Little Girls Face Uncertain Futures

The Dec. 8 edition of The Times provided a study in contrasts.

I was sorry to read in View about 5-year-old Holly’s Keuthan’s bout with cancer (“A Vicious Enemy, A Valiant Fight”). My mother died of cancer, so I know firsthand the devastation her family feels. The article was well written and showed tremendous sensitivity to the issues. The stark photos of Holly portrayed the ravages of chemotherapy. I was equally moved by the photograph of 4-year-old Regina Puentes picking coffee beans on the front page of the Business section that day. The caption beneath this portrait of a child who appears healthy and content informed us that Regina’s mother earns $2.30 a day.

Both these little girls tug at my heartstrings; their life expectancies are so short. Their similarity ends there. Regina is poor and Latin American; Holly is upper middle class and North American. Regina’s problems can be solved; Holly’s can’t.

KIRK A. WEISS

Tujunga