Education is about virtue...

Dear children, it is such a strange thing being human, isn't it?  We live in such a small part of the big picture.  It was a HUNDRED years from when Columbus "discovered" America and when there was any real effort to settle the New World. More than a lifetime.  Our  lives are so short in the scheme of history that we can hardly see how our piece fits in.

But you are part of this big picture of history as we all create the society which is shaping the history of today. And if you  hope to be a good part  of this big picture we live in then you need to see the big picture of getting an education.  Education is about virtue... learning what is good, what is beautiful, and what is true.  Since the time of Socrates this was known, "Whom do I call educated? First, those who manage well the circumstances they encounter day by day. Next, those who are decent and honorable in their intercourse with all men, bearing easily and good naturedly what is offensive in others and being as agreeable and reasonable to their associates as is humanly possible to be... those who hold their pleasures always under control and are not ultimately overcome by their misfortunes... those who are not spoiled by their successes, who do not desert their true selves but hold their ground steadfastly as wise and sober -- minded men." 

Education is not about figuring out what your teacher will put on a test and memorizing it, it not about standing in line and being able to follow directions, it is not even about being a productive member of society.  What good is an educated society if it is not one that seeks virtue? Yes, we need people who are able to work at the jobs that make society go but what we need more are kind neighbors, loving husbands and patient mothers.  We need virtuous people who are able to conquer their selfishness.  Education should produce thinkers, not a mass population of followers.  Education should shine light on the good, beautiful and true.  We need good citizens who love good things, not individuals who want a paycheck.

Learning facts and skills is only part of eduction.  It is good to explore the world and to understand how things work.  But we should be educating the whole child and that includes educating them on how they can be good, more human people.  Children are more than bodies to be busied, more than minds to be exercised, they are souls longing to love, to create and to overcome.

Valentine's Day thoughts on "old love"

I won't lie. Before I was married I thought that love was a downward slope.  You had to fall REALLY, REALLY in love with someone when you were young so that you could still, maybe, stand to be around them when you were older.   I am glad to say I was wrong.  Somehow, I love my husband more and more the longer we are together.  I first dated my husband when I was 17, we got married when I was 23 and have been married for 12 years this spring.  So if there are any young lovebirds out there reading this, I just want to let you know that love gets better with time.

So here are my top 7 great things about staying together...

1. Years of built up jokes
 I am really not a funny person, at all, but when I am around my husband you would almost think I'm funny.  We have so many jokes from over the years that there is usually one waiting to be brought up.  Laughter is survival when you have a high-stress life.  If we couldn't laugh at the chaos of our kids, Keith's high stress job, being broke all the time....if we couldn't laugh I don't think I would make it.  Over the years our senses of humor have melded and we usually know just how to crack the other one up.

 2.Your spouse becomes home
We move a lot with the military but if Keith is there any place feels like home.  Home is where we share our days together. Home is where ever we are together.

3. You run out of things to fight about and accept your spouse's "faults"
It feels good when the things that might have bothered you when you were dating now just "are".  Some things we may have worked out but a lot of things we just stopping fighting about.  Keith is going to watch football every Sunday and take up all the hot water. I am going to rearrange the furniture every couple months and buy too many books... and we are not going to fight about it because there is no point, and that is okay.

4. You can look back and see what you have accomplished together.
There is satisfaction that comes from looking back and seeing where you came from.  We started with nothing and have made a home.  Keith has worked hard and made a career out of the Navy and I have tried my hardest to support him.  We have children who are growing up into kids we really enjoy being around.  It is good to have a partner that you have worked together with to make your little part of the world.

5. The pressure of living happily ever after is gone.
For perfectionists like me the beginning of things start off with a lot of pressure for everything to be "your" way, you know, the right way!  But after years of being together a marriage becomes it's own thing and you loose that pressure to control everything.

6. The intimacy of knowing every detail and fault of someone
It is great to know all the good things about your spouse.  And in dating you can go a long time hiding your faults from someone.  Young life is also generally less stressful so your weaknesses are less likely to come through. But as the years go by everything is going to come out. But there is an intimacy of seeing someone at their worst, and knowing that they have seen you at your worst, and they still find you lovable and valuable.

7. They have made you a better person.
It is a blessing to have the security of love.  It creates  fertile soil in which we can grow.  And true love always desires the best for the other person.  Yes, Keith loves me at my worst, but I also know that he is cheering me on and encouraging me to be my best.  He will always assume the best of me and want me to try my hardest.  He makes me want to be a better person.

So on this Valentine's day I just want to say that although "old" love doesn't make a great movie or novel, it is still pretty great.  I wouldn't trade the excitement of "new" love for the peace of "old" love for a million bucks.  Happy Valentines to my husband Keith, I love you babe! (Ain't he cute!)

"It is love alone that gives worth to all things" -St. Teresa of Avila

Good vs. Evil...a guest post from the hubs!

Here is my FIRST guest blogger...my husband!  Here are his current thoughts for the kiddos...

Children, there is an age old war, Good vs. Evil.  And there is an old saying that the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was to make people believe he doesn't exist.  When I was younger, I thought this was the stupidest saying ever. I mean, his name is right there in the quote!  The very saying that deletes his existence simultaneously proclaims it.  Do we deny there is a Devil because we don't want to face our sin or do we convince ourselves there is no Devil at all? 

It is ignorance. You see, when we are young, we are innocent.  Innocence is not the same as goodness.  Goodness is worked for, it is chosen.  While young we do not know true evil, because we have not been confronted with it yet.  But the Devil will not tarry long.  We all are forced to face true evil eventually, and that is when we have a choice.  There are three ways we can go.
1.We can  accept evil as good, thus becoming evil
2. we can stand up to evil and fight it, which is practicing goodness. Or,
3. we can run and hide from it, attempting to be ignorant.  This is the worst evil of all. 
It is the evil from outside of us magnified by the evil inside of us that chooses to be ignorant.  We choose to be ignorant of evil.  We decide that it doesn't exist.  We choose to fool ourselves because we are afraid to fight.

This is no new thing. We have been committing the sin of omission since the beginning of Man.  Plenty of people have told me that Eve sinned first by eating the apple. This is not true.  Adam was right there with her.  He was right there while the Devil was tempting her.  He heard everything.  And what did he do? Nothing.  What did he say? Nothing.  He listened to the words of the Devil, and he was afraid to confront him. He did nothing. Then when Eve decides to eat the apple, causing the fall of mankind, what does Adam do then? He goes right along with her and eats the apple too.

 Once again he shows his fear of making a decision himself, and his fear to stand up and confront evil.   It is a sin of sloth, of lethargy.  We close our eyes to evil,  foolishly thinking that if we don't see it, then it is not there.  Just make everything morally relative then nothing is wrong. What we need to do, and what you children need to do, is prepare yourselves for the tempting of the Devil. When he comes, be ready to refuse him. You see, good and evil are not states of being, they are states of action.  What you do defines, in part, who you are and where you stand in the fight.  So ask yourself, "Am I doing good, or am I simply watching from the sidelines?"

 This issue is addressed in the recent movie American Sniper.  Chris Kyle's father tells his sons that there are three types of people in the world. Sheep, wolves, and sheep dogs. (This is actually derived from a psychology lesson taught by an Army Colonel to Chief Kyle.)

     “Some people prefer to believe that evil doesn’t exist in the world, and if it ever darkened their doorstep, they wouldn’t know how to protect themselves. Those are the sheep. Then you’ve got predators, who use violence to prey on the weak. They’re the wolves. And then there are those blessed with the gift of aggression, and an overpowering need to protect the flock. These people are the rare breed who live to confront the wolf. They are the sheepdog.”

So, my children, choose to be good. Choose to be the sheepdog.  And choose to love God everyday.  Your soul will be filled with the choices you make throughout your life.  You can choose to fill them with good or evil.  The Lord wants you to be people of action, not just of thought.