Letters
Value of people is not that different from money

Last night, my [karate] sensei gave me a lot to think about. So much so that I am still thinking on it today and will probably have it pass through my thoughts every day for the rest of my life. Money, he stated, has value. How much value is determined by the number printed on it. There are one-dollar bills, hundred-dollar bills and thousand-dollar bills, for example. The value is based on what you can get for it as well as how unhappy you would be if you lost it. If you lost a dollar how would you feel? Not too upset. A hundred-dollar bill? A lot more upset. A thousand-dollar bill? Devastated. You see, the higher the value the more you want to hold onto it, right?

The value of a person is not that different. But with people, he explained, value should be assessed not by how much money they make or have, rather by how much they themselves add value to others’ lives. He went on to describe there are one-dollar people, hundred-dollar people and thousand-dollar people. It’s all a matter of how much value they add to the world through their actions and how much they will be missed if they disappeared. A $1 person would not be missed all that much — only by those close to him, but a thousand-dollar person would be missed greatly and by a larger group of people.

I certainly had never thought of it that way before that night. I took a look at myself and wondered what kind of person I was. Was I a one-dollar person? Was I reliable? Giving? A good listener? Did I improve people’s lives with my actions? Could I hope and aspire to raise my own value no matter where I was on the scale? My sensei answered my unasked question with a simple, “You can always raise your own value.” He told us all of an employee who was stagnating at a dead-end job who raised his value to his employer by going back to school. He talked of a person who stops drinking and smoking and raises his value to his family. There are so many things each of us can do, both small and large, to raise our value to the world.

I was raised in the “me” generation with silly T-shirts like “Why be normal?,” “I’m with stupid,” and “Ask me if I care.” It was impressed upon me that not caring what other people thought of me was cool and eccentric and I should aspire to care only for what I wanted. I’m throwing that away. I’m not talking about petty stuff like the clothes I wear or the color of my hair. In that regard I really don’t care what people think. But I should care what they think about me and my contributions as a human being. We all should.

It’s simply not enough anymore to pat yourself on the back and say “I’m a good person.” Get rid of the silly perception that loving yourself is the most important thing. That is the old generation’s thinking. It’s time to bring back accountability and be concerned with how you add value to other lives, whether it’s your kids, your spouse, a friend or a stranger. What kind of person are you?

Kelly Sherrill

South Brunswick

Beware of funding education through state income tax

I have read several letters to the editor suggesting the use of a state dedicated 5-percent income tax to fund education, instead of funding education via real estate taxes. While the theory sounds quite good, I would caution against such a method.

Once the funds go to Trenton, I’m afraid we would not get back our pro-rata share for our school budget in each of our respective municipalities. I truly believe that the thought process at the state level would be to redistribute the funds so that the school districts that don’t perform so well in certain areas of the state would receive a higher level of funding, with well-intentioned hopes that the quality of education would improve in those areas. If this were to occur, we could still end up supplementing the school budget with property taxes.

Redistribution of funds is already occurring with state education funds, and more money spent per student does not guarantee better results. Just look at the average SAT scores, the percentage of graduates and the percentage of students going on to higher education — all figures that are published annually, listing each township within each county. Some low-performing school districts actually have among the highest levels of per-student funding.

Students will do well as a result of a combination of factors that include not just a sound school budget (which will enable the hiring of excellent teachers and the highest maintenance and upgrades to school classrooms and facilities), but most importantly include encouragement and oversight in the home. Without the encouragement with schoolwork and projects as well as the reinforcement of good study habits in the home, in most cases children will not do as well as those who do have this support.

My other concern about funding education via a state income tax is that the state may allocate the money with “strings attached” and impose certain requirements on the individual school districts. The local school districts have a better understanding of how education funds should be spent than a distant state bureaucracy would have.

In conclusion, although escalating property taxes are a growing burden to most of us, I believe that education should continue to be funded locally. If there is a way to give a discount to senior citizens who demonstrate need, I believe most residents would support this.

Tina Hungrige

East Brunswick