By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
The median age found at the Lincoln Luncheon may have mostly leaned toward an older generation but it was the younger generation in attendance that holds the future of government in its hands.
United States Congressman Jim Jordan was the featured speaker at the Crawford County Lincoln Day Luncheon held at the Youth Building Monday. He hit upon various issues such as healthcare, energy, privacy, and helping the poor.
When Jordan asked everyone to raise their hand if they were nervous about the direction the country was headed, nearly all of the hands in the room went up. Jordan said they were not alone in wanting to change things.
“That’s good news,” Jordan said. “People want to change things. They understand how special this country is and they want to make sure it stays special so their kids, their grandkids, the future generations, the young people that are here today with us can enjoy this great thing we call America.”
Jordan was referring to the students from Buckeye Central, Bucyrus, Colonel Crawford, Galion, Wayside Christian, and Wynford that attended the Lincoln Luncheon for a chance to learn more about government.
Some of those students agreed that they needed to step forward.
“We really have to get back to conservation values for our country to work well again,” said Wayside Christian senior Lydia Spaulding.
Spaulding felt it was important for high school students to be able to attend such an event but she admitted that she was a bit biased about the issue because she really liked government and being involved in politics.
“An average high school wouldn’t think it’s as important (to attend the Lincoln Luncheon),” Spaulding believed, “but that’s something I think we also need to work on to make it more important because . . . it’s always the older generation that are the ones that are really involved in politics and, especially with like my generation, we just kind of ignore it.”
Spaulding said her generation tends to believe that everything will figure itself out but she didn’t believe that was the way to move forward.
“We really do need to become involved to have a successful government because we can’t rely on them forever,” Spaulding said.
Galion junior Addie Zeisler, who serves as a class officer and identifies herself as a Democrat, said it was interesting to hear from the other side for once.