The following four letters were chosen from among several written by students in Ruth Wilson’s sixth-grade class at Otisfield Community School.

When I was reading the Sun Journal, I came across the topic of: “Do millionaire athletes and movie stars have a special responsibility to give to charity?” I don’t think they do. I think that because I think they should spend their money on stuff they want. Also, we aren’t the only ones who pay bills. They have to, too! It would be nice if they did give to charity, but I don’t think they have a special responsibility.

Ailie E. Phillips

I believe that millionaire athletes and movie stars should do whatever they want with their money. They don’t have to give their money away because it’s theirs! It’s their choice what to do with it. They worked hard to earn their wages. However, if rich people weren’t philanthropists, we wouldn’t have great land in Maine like we do now. People sometimes give their money away to the land trust when they die. Like when I die, I will give some money to the land trust and some to my children.

Lindsay Strout

I think that millionaire athletes and movie stars have a very big responsibility to give at least $100 to $1,500 to charity because they already have millions of dollars to use on themselves. I think that it would be very generous for rich people to give away a little bit of money every three to four months so that the charities don’t have to suffer month after month because they don’t have enough money for supplies for people with cancer or for people without homes, jobs, food or clothes like the Salvation Army.

There is a very generous girl in my school that donated some hair to kids with cancer. Every time I go to Kmart, I walk by the Salvation Army stand and put some change in the slot. I do it because some kids around the world can’t have a life like mine. Some kids don’t get to go to school because they don’t have enough money. Kids down in Central America aren’t even in fourth grade until they are at least 11 to 16 years old. Sometimes, I think, “Why should I be doing this if every kid my age can’t even be doing this?” Keep that in mind and maybe you will think that too.

Carly J. Taylor

I think that there should be a limit to how much baseball players get. I think that baseball players should get their amount of money based on how much they play and how good they play each season. For example, if a pitcher from the Red Sox gets his arm injured and was in the hospital for a long time, he should not get paid because he is not playing.

I’m a big baseball fan myself, but the money issue is one thing I disagree with. I hope this money issue gets figured out and baseball players get the money they deserve.

Amanda Monahan

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