If you can't beat 'em
The semester is winding down for me, I have a few more projects to complete and then I am done, not that it matters to anyone else by my family. But it does matter to them, and that is the point of this blog.
Reading Pat Buchanan's column today, I had to ask myself the question "what is to be done?" He paints a gloomy picture of a now Godless America with the silent majority finding no way to effectively organize. The "majority" seem unable to compete well with the minority. Isn't that something? That the war on terror, that we thought was in Iraq, is really also here in our own country? The terror imposed by the few who want to control you, has triumphed for now over the many. There are lots of opinions about gay rights, for example. To each their own, as far as opinion goes. But does it strike anyone else as odd, that a group of people who make up less than 10% of the population, have gained so much power, as to destroy the idea of family and marriage when a clear majority almost everywhere, oppose it? The majority doesn't rule any more, the judges do. Unelected, unaccountable to the voting public, judges rule.
So what does this have to do with home schooling? We need to have our tea parties, we need to get together more and make a ruckus, we need to consolidate our opinions and make them known, we need, in short, to be active citizens again, knowing that this is not a skirmish, but a war of significant duration. But while we are doing all of that, we need to be more effective in teaching our kids at home, and turning out bright, intelligent, articulate, informed, friendly, persuasive kids who will be better than us at taking the fight to the enemy.
We may not have this opportunity forever. A government who can take over General Motors, Bank of America and who knows who else, certainly can find the power to take over your home and your children. So this is a time, to redouble our efforts in the home. To make decisions now about the ideas and methods and community that can make our children indefatigable in the defense of truth. It means we have to change. Old patterns in the home may not be enough. It requires walking away from some things, for better things.
I spoke with a neighbor a few weeks, ago. A wealthy physician, who downsized willingly a few years ago, because he decided for himself, that he just didn't need the overhead, trappings and entanglement that had been his life up to that point. Others thought he was crazy. I am sure he lost a few golfing partners and the like. But he walked away from some good things, toward better things. He left other things behind, as he walked toward many things better. It was change for him. It had it's moments of discomfort to be sure. Yet, it was a change based on true principles, and as such, a change that has proven itself to be of great worth to him personally and his family as well, including his kids, who also had to change along with the family.
We need to fight this terror war. We need to stand up against those who would use terror and power to destroy our families. We fight at home and we fight in the public square. But make no mistake about it. We are in a time of war, right here at home.
I encourage us all, to take time, a couple of date nights, and rethink how we can redouble our efforts at home, educationally and spiritually. It is kind of a paradox. We need to walk away from some things so we can walk toward others. We walk away from the prevailing value set that is destroying our country as it relates to our homes so we can set things right in our homes. As things get more right at home, we are more free to walk toward others in the marketplace of ideas and directly do battle with them using truth as our armor and swords, knowing things are getting better at home. These efforts need to happen simultaneously, meaning both the home and marketplace engagement. And these efforts need to cross religious boundaries. This is a time where we can't do it alone. For our future peace and for the peace of generations to come, we must fortify our homes and we must take back the control of our government to set things right.
Reading Pat Buchanan's column today, I had to ask myself the question "what is to be done?" He paints a gloomy picture of a now Godless America with the silent majority finding no way to effectively organize. The "majority" seem unable to compete well with the minority. Isn't that something? That the war on terror, that we thought was in Iraq, is really also here in our own country? The terror imposed by the few who want to control you, has triumphed for now over the many. There are lots of opinions about gay rights, for example. To each their own, as far as opinion goes. But does it strike anyone else as odd, that a group of people who make up less than 10% of the population, have gained so much power, as to destroy the idea of family and marriage when a clear majority almost everywhere, oppose it? The majority doesn't rule any more, the judges do. Unelected, unaccountable to the voting public, judges rule.
So what does this have to do with home schooling? We need to have our tea parties, we need to get together more and make a ruckus, we need to consolidate our opinions and make them known, we need, in short, to be active citizens again, knowing that this is not a skirmish, but a war of significant duration. But while we are doing all of that, we need to be more effective in teaching our kids at home, and turning out bright, intelligent, articulate, informed, friendly, persuasive kids who will be better than us at taking the fight to the enemy.
We may not have this opportunity forever. A government who can take over General Motors, Bank of America and who knows who else, certainly can find the power to take over your home and your children. So this is a time, to redouble our efforts in the home. To make decisions now about the ideas and methods and community that can make our children indefatigable in the defense of truth. It means we have to change. Old patterns in the home may not be enough. It requires walking away from some things, for better things.
I spoke with a neighbor a few weeks, ago. A wealthy physician, who downsized willingly a few years ago, because he decided for himself, that he just didn't need the overhead, trappings and entanglement that had been his life up to that point. Others thought he was crazy. I am sure he lost a few golfing partners and the like. But he walked away from some good things, toward better things. He left other things behind, as he walked toward many things better. It was change for him. It had it's moments of discomfort to be sure. Yet, it was a change based on true principles, and as such, a change that has proven itself to be of great worth to him personally and his family as well, including his kids, who also had to change along with the family.
We need to fight this terror war. We need to stand up against those who would use terror and power to destroy our families. We fight at home and we fight in the public square. But make no mistake about it. We are in a time of war, right here at home.
I encourage us all, to take time, a couple of date nights, and rethink how we can redouble our efforts at home, educationally and spiritually. It is kind of a paradox. We need to walk away from some things so we can walk toward others. We walk away from the prevailing value set that is destroying our country as it relates to our homes so we can set things right in our homes. As things get more right at home, we are more free to walk toward others in the marketplace of ideas and directly do battle with them using truth as our armor and swords, knowing things are getting better at home. These efforts need to happen simultaneously, meaning both the home and marketplace engagement. And these efforts need to cross religious boundaries. This is a time where we can't do it alone. For our future peace and for the peace of generations to come, we must fortify our homes and we must take back the control of our government to set things right.
posted by Mark and Cyndy Weiss at
1:02 PM
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