Healthcare; food deserts; Stock Show prayer; Oscars snub; free lunches

Healthcare

I’ve been fortunate enough to have excellent health insurance, but I realize that not everyone has access to the same healthcare I receive.

Healthcare is a basic human right. Planned Parenthood provides that basic right to people who otherwise would not be able to afford healthcare.

It disturbs me that some would deny that right just because Planned Parenthood provides safe and legal abortions as a very small part of its services.

Those who oppose Planned Parenthood should put themselves in the place of patients who use the services. Where would they go if Planned Parenthood didn’t exist, and how would they pay for those services?

I hopeone day opponents will understand that Planned Parenthood provides services for those who wouldn’t otherwise have access to quality healthcare.

Food deserts

According to Thursday’s editorial on food deserts, some neighborhoods have only convenience stores and residents lack the money to drive elsewhere for wholesome food.

Convenience stores charge double or triple. If someone can afford $150 of food at a convenience store, why not go to Wal-Mart and save $100?

No major grocery will go where it has to spend more on security than anything else.

Stock Show prayer

At the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, guns are welcome but imams are not. (See Jan. 27 story “After 2015 furor over imam’s invocation, chaplains now lead rodeo fans in prayer.”)

If the U.S. were truly a Christian nation, we would treat the “other,” those different and marginalized, the way Jesus respected and included the “other”: such groups as women, lepers and Samaritans.

Oscars snub

Several letters to the editor compared the snub of the Academy Awards ceremony by African-Americans to the lack of whites in professional sports, intimating some kind of warped parity.

Those readers forget when people of color were kept out of most professions, including acting, except for the very avenue open to them at the time.

It reminds me of the Middle Ages, when Jews were barred from owning land or property and then hated for being money lenders.

You can’t have it both ways.

Free lunches

Recently, the dual-credit class at my school was told how students on free or reduced-rate lunch can get free textbooks.

Then we were told if the lunches are not eaten often enough, that student will be removed from the list. We were told to pick up lunch at least once a week, even if we don’t eat it.

This is an abuse of the system and should be stopped.

This story was originally published February 2, 2016 at 5:37 PM with the headline "Healthcare; food deserts; Stock Show prayer; Oscars snub; free lunches."