Letter: Civilized societies should give pensions

Regarding "Taxpayers need pension reform" [Editorial, March 1], as a retired school crossing guard for the Nassau County Police Department for 28 years, I loved making sure that our children were safe. I am grateful to the labor movement, including the Civil Service Employees Association, for the modest pension I now receive. It has allowed me and my husband to live with dignity in our later years.

I am outraged at political leaders who are trying to blame our economic problems on pensions. We are taxpayers and paid into the pension system, and we are not getting rich. My pension is less than $11,000 a year, but it helps pay the bills, including our property taxes.

Writer Ellen Reiss has said that pensions are not gifts; they were earned by workers with the labor of their bodies and minds. Pensions are not luxuries, because in a civilized country, to believe one can meet old age without terror of impoverishment should not be a luxury.

I am grateful for this sentiment. It describes how I feel about my pension.

Anna Miller, West Hempstead