OK, I can't just let this one pass by...

Your link : http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/07/obama.school.speech/index.html

 

Pres. Obama is set to give a speech to back-to-schoolers on the ‘Net Tuesday. Apparently lots of parents have their shorts in a knot over the possibility of the President pushing a ‘partisan agenda’. There are reports of school districts banning the speech, and some parents won’t be letting their kids go to school for fear that they will be ‘exposed’.

    Now that the text of the speech has been released, it must be a huge surprise that the President merely wants to encourage young people to get educated and to work hard.

   A quote from CNN: "The president's speeches tend to be [about] what's wrong with the country and what can we do to fix it," said Bill Hogsett, a parent from Dallas, Texas.

   "I believe this is the greatest country on Earth, and I try to teach that to my children. ... I don't want them hearing that there's a fundamental flaw with the country and the kids need to go forward to fix it."

   OK, sir, why is it wrong to tell children that there are problems that need to be dealt with? True, children shouldn’t have to fully shoulder the burden of fixing the problems that you/I/we have created, but if they are to be responsible citizens,  why shelter them from the truth? Isn’t the axiom ‘Knowledge is power’? So, why not empower the children instead of keeping their head buried in the sand along with your own?

   Let’s be honest: this country has serious problems. Welfare babies, addictions coming out of our collective orifices, apathy, dishonesty, rights being taken away wholesale, the excessive empowerment of the minority over the collective good are just a few of the problems that confront this nation. None have an easy solution. But to ignore the problems does nothing to aid in a recovery, and ultimately dooms those whom we seek to protect because they then become part of the problems because they have never been clued in that there are problems in the first place; or they are allowed to find out but not told how important it is to be responsible and how a person’s actions and choices can affect other people.

   I see this man’s  reaction as that of a parent who is not involved with his children. If he had been, his response probably would’ve been ‘I’ll talk it over with my child when they come home from school because I am involved and informed...’Instead he succumbs to political frothing, scared that someone might/will present ideas that might perhaps be at odds with what he believes. Instead of using this opportunity to teach and to listen, he has already made the decision to deny the right of information and the opportunity of logical thinking (how can we think logically if we never have differing points of view?) from someone just because of his political slant and because he doesn’t think his child should be exposed to other points of view.

   I don’t agree with a lot of the things that the President does. I don’t agree with a lot of the things that he and his political party stand for. For what it’s worth I think Republicans are just as bad as the Democrats, and that Republicans have just as many problems with their ideology as everyone else. However, I support his good desire to help children be educated and to work hard, and he is the President. We don’t have to like all of the things that he does, and we certainly don’t have to take the things he does that we don’t agree with lying down, but to presume ( a better word that is synonymous to assume) that he is going to push a leftist message on children as part of an agenda is ludicrous.

   It is not our duty to blindly support him and those who are in authority over us (ecclesiastically, politically, financially or otherwise).Our duty is to think about why we do what we do, to consider, logically, other options, and to divest ourselves of those things (thoughts, habits, feelings and problems) that keep us from progressing.

   Fearing new information that may conflict with the knowledge that we already have, and shunning it, is wrong. The largest reason as to why the Gospel of Christ hasn’t permeated every land is because people fear the truth. It is not wrong to consider the different sides to a topic.

   Heavenly Father wants all of His children to not be ‘sheeple’: those who follow because it is easiest and never think about why they do what they do. These people are quickly scorched by adversity. No, I think that He wants children who will ask the questions ‘Why’, ‘How’ and ‘What’. Those who ask and want to know will receive answers and will be better than those who have always had it and never bothered to ask in the first place.

   To bring it full circle: being aware that there are problems and clueing young people into them is no crime. The availability of information is both a blessing and a curse that can be tempered by interaction and discussion. Truth can come from any side, any political slant, any person. Don’t deny someone, no matter how old, the chance to broaden their understanding because you are afraid of the source. There is only one Source of truth, and no one mortal person has a monopoly upon it.