The money we spend on things are COSTS. The benefits we derive from our purchases are measured as the VALUE we think they provide to us.

If you experience a visit to a restaurant and receive poor service or inferior food or unsanitary conditions along with a ‘high’ bill to boot, you walk away swearing to never return…and you judge it a poor value for the money. But, for the same cost (bill) you received great service and fine food and cleanliness, you want to return since you valued the experience very highly. This is just a part of ‘human nature.’

Food is but one of the essential parts of life and so is the acquisition of knowledge if one is to thrive. We educate the heck out of children over many years, starting when they are very young and guiding them through many years of formal (and informal) instruction. Home school, pre-school, grade school, junior and senior high and attendance in schools after those.

They face more complex learning challenges along the way leading to an educated person.

When they finally ‘hop off the bus and stop their formal education, learning is now self-directed. Ted Rall, Frederic Dardant and I agree on many points of view regarding higher education and we differ on other points, but we probably would agree that at least INFORMAL education beyond schooling is beneficial for everyone.

This informal learning can be attained by ‘Formal-Informal’ means like home study materials, books in libraries and various media sources. To get ‘up-to-the minute’ information you watch the news on T.V., radio or your electronic device of choice. The content of those are mostly world-wide and national and regional with a bit of local tossed in…plus sports and weather.

To get the LOCAL obits, news and events that are nearer to your heart, nothing beats your local newspaper in the form you chose to get it; in a physical form that your fingers turn or a electronic form online. Yes, local T.V. and radio stations can provide this service, but with one MAJOR difference…you have to march to their beat (unless you tape it for later.)

And those forms of delivery do not allow you to skip over and come back or to adjust the speed of delivery or to pick your ideal time to enjoy.

When you examine the role that a local ‘newspaper’ can offer, the value becomes clear:

1. “Have it your way”; chose when, what, where and how long or even if it interests you.

2. Have the ability to go back, retrieve, re-read…refresh your memory.

3. Adjust the pace of presentation and absorption of the materials…we do not all learn at the same speed. Some of us actually like to read slowly, we enjoy stretching it out.

And perhaps the biggest advantage of all is to be able to control the elements that surround us and vie for our attention. A reader can find that quiet time without all the daily distractions to sit and read the ‘paper’ in whatever form they choose. Too busy today? Pick it up tomorrow when one finds that ideal time.

Sure, books provide most of those advantages, but they are written in the past….newspapers are here and now for the most part.

If someone should walk up and ask me to rate my local newspaper, I would reply “It’s a great VALUE.”

Richard Phillips

New Iberia