Politics

The War for Our Children

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again (and again, and again), parents, you have to PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT’S BEING TAUGHT IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

Before we get started, I’d like to say, I’m not a big fan of Glenn Beck. I don’t dislike the man, but I don’t think he’s the end-all for conservative thought, either. I think he’s a little too doom and gloom and he likes to play on people’s fears – this is NOT to say that people shouldn’t be worried about where our country is heading and not take precautions, OR to totally discount what Beck has to say because he’s being written off as a kook, but take what he says with a grain of salt.

Actually, take everything you read/hear with a grain of salt, including this post, because we all have hidden agendas somewhere, even me. It’s human nature. (My hidden agenda is to try and train [not sure that’s the right word] people into thinking for themselves and not take everything they read/hear as gospel truth).

I can only listen to Beck in spurts. His radio show is just a bit too much for me to handle. It’s so convoluted and confusing what with him and two other guys cracking jokes and throwing sarcasm around like confetti that it’s sometimes hard just to figure out what his point IS. However, this is not to imply that the man doesn’t make great points or have something of value to share with the rest of us.

I’m telling you my thoughts on Beck because even though I’m a conservative, conservative personalities are flawed and just because they’re popular, doesn’t necessarily mean I agree with them.

With that said, I noticed this on The Blaze today:

Vodpod videos no longer available.

In case you still don’t see what the problem is, let me highlight the part in this little girl’s song that has caused some people’s eyebrows to raise:

Boycott, petition, let the big business know / that if we mess it up here, there’s no where else we can go.

As per usual, I will try and be fair in my assessment of the situation.

I do not have a problem with teaching our children to take care of the environment. We should ALL pitch in and do our parts. We should ALL clean up after ourselves and leave the environment in better shape than how we found it. Though I do not, for an instant, believe in MAN-MADE Global Climate change (notice I put MAN-MADE in caps), I do think we could all do a much better job of cutting down our wasteful habits, recycle materials, and plant more trees.

Absolutely. You’ll get no argument from me there.

The problem, of course, is that whoever wrote this “cute” little rap song for the children to learn and recite in their Earth Day program thought he/she would be clever and sneak in his/her personal thoughts on the whole issue. Obviously, whoever wrote this piece was a person who not only believed in climate change, but wished to point an accusing finger at the big, bad corporations for making it worse than it really is.

Having that opinion to begin with is not a bad thing. We’re all entitled to our opinions, and you know what they say about opinions, the problem is that by teaching this song to our children, we are indoctrinating our children into believing that this is how it really is. We are teaching them, at a very young age, to grow up thinking that the song writer’s opinion is gospel truth.

Forcing our opinions, or our personal agendas, on impressionable children is NEVER a good idea. Our responsibilities as adults, as parents, is to teach our children all sides of an issue, not brainwash them into thinking one way and one way only.

I know, firsthand, how hard it is to keep our mouths shut when it comes to our personal beliefs and opinions. I maintain several local school websites and though I LOVE my job (truly, it’s SO FUN), I don’t always agree on issues. I could easily insert my opinion, or slant some of the information, to favor my way of thinking. But I don’t. Because it would be wrong. Instead, I challenge myself into making sure that the information that is being posted on those websites is as impartial as possible because it’s not my job to sway people into thinking one way or another, it’s my job to put the information out there and allow people to make up their own minds.

These children, bless their hearts, have no idea what they’re reciting. However, the problem lies in the fact that they will remember what they’ve been taught and at some point, they will put two-and-two together and they will think, without having the maturity to look at all sides of the issue, that what they were taught in school was the “right” way to see things – after all, their teachers wouldn’t steer them wrong, right?

People who abuse that trust to insert their own thoughts/opinions/agendas are morally despicable.

So yes. As the title of this post states, this IS a war for our children. Our public school administrators (and I’m talking generally, not anyone specifically or even locally, but rather on a national level) are taking advantage of the fact that they’re responsible for the education of our children and are slowly, and stealthily, pushing their liberal agendas on our children hoping that when those children grow up, they will vote the way they want them to vote thereby not only pushing their agendas into law, but expanding their voting base.

Call me crazy. Accuse me of being a conspiracy theorist nut. I don’t care. I just hope you finish this post a little wiser as to what is happening in our country at this very moment. If nothing else, entertain the thought that I might be right for a moment.

It’s sort of a scary moment, isn’t it?

(By the way, I was finally able to add my copy of “Waiting for Superman” to my Amazon book store. If you would be interested in buying my copy from me, click here. The original DonorsChoose gift card is included so when you buy the DVD, you have the option of donating $25 to a teacher’s wish list. I would have given it to a local teacher, but there are so many more areas in the country that need the help more). Never mind – just sold it! Thank you!!

Life-condensed

A Cracked Spider Web

This would be the view out of our back window right now:

cracked

Pretty, right?

WRONG!

That’s not rain on that window. That’s not even some kind of clear stained glass design, oh no, THAT, my friends, is our first cracked window EVER.

*sigh*

Someone (who shall remain nameless because I don’t want to get this person into trouble *ahem*), was using a weed-whacker on our lawn yesterday around our new patio when all of a sudden, I heard a loud *POP*. I was in the bathroom at the time, so I couldn’t run to see what the sound was, but Kevin (because we had come home for lunch when it happened), peeked around the bathroom door and said,

“Our window just shattered.”

A little tiny rock, (we’re assuming it was teeny tiny because when we went out to investigate we didn’t see any big boulder, which is the size of the rock I picture whenever someone tells me that a window shattered) must have hit our window just right because the next thing I see is a complicated spider web of fine cracks covering our entire window.

The creepy thing is, we continued to hear the window splintering and cracking for about ten minutes after initial impact.

It’s ironic because one of the reasons Kevin wanted to build a patio to begin with was to avoid having to mow / weed around the french doors and to prevent this very thing happening.

It happened anyway. Isn’t that the way it goes??

I text the boys and told them what had happened and to not slam the door when they got home from school. Because even though the window is still in one piece, I’m quite sure it won’t take much more than one firm *smack* for the whole pane to crumble at our feet.

Kevin and I made an unscheduled trip up to Lowe’s after lunch and ordered a new window – it’s supposed to get here in about two weeks. I was bracing myself for a coronary as far as the price was concerned because it’s one of those windows that has the shades built into it. But it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be so we can continue to feed our two teenage boys.

Thank goodness.

It was a complete accident (the guy didn’t even know what had happened) and well … life goes on. We have homeowner’s insurance, but this mishap wasn’t enough to cover our deductible, so we’re out the cost. Oh well. Considering we’ve been in this house for 18 1/2 years and this is the first window we have cracked/broken, I’d say those were pretty good odds.

Just one of the perks of being a homeowner.