[speaker001:] well what's your views on it
[speaker002:] I think it's uh a good idea um I grew up uh my teenage years were spent during the sixties graduating uh high school in sixty eight um I remember when the Peace Corps movement first came about and I thought it was a very good idea at the time I was one of those uh Kennedy children if you know what I mean and uh
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] right now I see a lot of kids who get out of school have no idea what they want to do
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] and there's a lot of things out there that we could do uh for our own country let alone other countries and I think that we've got the the people power to do it it's just uh we need
[speaker001:] sure sure
[speaker002:] to channel it and focus it on some things that that need some fixing up um
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] some examples are this uh some of the things like Jimmy Carter's been involved in uh a little program to you know fix up housing for people
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and there's a lot of housing ah I know in the area that I live in that's run down and beat up but it could be fixed up and used and it's just you know sitting there wasting away
[speaker001:] yeah uh-huh yeah we're not too far behind I graduated in seventy one so I'm I'm same generation I I'm it's going to be a short conversation because I agree with you I I think uh I don't I don't even think it ought to be uh voluntary I think it ought to be mandatory uh for kids to either either do military service or public service one of the two uh a lot of reasons for that not not just because I'm a I'm a hard ass or anything it's just that
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] like you say kids are getting out of high school not knowing what in the heck they're going to do and either the military or public service organization can give them a lot of focus and I think that it might stop us some problems later on I mean you know you these kids will get their their heads on straight and and figure out what they want to do instead of hanging around street corners selling drugs or something uh it's I think it would be good for them uh it helps mature them a little bit and helps them understand the world the way it really is
[speaker002:] yeah I think a lot of people grow up with uh with uh preconceived notions like what the world's about
[speaker001:] oh yeah
[speaker002:] a lot of it has to do from too much TV
[speaker001:] oh yeah yeah
[speaker002:] and uh you know it's there's there's a heck of a lot of difference between you know the intake that you get from TV and and movies and what you hear in school and then what reality is
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] uh I remember uh I've I've worked since I was well I started delivering papers when I was ten and I had a real job when I was thirteen so I've you know worked most of my life but I remember when I got out of high school all through high school was boy I can't wait to get out of high school I can't wait to get out of high school and I wanted to go to college and I had the grades to go to college and I got accepted to college but when I got out of high school I kind of said you know what am I going to do now you know it's like
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] you know when I actually started working full time and I I got married shortly after getting out of high school I uh thought I was smart ran away and got married and uh I remember there was a time and within the first year of marriage I said boy wouldn't I give to get be back in school
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and just have to do homework and and go work my part time job because life and the reality of working for a living and trying to make ends meet is just so overwhelming to someone
[speaker001:] yeah yeah
[speaker002:] if they aren't prepared for it
[speaker001:] and and most of them aren't I mean you look you look at the number of marriages that are occurring right out I mean even in high school
[speaker002:] that's true
[speaker001:] and you know you you wonder where are the parents in all of this you know why isn't somebody stepping in and and stop putting a stop to this kids in high school are just too young to be married they have they have no idea what the world is like they don't how tough it is out there to make a living
[speaker002:] yeah yeah a
[speaker001:] uh I mean I was in the same boat when I left high school I my parents wanted me to go straight to college and I didn't you know I was ready I was ready I had wanderlust I wanted to get out and see some things so I joined the Air Force and ended up staying there for thirteen years
[speaker002:] um
[speaker001:] um but I had lived in my own little bubble up until that time and and after traveling around the world a few times I realized that things ain't the way they seem
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and I I did a lot of growing up there uh
[speaker002:] yeah I think once once kids get out and see how other people really live and know how bad off some people really are and how good they've got it
[speaker001:] uh-huh yeah that's right
[speaker002:] and what it takes to have that good life and if you're willing to work for it then they're probably be more inclined to work for it
[speaker001:] that's right uh-huh well you know it's just like you say there's so much stuff that needs to be done here in this country and uh you know if if you could have a thought of something like uh like a uh uh a Peace Corps sort of organization I mean this would be so useful just in uh for instance just helping old folks
[speaker002:] uh-huh exactly
[speaker001:] you know they you know they need help they don't have anybody to depend on and it would be nice to have somebody come over and cut their yard or paint their house or do minor repairs or something like that and
[speaker002:] you know I've I've so I my my parents are in their late sixties now and um so many of the people that live around them are unable to do those things for themselves anymore
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] and it's it's really hard on them and the you know the thought that I I see the uh the mall rats you know walking around the mall nothing better to do than just walk around the mall all day long when they could be doing something to help someone
[speaker001:] uh yeah
[speaker002:] and uh you know you there's a uh a nice warm feeling I remember getting out of doing things like that when I was younger I mean I was a Boy Scout and the whole bit and
[speaker001:] yeah yeah my mom's in the same position late sixties and and it got to the got to the point where I mean me and my brother both were were gone and she couldn't maintain the house without large expenditures of money you know it finally got to a point where she just had to sell it and move into an apartment
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and uh I I'm not I'm not saying that that wouldn't have happened anyway but it would have been nice if there had been somebody to come around and take care of the little things you know like the like the yard work and little repairs and painting and stuff like that
[speaker002:] yeah I think there'd there'd be a you know a uh economic benefit for you know everyone concerned those doing the work and those receiving the the uh the services
[speaker001:] oh yeah sure sure I mean I mean the kids who would be giving the service are going to get a lot more out of it than just money you know that I I remember when I was a kid I used to do little little things for the old folks around the neighborhood and uh I know how it made me feel
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] you know you so uh people people just don't help people anymore they're they're out for themselves
[speaker002:] yeah I think uh President Bush covered that in his uh State of the Union address this year when he said that you know it's time for you know the individuals to start thinking about what they can do to help each other out instead of counting on government to do everything
[speaker001:] yeah well that's that's the that's the point we've gotten to you know every time somebody wants something they always turn to the government and you the government's going to be limited I where are they going to get the money they're going to get it from us and we can do it a lot more efficiently than the government we don't need to add fourteen layers of bureaucracy to a program
[speaker002:] yeah exactly
[speaker001:] um the thing that Carter works on uh Habitat For Humanity I was involved in that was uh in Montgomery before I came up to North Carolina
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] and u h it was it was a pretty neat little program we'd just go out and they would buy a plot of land and contractors and builders and everybody else would donate their their time and uh the materials were at cost and we'd put up houses and that was kind that was kind of neat I uh in a way I think it's a little bit inefficient but but it's better than nothing
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and and at least I had the opportunity of seeing two families move into decent housing um course on the other hand I can start complaining very loudly about people on public assistance who are quite capable of doing something for themselves but just won't
[speaker002:] yes
[speaker001:] because it's far more advantageous for them to sit there and just draw uh welfare money than it is to work uh we did a uh a cost comparison in one of my courses and we took all the benefits that a family that a a married couple with two kids would get under welfare and what they would be making at minimum wage and they came out four thousand dollars better a year by taking welfare
[speaker002:] yes
[speaker001:] so there's no incentive for them to do anything far better for them to sit on their butts and draw the money
[speaker002:] yeah one of the things they tried to push through in Maryland and uh weren't very successful was that if you were an able bodied person on welfare
[speaker001:] you had to do something
[speaker002:] you had to do some work and
[speaker001:] yeah and and and that's been tried that was tried in Alabama too and it got shot down
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] I don't and I don't understand the reasoning for it I really don't it it seems perfectly logical that if somebody's going to take public money then they should return something to the public I mean if nothing else go out along an interstate and pick up garbage
[speaker002:] that's exactly what they were trying to get them to do
[speaker001:] yeah what do they what do they do in Maryland do they use highway people or do they use prisoners
[speaker002:] um both
[speaker001:] yeah that that's the way they did it in Alabama too
[speaker002:] yeah they use both
[speaker001:] usually usually you'd see these big chain gangs out there picking up trash
[speaker002:] uh they have a they have another program in Maryland that's called Adopt-A-Highway
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh yeah we have that here in North Carolina