I recently had a conversation with a friend about the cost of education.  During this conversation, I became very present to the disparity of the cost when I was attending High School and College as opposed to what it costs today in 2010. 

I attended a private Catholic High School in the mid Seventies.  The cost was around $800/year (which at the time was considered to be very expensive).  After my Sophomore year, my parents advised me that due to a cash flow problem, I would need to get a job during the summer in order to earn my tuition.  I got myself a 40 hour/week job making minimum wage ($5.00/hour) and in 12 weeks, I was able to make enough money to pay for my tuition.  I did this for two years in a row to pay for my Junior and Senior year tuitions.  Thirty years later, the cost to attend the same High School (or equivilant) is now about $13,000/year.  This amount can not be made by working during the summer month at minimum wage.  In other words, if I had encountered that problem in 2010, I would be totally out of luck.

Lets take this a step forward.  I was able to get an Engineering degree from what was considered at that time to be a "ridiculously expensive" college for just under $13,000.00.  In 2010, that same degree from that same college (or equivilant) will cost you almost $250,000.00.  This is the cost of a house.  What has happened?????  Is this further proof that the Poverty Line has swallowed up the Middle Class???  What do the children of today have to look forward to when then become adults???  Whats going on here??????

 “Give so much time for the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.” - Thomas Jefferson

Redemption, the dictionary defines it as deliverance or rescue.  We may have seen a perfect example of that this past Sunday when the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl.  Many of us may have looked at it and said; "Hey Great" or "So What".  But for the city of New Orleans, this was huge.  Remember that five years ago, this city was left devestated by Hurricane Katrina.  Needed help was delayed in arriving.  We all watched the news reports back in September 2005.  To this day, many areas of New Orleans have not been restored.  The psyche of their citizens was damaged.  For me, seeing the celebrations on Bourbon Street last Sunday was a bigger victory then the Super Bowl.  The word that kept popping into my mind at the time was "redemption".  So to the city of New Orleans......Congratulations!!! You deserve it!!

In 1968, during the funeral of Robert Kennedy, Edward Kennedy used this quote as part of the eulogy for his slain brother:

"Some men see things as they are and say why.  I dream things that never were and say why not."

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