New Family Photo
This week we decided it was time to take a family photo. Not the kind you pay lots of money for at a studio, but rather, standing on the deck behind my parents' house here in Louisville. For some reason the image is pixelated... (e-mail me if you want a better copy!)
I'm on my way to finishing up my reading for my next class which starts a week from Monday. In the meantime, we're going to a world food and music festival here in town today, and going to hang out with my mom's family in Perryville, MO next weekend. Fun times!
In other news, "televangelist" Bill Keller in Florida has called Republican presidential contender and devout Mormon, Mitt Romney, an agent of Satan. Seems that not just immigrants are getting a bad rap these days.
Question: If the pagan kings Cyrus and Nebuchadnezzar in the Bible could be called God's instruments, why do some assume that a non-evangelical (Mormon, Catholic, Muslim, non-believer, etc.) cannot be God's man or woman for the job?
On the other hand, it is a bit strange to me to see so many evangelicals lining up behind Romney because of his (current) stance on abortion. (And perhaps because they seem him as more electable than some others.) Philosophically and historically, Mormonism has more in common with Islam than orthodox Christianity. I guess you can write it off to the democratic process requiring strange bedfellows at times. I'm more concerned, however, that some people are so motivated by a handful of causes that will sell their souls to the highest and best looking bidder. That goes for the pro-justice crowd as much as the pro-life one. But if I remember right, that strategy (trusting in less-than-honorable political structures to save the day) didn't work so well for the German Lutherans or the ancient Israelites.
Update: After my last post on immigration, someone I know and love raised the question as to whether I advocate slave labor.
Answer: No, I don't advocate slave labor. But neither do I believe the best course of action for the US to follow is to seal the borders and feather the nest of a whole generation of rich kids who are quickly losing the motivation to work hard. (If you want to see what that looks like, take a look at the student riots in France last year.) The reality is that whenever you bring cookies to school, you have to bring enough for everybody, or else there's gonna be a throwdown. Those who have come are not looking to overthrow the system, just benefit from it the same way that many European immigrants did in years past. We can choose to close the door and make our kids richer and less motivated, or we can legalize the people who are here already and open the door to fair competition in the labor force and plain old human decency. You can call it amnesty. I call it good sense.
1 comments:
Hi Tyler, I haven't read your site for a while, but I have the same feelings you do about the rich white kids. I work with the illegal high school students and try to teach them English. Most of them work 40 hours a week in addition to attending school full time. After school I coach softball and sometimes I am amazed at the lack of work ethic for something that should be fun. Some of these kids are so used to having everything handed to them, I can't stand it! Turn 16, get brand new SUV; lose a uniform, no problem mom will pay $300 to replace it; run, what? it is too hot out; 15 minutes after starting, can we get a drink? Try crossing the border, then tell me what thirst is, try saving enough money to buy a used car after you have paid rent, bought groceries, paid the bills, sent money home to family members so they don't go hungry at home...then tell me you need to get a drink of water or that it is too hot to run. Hopefully I will write more later. Give me my immigrant children in my classroom any day. I could spend hours upon hours with them because they are down to earth, realistic, and hard working, they don't expect the world to be handed to them on a silver platter. And as much as they work here, rarely do they talk about wanting to go back and live in their home country, a visit would be nice, but most don't want to live there. Maybe I will write more later, this topic really gets me going.
Heidi
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