The children have been playing, making a big mess of the house, writing in big letters with magic markers, breaking windows we enjoy seeing through, even throwing the baby out with the bathwater! In general, trashing all that the parents have made to keep them safe.

But of course, children don’t like rules; they are screaming only about what they want now, with no regard to what is in the best interest of the whole family. Since the house is such a mess, maybe we should we just tear it down, and worry about how to rebuild it later?

Those of us who live in Astoria cherish our historic homes, and we understand that we don’t need to tear down the house to make it serve the purpose for our family. We might prefer indoor plumbing to the outhouse out back. Or, a needed appliance in our kitchen instead of the wood-burning stove. Just a few little improvements, but overall the house is of sturdy old-growth wood, and has served the purpose for a good long time.

Certainly, it would be more expensive to tear it all down and start building from the ground up. And any of us who live in a historic home know there were some pretty good ideas that builders from the past incorporated into these better-built sturdy homes.

Perhaps those who are trashing our government should take a lesson from those who live in historic homes.

LaREE JOHNSON

Astoria