OPINION:
The editorial “Musk’s money makes us all richer” (Web, June 17) caused me to reflect on my 91 years of life thus far.
My wife and I were children in Britain both born before the outbreak of World War II. We experienced rationing, evacuation from London and homes being bombed.
During our teenage years, we were mystified to understand the mentality of fellow citizens who used keys to scratch the paintwork of neighbors’ new cars parked by the roadside. It appeared to reflect a meanness that had entered the U.K. during the slow recovery after the war.
During the war, citizens had been much more supportive of each other. Everyone had been equally deprived of luxuries.
We started married life in Massachusetts. Living there during the Kennedy-Nixon election campaign, we admired the American can-do spirit that was so different from what we had left in England. At that time, the spirit in the U.S. seemed to be dominated by the concept that all have the potential for success.
We returned to England in 1961 and lived there until 1990, when we came back to the U.S. From here, we have watched with growing alarm the decline of Europe. But more recently, we’ve recognized that America too has lost the can-do spirit that we so admired 66 years ago.
Rather than admiring successful individuals and aspiring to emulate their success, too many citizens now look to government to fulfill their needs. It is clear that too few know their history and no longer believe in the basic freedoms that underpin what used to be admired as Western civilization.
STANLEY ORMAN
Rockville, Maryland
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