Kids should play outside even when it doesn’t snow
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In announcing her “Let’s Move” initiative, the First Lady said that when she was young, “we spent hours running around outside when school got out. You didn’t go inside until dinner was ready.” That’s the childhood many of us remember, but the seven hours and 38 minutes kids today spend in front of electronic media leaves little time for outdoor play. No wonder our children’s health is being jeopardized. Let’s move outdoors and encourage our kids to Be Out There (www.beoutthere.org) Lack of outdoor time has been linked not only to increased obesity, but also to depression, stress, diabetes, ADD and poor classroom performance. It’s time parents took advantage of an old-fashioned, low-cost remedy to our children’s obesity problem. Fling open the back door and let kids do what comes naturally: run around in green spaces and make friends with nature. Leave those unwanted pounds behind a tree, in a stick fort, under a slimy rock or on top of that big boulder that looks like Sponge Bob Square Pants.
Kevin Coyle
Vice president of education and training, National Wildlife Federation
Reston
There are consequences when you eliminate right and wrong
Re: “The Inside View,” Feb. 7
Mr. Palmer’s comments regarding moral relativism are interesting – and confused. He believes that moral relativism is an “unintended consequence of a positive development,” correctly stating that “the outcome is not more mutual respect. It undermines the foundation of mutual respect.” The reality is that moral relativism is not an unintended consequence, but rather the expected outcome when there is no agreement for the foundation of right and wrong. This is especially true from an atheistic point of view (“I am an old fashioned tolerant atheist”). His better approach – respecting others because they are “human beings and because they have rights” – is undermined by the materialistic philosophy that underlines his atheism. Right and wrong are made-up human constructs decided only by the alpha humans at the time. It is sad to see such a brilliant man does not see the logical consequence of his beliefs.
Jefferson Harman
Gaithersburg
No more free passes for illegal immigrants
Re: “Feds arrest dozens of illegal immigrants,” Feb 2
The policy of giving illegal immigrants one free bite of the apple -such as a rape, robbery, murder, drug sales, carjacking, and embezzlement – before Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) gets interested is not defensible. On a cold morning after midnight, an illegal immigrant spent hours raping and sodomizing a 59-year-old woman in our subdivision at knifepoint. The victim should have been safe in her own home, but she wasn’t. ICE’s goal to remove illegal immigrants who pose the biggest threat to the public is a start. But ICE uses only crimes committed in the USA to determine if an illegal immigrant is a threat. That is silly. ICE needs to check each person here illegally for a foreign criminal record as well. No more free bites of the apple.
Jim McDonald
Alexandria
