Mailbox

Thoughts on Respect, the “Princeton Mentality,” Stopping at Crosswalks, Treating Children Right

Daniela Snyder
Green Street

Thoughts on Respect, the “Princeton Mentality,” Stopping at Crosswalks, Treating Children Right

To the Editor:

I am officially fed up with the “Princeton mentality.” Princetonians, is it really so hard to stop at crosswalks? What is wrong with the picture of a woman pushing a stroller with her newborn across the crosswalk wondering if the cars will slow down, or pedestrians having to wait for one kind person to stop so they can finally cross the street safely? People spend excessive amounts of time complaining about the reconstruction of the pool, which will clearly benefit our kids and the community; yet we are able to have all the things we want as adults. What about the children? It’s okay as long as we have our credit cards, our in-home personal trainers, our monthly vacations and our arrogant attitudes. In this town we become so engulfed in status and how much money we have that we’ve forgotten what life is all about. We’ve replaced the quest for the meaning of life and the pursuit of happiness with superficial garbage and materialistic trash. We become more concerned with what car we drive and what country club we belong to than with the welfare of our children. We hire nannies and babysitters to teach our kids what should come directly from us and blame their ill-mannered behavior on everyone else. Money gives people this feeling of entitlement which causes them to treat others as if they are beneath them and somehow don’t deserve their respect. The truth is when money overtakes us and we lose sight of what life is truly about, we give up our self-respect.

I guess Kanye West [Jay-Z] was right when he said: “You can pay for school but you can’t buy class!”

Daniela Snyder
Green Street

For information on how to submit Letters to the Editor, click here.

Return to Top | Go to Obituaries