Now that 2007 has expired, let's hope that we don't encounter any more of the following Scrooges: Mr. and Mrs. All Mine, Mr. and Mrs. Skinflint, Mr. and Mrs. I Don't Care, Mr. and Mrs. Same Old Same Old or Mr. and Mrs. I Got the World on a String.

When it comes to contributing to mankind, the aforementioned fail miserably.

Take Mr. and Mrs. All Mine for instance. Like the Pharaohs of old, when they die, they plan on taking everything with them to the hereafter. And why not? They never parted with anything in this life.

The same holds true for Mr. and Mrs. Skinflint, who spent most of their lives saving every nickel and dime and not wanting to part with a penny. Ask any waiter, waitress, cab driver, paper boy/girl, etc., and they'll attest to the fact not one time were they tipped anything.

Ah yes, now we move on to Mr. and Mrs. I Don't Care. Yes, they don't care about anything of importance or bettering the lives of the less fortunate. Why should they? I mean, isn't it every man/woman for himself/herself?

Quite frankly, it's not. Like it or not, God commanded us to be our brothers' keepers. Contrary to what Mr. and Mrs. I Don't Care believe, interacting on behalf of our fellow man for his good is the primary purpose of our existence here on Earth. Like it or not, it would behoove us to care and care a lot.

Now with Mr. and Mrs. Same Old Same Old, their problem is nothing, but nothing is going to change their archaic way of thinking, “Sorry, but that's the way it was and that's the way it's always going to be,” doesn't work well in our ever-changing world. It's not good to be stubbornly ignorant or ignorantly stubborn when the truth doesn't add up.

Additionally, let's not forget to bid adieu to Mr. and Mrs. I Got the World on a String, who constantly talk about themselves and how wonderful they have it. The I's don't understand the importance of the brotherhood of man and they're not even close to having the world on a string.

Murray Lynch

Auburn