Month: June 2013

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higher education

As of yesterday, all 3 of my children advanced to a new grade level.  Education is important in our family.  Allow me to humbly share with you what I hope they learned…

 

If they learned to speak the languages of foreigners — but have not love for the foreigner — then the learning of language is pretty hollow.

 

If they unlocked great truths in history, social studies, or even in an advanced Lit class — comprehending all sorts of mysteries and knowledge — but know not how to apply that knowledge to a grace and peace for other people, then they really have learned very little.

 

If they learned about the faiths of the world — those invented by man and those backed up by historical documents and eyewitness accounts — but haven’t learned to transfer that learning from the head to the heart, then the learning is by no means complete.

 

If they learned about sacrifice — noting that sacrifice prompted by the individual heart as opposed to demanded en masse is one of life’s most beautiful, contagious examples — but yet give little away, then their intellect will have proved lesser.

 

If in chem lab they learn to build and blow up mountains — but have not concern for those impacted by the explosion and respect for the one who actually created the mountains — then in all reality, they still gain nothing.

 

If they scored incredibly well scholastically — surging to that top 10% — but care not about the 90% below them, then they will not have scored as they truly should have.

 

If they completely grasped both micro and macro econ, understanding supply and demand and economies of scale — but fail to have compassion on those the theories affect — then their economic education will be incomplete at best.

 

If they go further in economics, following economists who promote the politically-influenced theory — but spend with no specific, measurable means to repay — then their learning will omit the wisdom found in accountability.

 

If they have not learned love… if they have not embraced wisdom…

No matter the higher the education… it will be less…

 

If any of us have believed that only a school is responsible for that education, then we as parents and role models will also be less…

 

Love is patient and kind.  Love does not envy or boast.  It is never arrogant nor rude.  And it certainly does not insist on its own way.  It’s not irritable or resentful.

 

That means all these intelligent people… near us and in our neighborhoods… in our classrooms and communities… in Washington and in our work place… elected, appointed, or simply adjacent to us in some capacity… no matter their intelligence… no matter the loftiness of their rhetoric…

 

If they boast, are arrogant, or rude in their expression, whatever it is they actually have — from a Ph.D. to a Ph.Something — it is by all means lesser… it is less good.

 

Respectfully…

AR

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tweeting

What are we teaching the younger generation?

What are we modeling for our kids?

 

… that appearance is everything?

… that sports stars and celebrities are life’s most admirable professions?

… that an ABC summer show entitled “Mistresses” is good television?

 

That’s the question:  what are we teaching them?

 

Are we teaching that Facebook status updates are authentic?  … that we’re truly, transparently representing who and how we are?  … that Facebook relationships are real relationships?

 

Or better yet — and where my head and heart have lined up this day — that Twitter & Co. count for legitimate dialogue?

 

As all Intramuralist readers know, communication is of utmost importance.  How we communicate makes all the difference in the world.  The Intramuralist believes that all subjects can be discussed — albeit not necessarily agreed upon — if the approach is respectful and prioritizes active listening.  That’s the mantra of this blog:  all opinions are welcome as long as the opinion expressed is respectful to those with whom you may disagree.  Only through respectful discussion, friends, is solution viable.

 

Yet continually in Washington and in our work place, we have very intelligent men and women who for some reason reserve the right to rhetorically slam their brother and sister when the moment is too tempting and ripe.  They arrogantly belittle and bemoan, forgoing even the feigning of listening.  One wonders why.  Why is this so hard to comprehend?  Why is this still so challenging for otherwise bright-minded people?

 

Look at what we’re teaching the younger generation.

 

As social media has exploded over the past half dozen years, we have allowed them to accept Twitter as a wise form of dialogue.  In fact, we have allowed them to believe that it even is dialogue.

 

Excuse me?

 

Dialogue is a conversation between 2 or more people.  To engage in dialogue means to converse or discuss in order to resolve a problem.

 

There is no dialogue on Twitter.  There is no conversation.  In fact, there is little conversation whatsoever in all of social media.

 

Twitter is simply a listing of one-liners where the Tweeter can tweet whatever he or she desires.  There is no eye contact.  There is no empathetic, compassionate, nor comprehending glance in that person’s direction.  There is no feeling; there is nothing warm nor cold.

 

Twitter is a list of comments — often snarky or satirical — in which one person attempts to manage the impression others have of them.  There is no respectful back-and-forth.  In fact, because it’s not actually dialogue, Twitter and the rest of social cyberspace often damage more relationships than they maintain or repair.

 

Friends, Twitter is not an evil within society.  Just like most things, a positive tool can be negatively employed.  The disservice we are allowing for the younger generation, however — as we tweet, too — is that social media is something it’s not… that Twitter and tweeting and even texting take the place of authentic, wise communication.

 

Respectfully… always…

AR

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what keeps us from lying?

Too many times we turn off the news in disbelief and disgust.  Sometimes it’s ugly; there’s too much wickedness and wrongdoing in the world, as — save for one ’80’s pop song — most of us realize that heaven is not a place on Earth.

 

One of the more frequent motives for current head shaking is all the lies — or perhaps better said — all the potential lies.  The deceit.  The cover up.  The shifting of blame.  It’s almost robotic that when a person is accused of wrongdoing, they immediately claim responsibility rests elsewhere…

 

He did it.  She did it.  I wasn’t in charge then.  It’s his fault.  Who, me?  I’m a victim…

 

Not only is responsibility immediately deflected, most add an instant reason why another is actually to blame…

 

He doesn’t like me.  She’s out to get me.  He’s too young.  She doesn’t know any better.  They love persecuting Christians.  Bigots, that’s what they are…

 

… like the chairwoman of Louisiana’s Democratic Party, who said last week that much of the opposition to Obamacare is due to the color of Pres. Obama’s skin.  Please.  The Intramuralist read the legislation when proposed.  There is much to be concerned about (i.e. rising premiums, government overreach, care decisions based on cost — such as for the elderly and overweight…), but the concern has nothing to do with anyone’s skin color.  Ah, but lest I digress…

 

My point is that regardless of politics or personally awkward scenarios, there exists a huge potential for deceit.  As we watch the disturbing scandals unfold, for example, within the IRS and Justice Dept., the challenge is that we can’t tell who and when someone is telling the truth.  Friends, don’t let me infer that I believe all individuals are lying; the problem is that we can’t tell if they are.

 

And so we ask:  what keeps a person from lying?  Really.  What keeps us from being deceitful?  What stops us from sharing a little white lie or even a huge fib?  What within us stops us from shifting that blame elsewhere?  … or from just declaring “I don’t remember”? (… the current, least-damaging deceit method — because if we can’t remember, we can’t possibly tell the truth.)

 

Seriously, though, what stops us from lying?

 

It isn’t intelligence.  There is no moral compass automatically associated with intellectual brilliance.  James Frey, author of the autobiographical “A Million Little Pieces,” seemed highly intelligent when he appeared on “Oprah.”  Granted, it was fairly humbling when he had to admit that many of the events in his quite profitable bestseller were intentionally fabricated.

 

What keeps us from lying?

 

A position of power?  No.  The 37th President of the United States, one Richard M. Nixon, put that reason to rest.  Does the lie depend on topic?  Many claimed President #42’s lies under oath were acceptable because “everybody lies about sex.”  Did Pres. Bush lie about weapons of mass destruction?  Did Pres. Obama lie about Benghazi?

 

If we instead suggest that people refrain from lying because of that inner moral compass, I’m not certain that theory holds true either, as a close examination of society quickly depicts morality as increasingly relative.  Many of what was once considered wicked or wrong now seems actually accepted as good and pure and wise.  Friends, don’t misquote me; I am not suggesting that discrimination or disrespect was ever appropriately “considered wicked or wrong.”  My perception is that morality has become so relative that it’s logical to conclude that “to lie or not to lie” will also become a negative manifestation.

 

People lie.  People always have the potential to lie.  Even good people.  Unless we adopt a timeless teaching of truth that doesn’t sway with the winds of society, the potential for each of us to lie will only continue to increase.

 

Respectfully,

AR