Life is all about choices, and fortunately in this country we still have the right to make many choices in our life, though they are disappearing more rapidly than we know. That is why we have to exercise our basic right of freedom of speech and choose to make our voices heard. We need to choose to vote, albeit we don’t always have good choices in whom we want to represent us. A choice is like the old adage “use it or lose it.” It is not always easy to step forward and tell the people in power what you think or to take the time to vote, when you don’t seem to have any really good options and you are only choosing between the lesser of two evils, but the alternative is worse, which is no freedoms and dictatorship.

Our daily and personal lives are filled with choices — some very simple and others very important and sometimes complicated — but with thought, research and some common sense we can make the right choice and our life and the lives of the people we care about will be better for it. Always remember for every action there will be a reaction or consequence, and poor choices could affect our lives and the lives of our children and grandchildren well into the future.

The more choices we have in life, the better chance we have to lead a happy and fulfilling life. Sometimes we are told, especially at the local government level, that reorganization through collaborative efforts with other agencies — the Albert Lea Family Y, Albert Lea Area Schools, Community Education and Senior Resources — will reduce costs, increase efficiency and give us a better quality of life. That depends, if collaboration takes choices away from parents as to which programs they can enroll their children in and costs increase because viable park and rec programs are no longer offered and only one joint program is offered at a fee parents are not comfortable with. That is not a benefit. Ask the parents and volunteer coaches who pay taxes in this community which programs they have been happiest with over the years. Ask seniors what programs they support and will benefit them the most. Ask them if they are willing to have their tax dollars spent on a multimillion dollar community center to house some of the above-mentioned agencies and if they support having millions of their tax dollars spent on replacing the ice arena, city garage, fire hall and city hall, some of which have not yet outlived their usefulness in a community whose population is decreasing. More importantly, tell them what will happen to those buildings if they are replaced with shiny new versions.

I believe the more choices in life we have, the better chance we have as individuals and as a community to survive. I also believe that maintaining a comfortable standard of living is better than trying to create a quality of life that might not be affordable.

 

Gary Hagen

Albert Lea