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Deane Gonzalez wrote in to say that, because he chose not to have children, he is “sick and tired” of his taxes going to education (“No-kids choice brings unfair tax burden,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Dec. 24).
I stared at the letter for some time, sincerely thinking it might be satire or a submission by a foreign agent intending to sow discord. The language seemed over the top: “You breed them, you educate them. What am I missing here?”
In venturing an answer, I would suggest to Gonzalez that our personal well-being is bound up with that of others and society as a whole — that we all benefit when children are educated regardless of their families’ financial means. The children in Hawaii’s public schools are Gonzalez’s children, too.
David Atcheson
Downtown Honolulu
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