A matter of financial choice
To the editor,
We need to get some help for poor Ms. Katherine Brunson. But, it’s likely not the help she thinks she needs. Family financial counseling might better be in order. Has she never heard that families should live a lifestyle enabling at least six months of savings to cover difficult times as the Brunsons now face for the single month of July?
Carefully reading her 7/11/12 open letter to the FMB Fire Commissioners, there seems to be nothing of which she complains for which she and her husband do not bear full responsibility.
Everyone knows firefighters spend “countless nights away” (usually one night away followed by two at home) as a normal part of the job. The FMB firefighters and their union made a deliberate decision to reject a new bargaining agreement with fully disclosed financial consequences. Does Ms. Brunson not agree with Capt. Bestrom’s “integrity is worth a lot more than money” claim?
In Ms. Brunson’s teaching profession, most every contract I know provides the option of taking pay over 12 months or 9 months. That she’s getting no pay over the summer most likely results from her own choice.
As for her stressful whine that she might have to delay heart surgery (usually 10s of 1,000s of dollars) because of difficulty paying the $200 deductible, just how free does she want her health care to be?
In fact, the ones we should feel sorry for are Ms. Brunson’s children -both at home and in the classroom. They deserve a better role model for inspiring personal responsibility.
Finally, if Ms. Brunson cannot accept the realities of the taxpayer-supported careers she and her husband have chosen, they should look elsewhere for employment. While doing so they might want to at least acknowledge the millions in our country who are unemployed, underemployed, uninsured and truly unable to meet life’s daily challenges.
Larry Wood
Fort Myers Beach and Cincinnati