To be informed or not to be informed,...


I think it was Lincoln who said that a house divided cannot stand,....or was that someone in the Bible? It's almost the same,....I don't think Lincoln said anything that was stupid,...nothing on record, at least. No matter, the words are wise.

At this juncture, our nation seems divided. Sometimes it seems minimal, other times it seems like an impassable gulf between the two sides of conservatives and liberals. Recently, the gap has widened to a point that's almost scarey. It's reminiscent of that division over state's rights vs. federal rights.

"My way or the highway-ism" seems to be ramping up again on both sides of the aisle,...which is totally unAmerican. "Compromise" is a word of which our nation seems to have forgotten the definition,...much less has the ability to implement. Yet in the history of our union, Compromise was one vital thing our nation was built upon. It's not a dirty word for weaklings, and right now it needs to be brushed off and placed back in its rightful place in our American Patriotic Vocabulary.

Obama is supposed to speak to school children this week. There are some parents planning to keep their kids out of school because they don't want them to hear Obama's propaganda. Certainly they have a right to do that,...but is exercising that right, RIGHT or WRONG?

I can't remember a time when I believed that something a politician, not to mention The President, would say would effect my son negatively. Even if I didn't agree with what the President was saying,...that my son would listen to him in the first place would say to me that he was desiring and willing to be involved in the process, and listening to the speech would give him a crucial tool to be involved in the process,...information. This tool would allow him to discuss intelligently the ideas mentioned and formulate and express his own individual opinions about the content of the speech. It would not require that he agree with the President, but just listen. Become informed. Had I not allowed him to hear the speech or had he NOT actively listened, then he would be less equipped to be involved. I would rather him listen and be involved.

ACTIVE LISTENING by kids is always questionable. Though they may seem to be listening, may not be. Certainly they can surprise us at times with what they hear and retain and regurgitate, but if a man in a suit is giving a speech,....chances are our kids attention is only half there, at best. If it's a speech by someone with whom they identify(kids usually don't identify with the President, see them as cool),...then they are more apt to be actively listening. Now, if the political message is put into the lyrics of a Pearl Jam song, then we could count on them being nigh totally tuned in.

What do we think the subject matter of Obama's speech will be? Something detrimental to our children's well being? Will it be some mind controlling message about becoming pro abortion or supporting gay marriage or, God forbid, becoming a Democrat? Probably not.

Aside from the content, are Obama's persuasion skills THAT powerful? Is he that slick of an orator that he could command the complete attention of school children of all ages across the nation for whatever length of time he chooses to speak? People, he's good, but he ain't that good. If he can hold their attention and get his message across, then, he is definitely the best leader our nation has seen. Again, his countenence commands a certain amount of attention, but is nothing that special that would prohibit the eyes of our kids from glazing over after about 5 minutes.

I guess the scarey part of all this for me is that some of these people making these statements and threats about removing their children from school next week seem as though they won't acknowledge Obama as the elected leader of our nation. They seem to see him as only the mouthpiece of liberal Americans, whom they see as wayward Americans, since they don't see eye to eye with them on every issue or the most critical. Some wish to believe O to be the source of all of our nation's problems. The guy who has been in office less than a year is the creator and is liable for our nation's predicament more than the guy who was in office for the past 8 years? That just doesn't logically calculate for me. And seems a revisionist history at best.

Did anyone think about removing their child from the room when George H. W. addressed school children in 1991? I never thought once about prohibiting my son from listening to W., whom I didn't see eye to eye with on many things, was speaking. I had the right,...but never exercised the right, because I thought it would be wrong to not allow him the right to listen for himself, to process the information so that he could think and intelligently discuss and come to his own personal decision of whether the President was right or wrong. To be informed is right, to NOT be informed, is WRONG.