I think Lynda Barry's essay, "The Sanctuary of School," is the sad truth that the lack of family values has lead to increasing decay and turmoil in our families, neighborhoods, and society. Family values is one of the fundamentals that our country is based on, yet everyday it seems more and more families are lost in the problems of life and losing sight of what is really important.

Lynda was raised in a financially depressed and unhappy home. Most parents would notice a child missing, but Lynda's parents were lost in a deep financial and emotional crisis. She and her brother were invisible because of the high levels of frustration, depression, and anger that went on in her home. They went unnoticed, as if they were children with the sound turned off. So unnoticed that she could slip away in the middle of the night without having parents in a panic to find her.

School was Lynda's refuge--her shelter from hardship and neglect. It was the safe and secure home she dreamed of in her paintings she created for her teacher, Mrs. Claire LeSane. The home where she was always greeted with a smile and hello. School was the only place where she and her brother could count on being noticed and cared for.

There are many children like Lynda Barry in America today. They depend on the school system, teachers, programs to fill the need of family values, and attention. It is a crime that the politicians want to cut our school budgets and teachers pay. These are the only people that children of our country, who belong to neglectful families, can depend on to be there day in and day out.