MAIL CALL: KERRY-EDWARDS: 'JUST WHAT THE COUNTRY

Let me get this straight: Robyn Marks is a single mother who lives in suburban Maryland, plans to send her son to a $20,000-per-year private school and frets about his future because they're African-American and we readers are supposed to feel sorry for her? Tell that to the single moms, mostly African-American, who lodge several weeks a year with their children at my church in Philadelphia because they have no home. Talk about middle-class whining.
Rodney Chonka
Philadelphia, Pa.

In 1982 my husband's employer transferred him out of state. For six months I was a "single" mother to a 15-year-old daughter. Whenever I was at my wit's end I could pick up the phone and call my husband, whose reinforcement and support helped tremendously. Since then I have had great respect, admiration and empathy for any single mother. If all mothers had Robyn Marks's courage, awareness and understanding, our children's and this country's future would look much brighter.
Barbara E. Hoffman
Burnsville, N.C.

© 2004