Alas, after the Uvalde shooting we had another shooting in Tulsa.

Republicans have to be proud of themselves, they still “stick to their guns.”

Ken Cantine

Pharr

Writer

recalled

Over the years, not long ago, a writer sent various commentaries to The Monitor, almost always carrying a message of conservatism and self-sufficiency that served well for the person who cared for him- or herself. During the times leading up to the present, I have been pleased with her clear form of expression and her dedication to self-control and limited government. She was, and remains, a person who is committed to avoiding being a person looking for an easy ride or a person who feels entitled without justification. She obviously is a self-provident, contributing citizen.

Then come those who ridicule or discard those who are committed to self-sufficiency and positive citizenship. Her recent submission to the discussion about the value of self-support as opposed to being supported by public assistance is another excellent pronouncement about the value of self-sufficiency and avoidance of public assistance, or worse, criminal activity.

It is clear that those of us who prefer self-sufficiency and who avoid the allure of sponging “free money” are taking the high-road, realizing nothing has value if it is not earned.

The invasion of other peoples’ nations while demanding support might seem easy enough in a nation such as the USA; the fact is there are large bodies of humanity who think that arriving without permission into the United States is a heroic or reasonable accomplishment.

The payment of coyotes or other forms of criminal method of entrance into the United States of America and places such as Texas are and frequently a one-way entrance into public assistance and a frequent opening to an uncomfortable and compromised life-situation.

My almost certain conclusion about the scores of thousands who are arriving with a baby in the belly, or fleeing one kind or another of oppression, or who think they can establish some kind of a person who is a free-standing state in and of himself will find a quick and ready place in America.

The issues and settings of those arriving before these times are very much different.

I was born in 1947, the third and last birth by my parents on a 25-acre tract on a gravel road that connected about 40 feet from a concrete highway that connected with another highway that led to Edinburg. The times were different, obviously.

Good and bad things have had their way, and I could tell tales about that area that would bore people to death for hours.

One could wave his hand and say, “Oh! That’s the nature of growth over the years,” and it would be true.

My father really was in the Horse Cavalry for a few years, riding between Rio GrandeCity and Brownsville, and episodes more up-river of the Rio Grande, near the Big Bend, and a thousand other tales, but I shall leave this little story and remember how Imelda Coronado was and is

very accurate in her relations and remembrances.

David Christian Newton

McAllen