Time for gymnastics

Just a quick post to say that I'm leaving to go to Nashville. My daughter, pictured above in her most serious pose, is competing this weekend.

Go Hallie!!!

Bible Translations

I recently had an exchange with a friend of mine that has some relatively strong views in regard to his church (notice I didn’t say religious) beliefs. For anyone that knows me, you will know that I heartily respect someone that is willing to stand up for what they believe in. Unfortunately, the conversation made that fatal leap from this is what I believe to a message akin to if you don’t believe this way then you are wrong. Oops.

I don’t mind someone disagreeing with me; in fact, I actually enjoy the resulting discourse. However when someone insists on presenting their closed minded opinions and is either uninformed or is simply repeating something they were told – well…

I do not remember what led up to the point of contention, nonetheless it occurred. I mentioned something that I read in the particular Bible that I frequent (HCSB) and his response was “yeah but that’s not King James.” I wanted to give him a chance to explain why my Policeman’s Bible (HCSB), given to me as a gift on father’s day, was inferior to his King James Version. His explanation was simply that the King James Version is the only Bible and that all others were translations. Wow.  I thought it appropriate to mention at this point that I was under the impression that the King James Version was also a translation. He faltered a little as if I had just let him in on some groundbreaking secret, so I continued with a conversation of my apparent misunderstanding that all of the English Bibles were in fact translations. This didn’t change his resolve that the King James Version was not only the best but the only worthy Bible.

 “How did you arrive at this conclusion?”

 “That’s what we decided as a church.” OK.

I also respect when people, or a group of people, come to a decision on how they will study the Word. But there is a difference between knowing what is best for you and deciding what is best for others.

I saw where this was going and decided to end the discussion.  It didn’t seem to matter to him that the Bible was written in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and German all before it was in English. So, I sarcastically remarked that I had better go tell my brother the pastor (who reads the Greek version) that he is reading the wrong Bible. 

Alas, my attempt at humor was wasted.

No Child Left Behind

I read an article this morning containing alarming statistics in relation to the graduation rate of the Memphis City school system. It seems that the NCLB program has boasted some gains over the past few years but has recently taken a turn for the worse.

MCS Graduation Rates
2005: 66.3 percent
2006: 67.2 percent
2007: 69.6 percent
2008: 66.9 percent

As with any standard curve or average, some of the schools were further below these dismal figures.

Graduation rates and the percentage of decline since last year.
Cordova: 73.8 (-14.4)
Fairley: 51.4 (-17.9)
Manassas: 50.8 (-13.5)
Raleigh Egypt: 69.5 (-10.9)
Ridgeway: 82.5 (-8.8)
Trezevant: 56.6 (-7.1)
Wooddale: 62.4 (-8.6)

As usual, these figures are shocking but they do not allow you to appreciate the real story. There is no emotion involved with numbers posted on a blog or printed in a newspaper. Does a graduation rate dropping almost 18% shock you? It shouldn’t because numbers are meaningless. It’s what the numbers represent that should cause you to move up to the front car on the emotional roller coaster. Let’s take a moment and translate these meaningless numbers into a language we of substance.

Take a look at this class picture.




All of these kids will fail to make it out of the Memphis City School system.












So…

· Which one will not be denied that entry level job that they desperately need?
· Which one will die as a result of a drug or alcohol addiction?
· Which one will have or abort an unplanned pregnancy because they feel trapped?
· Which one will spend most of their adult life in prison?


They will all to have a long difficult life ahead of them and they will not have even reached adulthood at the onset of this hardship.

We have failed these kids…and 1400 other class pictures filled with other children. These children are real; they are not numbers. If you have children, try to imagine that your child will be among the 36,410 out of the 110,000 that will not make it to the graduation stage. This is unacceptable.

Our system is broken, how do we fix it?

Halloween is evil

Give me a break.

If your child wants to go trick-or-treating this Halloween - LET THEM! Halloween is not evil.Some people, mainly the pseudo-religious, are on their kick again this year that Halloween is somehow antagonistic to the church and as such must be abolished. I could possibly feel for their position on this if they had completed even a modicum of research and not taken their stance because of some random proclamation from an uptight and uninformed talk show personality spewed haphazardly in the quest for ratings.

Do you honestly think that children care if Halloween had its origins in some ancient festival from a Gaelic culture long since past. Most likely they do not. Halloween is simply a time for children to dress up and get together with their friends and stroll through the neighborhood collecting candy. Besides, the costumes I see are Hannah Montana, Frankenstein’s monster and a few nurses and firemen; not exactly pagan icons.

But the children might get led astray by this horrible pagan ritual. If you or your child has a faith system so fragile that they are led astray by Scooby Doo and a bite size Snicker bar, you have bigger problems on your hands.

But it’s dangerous to let them wander through the neighborhood alone. No kidding. Don’t be a moron; watch after your children just as you would on any other night. Instead of condemning the holiday, get off of the couch and go spend some time with them.

Let them be kids. There is little innocence left for them. Children are being forced to grow up too fast. Don’t take away Halloween too.

Get over yourself.

I've been quiet...

I've been quiet lately, not because I have nothing to say but because I have too much too say. That's sounds dumb but I'll explain. As anyone that knows me can attest, I have a "soap box" point or flare up on many many many issues. Does this mean that I am over opinionated? Maybe. But I guess that is what blogs are for, huh. So, I will be slow to post because of school and multitude of other stuff but I will increase my speed and proficiency at this bloggin' stuff soon enough.

A few quick points...

• Halloween is not evil... get a grip
  
• the Internet is not going away... but old people are
  
• your version of the Bible is not superior to someone else's
  
• tolerance applies to others' views as well as your own
  
• immigrants are not taking all of the best jobs
  
• learning does not have to be boring
  
• both candidates are not the devil
  
• Santa Claus (more later...)
  

Weddings

I attended the wedding of a good friend last night. This time I can actually say that it was enjoyable and I don't have to lie because of social convention. As expected I can normally go on and on about how weddings are lame and an outdated custom. I can comment on how people take traditions from long past and infuse modern capitalism to create a debacle that only the mother of the bride could possibly enjoy. However, this time my feelings were different. I enjoyed last night's ceremony because I came away with the impression that both the bride and the groom were enjoying themselves. The minister cracked a few lighthearted jokes, the bride and groom snickered throughout the lighter moments and nobody took themselves too seriously. Both the ceremony and reception took place at the Memphis Zoo. It was elegant while still remaining comfortable. Every wedding should be similar to this in its joviality. 

The wedding would have been perfect but it lacked one tradition - the boxer dance.

I just may need a PS3

I do not get a chance to play video games often. This being said I came across some information recently about a new game. The link to a preview is below. Levi this rules. If I get this --- I'm going to school you.

Who wins if the kitten falls?

I was walking down the sidewalk one muggy afternoon and I heard a commotion up ahead which piqued my curiosity. Being the inquisitive person that I am I hastened my pace and rounded the corner to see a Fire Truck parked near a tree. A crowd had gathered - always a sign of something interesting. I made my way through the small band of onlookers to an adequate vantage point. I was stunned and thoroughly amused to find two firemen slugging it out. These guys were in full turn out gear and they were really going at it, Hollyfield style. I watched in amusement for a few seconds and curiosity got the best of me. I turned to a fellow spectator and inquired about the origin of this exchange. The guy didn’t take his eyes off of the action as he explained that they were fighting to see who got to save the kitten. Kitten? Then for the first time I saw and heard a baby kitten wailing at the top of its little lungs as it treacherously clung to the tip of a branch suspended easily forty feet above the street.  This cat was going to fall…

While I understand this is a critical point in our history with regard to the highly contested political election, the wavering economy, and the global threat of terror, I am exhausted from the bandying of insults and criticisms back and forth between the supporters of our two political parties. In the past I have never been one to be sucked in to the political scene. It’s easy to become jaded when barraged by countless reports of trusted elected officials caught with their hand in the cookie jar. If you combine this, the bickering between the candidates and the often ignorant viewpoints of people who have proudly donned the badge of Republican or Democrat, you can see how I am eager to have this election season behind us.

            The topic of this post however has nothing to do with my political leanings but rather the ignorance displayed by many when choosing sides. The political parties in this country seem to demonstrate an “us versus them” philosophy. While there are inherent differences between the two, as a novice to politics, I thought the idea of government was to work in the best interest of the people. Instead of fighting to get elected by vilifying the other side the candidates and the parties should be focusing on how to work together to repair the various critical issues plaguing America.

            For whichever political party you align yourself, think about the opposite. Do you think that your constituent counterparts want to destroy America? Do you think they wish to take away all of your money or opportunities? Do you think that they are ignorant, racist, god-less, arrogant ... and on and on and on. If you fall into this category you may need to reexamine your views. While there are those that fit into all of these categories, I believe that as a whole both political parties honestly desire to help better America. This leads me to a point I alluded to previously. Voting for a party in lock step with your family and friends is asinine. Take some time to investigate what the candidates stances are on the issues. It’s not about who gets to be the victor. Stop fighting and save the kitten!

Certainly the biggest issue facing us as Americans is the state of the economy. If the economy fails, the other issues go to the wayside. We can’t address immigration, education, social injustice, or global warming if there are no programs nor people to implement them.  Educate yourself. Learn how the candidates propose to fix America. In the end, while you and I may differ on our opinions of the proper means to the end, we both want the same thing – to save the kitten.