We have lost our way as a society

@St-Sinner in my life I have actually had times when I didn't have $9.75. This is about food for a child who may not get enough at home. It is about compassion and caring for those who need that. If on the other hand the family has the money and is just dicking around then let the school take the parent/s to small claims court but for fucks sake, feed that kid

@AmelieMatisse
Easy to say... "feed everybody". Who else will pay the bill? Others? Others should pick up the burden of the ones who cannot pay own bills? Other parents can raise funds, some citizens can chip in but it should not be a burden for all taxpayers. Compassion is free and plenty of money, resources are not.

@OwlInASack Voluntary contributions are always welcome. I am happy to contribute too but here the action of the school had a point. It was responsibility. We all have to pay our bills. If we cannot we must try harder to deserve and get things and services we want. Humanity is not free charity for everyone. Humanity is caring out of compassion for who is helpless, neglected. Here, the kids have parents. It is parents' responsibility to make sure the children are either fed from home or given money to buy lunch at school.I do not support a socialist state where all taxpayers are compelled to subsidize others or redistribution of income. One's compassion cannot be a mandate to others. I may have different outlets for my compassion.

@OwlInASack Are you talking about Sweden, Norway?

@OwlInASack Thank you for saying that. There is no way I could respond to what was stated before.

@OwlInASack Thank you for caring. I too am so embarrassed that we as a nation are doing that. There was also an incident in a school near me where the legal team and the principal put together a letter to parents who owed lunch money and threatened them to have their children taken away from them if they didn't pay up immediately. In some cases the amount owed was under $10.00 and none were over $20.00 owed. Food, the basic need of humans, and we would threaten and embarrass children and potentially let them go hungry. Our country is not great, this is not how a great country treats the most vulnerable of its citizens.

@OwlInASack It is true that America overall has more inequality than the Nordic countries. They have done much better for their societies than the Western world. I cannot fathom why managing prescription drugs, tobacco, alcohol, drugs, gun control and overall healthcare should be so hard for one of the richest and most powerful countries on Earth. I have seen how issues are handled here for the last 30 years and we can clearly see that capitalist Republicans do not want the Capital to be controlled. The capital funds their political campaigns and control their decisions.We can do better.

However, the point here at the school lunch bills is not compassion. We currently do not have socialized or free school lunches here. In absence of that parents are responsible for paying the bills. We are not discussing why we do not have the free school lunches in the country. We are discussing if outstanding bills should be paid or not. My answer is that we must pay our bills and not expect others to pay them.This is not different than buying groceries for your children at home.

@OwlInASack I hear you. Breaks my heart

@AmelieMatisse
It breaks mine too for the children but parents must be held responsible. Schools must not waive these charges. There are many social aid programs available. The United States is not a 3rd world country. It has tons of government hand outs and help from private charity that can address challenges like this.

@OwlInASack Did you make a choice to move and live there or your work took you?

@St-Sinner I cannot accept your idea of punishing kids for whatever wrongs their parents may or may not have done. And I wonder if you have ever had to try to use the system that is in place in the US. I believe there are other methods available to schools instead of pulling food off a kids tray, why not get a social worker involved to see if there is trouble in the home. To do this to a child opens them up to further low self esteem and other problems on how this kid deals with hunger.

@AmelieMatisse
Kids should not be punished. Kids should be given meals but parents should be held responsible. The school, or the school district or other parents should not be required to pay for them.

@OwlInASack
Thanks.
I agree with how societies are well provided and cared for in some North European countries.

@St-Sinner I seriously can't talk to you. Unless you have ever been hungry as a child or without an extra dollar in your wallet you should not sit in judgement when you have no idea of the circumstances of others. Your words are harsh and judgemental.

@AmelieMatisse
I was hungry, I starved, I went to toilet out in the open for 10 years, we did not have books in school - we borrowed student's notes to study, I went to college in shorts because we did not have money to buy pants.... but nothing stopped us from getting gold medals, scholarships and study at great colleges overseas coming from a 3rd world country.

My words are real and tough because I never believed in charity from others. I have lived in the U.S.A for 30 years but have never asked or expected unemployment hand-outs, food stamps, free hospital emergency room, free benefits of any kind. Not even once. There are millions in the world who pull themselves with bootstraps and don't wait for handouts. I also know people of their dry compassion from the comfort of their own homes that does nothing for world problems. There are over a billion hungry children in the world. The world does not need handouts and freebies. The world needs structures and systems as solutions. Giving the school kids free lunch is just telling them this is how the world works. That is a misplaced compassion.

@St-Sinner Obviously from your words here you have experienced hardships. To me giving school kids a free lunch is not misplaced compassion . Maybe you and I have a different meaning for the word. In any case we certainly disagree about this.

@AmelieMatisse
We disagree. Just because it is kids, it does not change the principal that we all must pay our bills. I already said kids should be given meals but the parents must be held responsible.