic building blocks of this democracy in place. By voting yes on Issue 4 we’re voting for our kids.

Terry Vicars, Youngstown

And how do you get experience?

All we hear these days is no one can get a job. I have two grandsons who have graduated. All their lives they were told to graduate so they can get a job. Everyday they look in the ads and all they see is “must have experience.”

How can they get experience if no one will give them a try? I think in order to get a job they should be trained at these places. These young men are not a problem; they just want to work. They’ve put in applications and are told, “you have no experience.”

This makes no sense to me. Wake up, businesses. That’s the only way everyone will get back to work.

Mary Conlan, Vienna