My parents are both children of the Great Depression. All through my childhood I heard stories about what that time of hardship was like.

I heard about how hard it was to find food, about my grandmother buying cuts of meat for the family that she used to consider cat food, about my grandfather working extra hours at a job he absolutely hated so they could buy that meat.

Brunswick resident Heather D. Martin wants to know what’s on your mind; email her at heather@heatherdmartin.com.

Sometimes the stories were funny, often achingly sweet, but through them all was the sense of struggle and the all-encompassing notion that they wanted a better life for me than the one they had.

That last statement is so expected, so ordinary, you might miss it. So I am going to write it again: They wanted a better life for me than the one they had.

Not just for me, either. For my sisters, our friends, the neighbors. Frankly, for all the kids everywhere. They wanted every child to grow up in a world with more choices, and less suffering. More joy, less stress. And isn’t that the universal truth of parents? Don’t we all want our kids to have a better life?

I mean, it would be downright weird, if not psychopathic, if my parents had said, “I went hungry, so no dinner for you. I suffered, so you should too.”

That’s why I simply cannot wrap my head around all the anger bouncing around the room over student loan debt forgiveness.

I was extremely fortunate. I had the choice to go to college and I went on to graduate school, too. My degrees inspired me and gave me the credentials I needed to do the work I love.

I am grateful, but it wasn’t cheap; I did not have loan forgiveness. I am thrilled others do.

I could write about all the data showing how with the rate of inflation and the increased cost of living, it’s not the same as it was back in the day. That student debt is now exponentially harder to pay off. If you want those figures, they are easy to find, but that’s not all.

Even from a selfish point of view, student loan forgiveness makes sense. A society where people are able to pursue knowledge, for a better job, or just because they are curious, is a happier, more prosperous and more rewarding place for everyone. Most of the world knows this.

Free education opens the doors to those smart but underfunded kids who might grow up to be gifted doctors, or teachers, or scientists, but there is also value in the rest of us just being able to chase ideas. A shopkeeper who earns a degree in art history or ancient civilizations, for example, is a shopkeeper who will have new perspectives on life, and possibly be happier and more fulfilled as well.

What’s more, the neighbor down the road who is no longer crippled under compounding interest and never-ending debt is a neighbor who is more likely to go shopping downtown, go out to eat, or have the time and energy to coach Little League. We all benefit.

For me though, it’s not really about any of that. I just can’t quite fathom how we got to a place where we no longer universally want a better life for the kids than the one we had, and would gladly do whatever to make it so.

I applaud this move. Like my parents, I want a better life for my kids, and yours, too. This, to me, is the true American dream.