Chris Storms

The first paragraph in this Orlando Sentinel article reads…

Thousands of Florida children may start the school year without the eye exams and glasses they need to succeed in the classroom because the state Department of Health has not released funds that lawmakers budgeted for vision screenings.

While I don’t disagree that the money should go where it was designated to go, I’d like to just point out that the “because” is followed by a ridiculously ignorant statement; that the state is somehow responsible for kids seeing.

How on earth did we get to the point where the state became responsible for kids?  Kids have parents and those parents are responsible for everything – food, clothing, shelter, medical care, education, etc.  Of course some people genuinely need help, but they are still responsible to get that help.  As parents we can’t just not be responsible.

And I know there are a small percentage of kids who do not have parents, but the church is responsible for providing for them.  I’m well aware that doesn’t happen as it should, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t responsible to do so.  Should the state then try to help?  Maybe, but that doesn’t mean it’s the state’s responsibility.

Responsibility is a not something to be distributed.  It is something to be owned.  It’s something society should demand people live up to, and if we don’t maintain our expectations that those who are truly responsible actually live up to their responsibilities, we will become a totalitarian state.  That’s the logical outcome of a population that gets in the habit of assuming the government is responsible for everything.  We start looking to the government to solve all our problems and vote accordingly.

Again, I have no problem with law makers giving money to a charity to do vision screenings.  They answer to the voters for how they spend our tax dollars.  But, come on…the state is not really responsible for our kids sight, is it?