Guest column: Concerned over today's society

Your Oct. 21 paper had a front-page picture and article about the hands-on training the police departments held to better prepare for handling any emergency. I know this was good training, and the police officers were better prepared for what might happen.

This article should make us feel safer, but it made me feel sad because it made me more aware of what our country has become and that such training is necessary.

I am an older man who was raised in a small community in Perry County during the 1930s when the Depression was at its worst. Everyone had very little in material things, but we had little crime and no need for the large amount of law enforcement we have and need today. We had a county sheriff with very few deputies, and Perryville had a marshal with little other help. We were taught right from wrong and respect for people and their property. Street drugs were unheard of. Alcohol was sometimes a problem, but I know of no one who committed a crime to obtain it.

Why is our country as it is today? I believe we have lost our way, and we should return to basic morality.

I think many things are responsible for the way things are today. Drugs, raunchy entertainment, no set of values, etc.

Even our affluent society is somewhat at fault. When we became more prosperous, partly because more women were in the workforce, and we had more disposable income, we were able to buy more and better things. This led us to living in bigger and better homes, buying and driving bigger and better cars and having what some consider the "good life." Because of our lifestyle we were unable to support the large families that we previously accepted as a gift from God.

Some people think having too many children or having children at an inopportune time keeps them from the "good life." Because no one wants to be deprived of anything, they have turned to abortion on demand.

Can we ever return to a caring and moral society if we solve our problem by killing our unwanted children? We need to come back to God and to know and do His will.

Robert J. Modde is a Perryville, Mo., resident.