Dear Editor,

I owe, I owe, it’s off to work I go!

Recently we have read where the feds are cracking down on college loans, even going as far as attaching wages and Social Security benefits. Most of us will say, “Why not, and it’s about time!”

Statistics I do not know, but I would guess it involves around $1.3 trillion last I checked. The amount changes weekly as interest rises, and before long there will be enough student loan debt to place a Dollar General in every town in America, which is happening anyhow.

Being in debt is a horrible place to be. It seems no matter how much we try, the amount never seems to lessen or go away. Interest is at an all-time high and the fear of buying anything is the whole reason our economy suffers.

Every teacher out there understands how important education is to the world. Ignorance is the very recipe that starts wars and violence. Oh how I wish I would have attended college after returning home in 1972. The G.I. Bill would have covered it all, and yet I chose to go to work at once to support a wife and young child.

Somehow, some way we will find a way to educate the masses without going into the mire of debt. If we can find a way to insure our health system, I’m sure we can do the same to educate our children and young adults. It is never too late to go back to school. Seems a little awkward sitting in class with 20-year-olds when you’re 40, 50 or 60. But the benefits will help you many, many ways. Old school folks have always stated, “A man is only as good as his word.” If you owe, then it’s only right that you pay.

We’re all in this boat together and if we don’t take our turn rowing and doing our part we will never succeed as a nation. Even our “good book” mentions debt in Romans 13:6-8 as follows — “This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him.”

If you owe taxes, pay taxes. If revenue, then revenue. If respect, then respect. If honor, then honor. Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to “Love one another, for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the Law.”

We as Americans will always, but always, be in “holy debt” to our savior Jesus Christ, who has saved us all from eternal death. I owe, I owe, it’s off to church I go!

God Bless America,

Rich Lucas

Flushing