Moms Save the Nation: Elections and Trade Deficits

"Mom, which do you want: to die by poison, to be stabbed to death, or to contract a deadly disease?"

I'm cooking.

"None of them, please. I choose life."

"Aw, Mom, get serious! Which do you prefer?"

Believe me, I am serious. If some killer wants me dead, he has his reasons -- and his weapon of choice. But I don't prefer it and don't have to be party to it.

I feel that way about the Proposed Murder of Uncle Sam, too.

It seems pretty obvious that our "viable" Presidential Choices are being offered by some sleight-of-hand master mind: every option the media presents spells Death; death by communists or traitors or tyrants is still death.

I'm casting my vote for life.

The candidate I want is unlikely to win this election, but I intend more than merely standing or herding with the majority. My vote counts on many fronts. I know it will be heard.

~ God holds us accountable for how we vote -- and how we value the Constitution He inspired. My vote is an act of faith, offered in the hope that I shall receive His blessings as I need them. I expect, in this upcoming Season of Death, that we will all need God's help.

~ Parties get representation and placement based on how many votes are cast for their presidential candidates. The parties note and count up who is voting for whom.

~ To communicate that your party's candidate is too liberal/psychotic/morally unacceptable, vote more conservatively.  Choosing the Democrat option to send a message to the Republican Party has been working so well that we are all in a frenzied dance that moves only to the left! We make changes when we do things differently.

In similar ways, each family holds the key to the trade deficit.

We don't have to wait for convoluted laws with unintended consequences; we can solve problems ourselves. Particularly with food products, not bound by United States safety regulations, simply enact and enforce your own embargo. Growing your own or buying local is better for our economy and for the environment -- shipping US food to China for processing and then shipping it back to sell is bad logistics and can't really be cheaper! Buying fresh and eating local and seasonal foods is arguably a healthier choice for our bodies.

In practice, this may mean deliberately spending a few extra cents for a different brand. It may mean doing research, to find out if specific items "grown in" or "packed for" an address in the United States were actually "processed" abroad. It may mean doing without Happy Meal toys, bound for the landfill anyway. It may even mean eliminating a few Happy Meals, for frozen meats are often processed elsewhere.

Consider what could result if everyone in America swung $20 a month away from foreign products: The trade deficit would dry up. Our children could be meaningfully involved in a patriotic cause. The grip of materialism could be loosened. People would become more confident and capable -- and less motivated or frozen by fear.

Our votes count. Let's vote for life -- at the ballot box and at the stores where we shop.

Photos from sxc.hu. Courtesy of Luis Cuellar and prazert promvong.

My Foot Hurts -- But I Have Another

Last weekend my youngest daughter was invited to go skiing with a neighbor girl.  They went together to a local ski shop the night before -- a different shop than her dad uses.

When the young woman who helped her with equipment rental had her try on a pair of boots, my daughter said they were too small. "They'll be just fine," the girl told her crisply.

Perhaps the boots were fine for the shop girl, but my daughter's feet are still blistered, bruised and painful -- where she has feeling!  She endured the pain during a full day of skiing, then burst into tears as soon as she came inside the house.  I commiserated with her, then suggested ways she might ease the pain.  She took a long, relaxing bath and read a book.

A mother's emotions are certainly mixed, when situations like these arise!  I did not give someone a piece of my mind, for I haven't any pieces to spare. My daughter has heard other, similar situations about that particular rental shop; she has determined not to return with her business.

Can pain help us?  I hope so.  I hope that my daughter will not be soured on skiing, and that she will be wise enough to separate the reasons from the negative experience.  I hope she will have the courage to politely stand up for herself next time, even if someone in "authority" initially brushes off her input.  And I hope she will have compassion for others, even when they don't remember kindness when they ask for help.


Photos from sxc.hu, used courtesy of frederico paiva and Renxx Gmdr.

For, Not Against

I think anti-bullying campaigns are a bad idea.  Not neutral: harmful.

Like drug awareness drives, an anti-bullying campaign defines people and problems in ways that actually increase the likelihood and incidence of the problems it promises to fix, perpetuating a cycle of the program being funded and expanded -- and thereby continuing expansion of the violence problem.

Are drugs and violence problematic?  Of course.  But what would happen if we instead worked to resolve them in terms of what good we are trying to accomplish?  How are our efforts -- and our results -- different when we focus on what we are for, instead of what we are against?

This topic was inspired, actually, by advertisements for an upcoming "Anti-bully, anti-depression, anti-school violence" high school play and a club in our local schools.  Ostensibly formed to fight against depression and suicide, this club alienates people and implicitly suggests suicide as a possible option for discouraged kids.  Members join by invitation only and "support" comes in the form of impersonal handwritten notes, passed out to everyone in the school -- and posters and assemblies that highlight suicide as a looming teen problem.  How would the club function differently if it combated the problem by minimizing kids' focus on depression and suicide, taught healthy coping and interpersonal skills, and sponsored wholesome, interactive events that appropriately taught kids to include classmates from all demographics?

Anti-bullying campaigns similarly define people in terms of victimization.  The tendency some people have to exploit the vulnerabilities of others is not a new problem, but handling it with "Bully Not" is predictably new -- and demonstrably ineffective.  From Brer Rabbit and Brer Bear to Israel and Syria, who is going to impotently demand that bullies "be nice and shake hands" -- and doesn't that make them bullies, for being bigger and more demanding in their interference?

No, the answer is deeper -- and it is something we have to be commitedly for: the solution to the bullying problem is compassion and unflinching love.  This is soft love, the kind that bears with and suffers with people; it is also tough love, the kind that allows people to take responsibility for the part of the problem that is truly theirs and that is big enough to forgive and to teach to forgive the parts that extend beyond the individual.  It is a love that can show compassion for members of the school's anti-suicide club, who personally ostracize and mock younger girls whose circumstances and lack of social graces make them odious -- and can patiently teach them a better way.

As a mother, I cannot afford just to be against: I am for true Christian love. This takes proactive strategies, deliberately taught and modeled every day.

Photos from sxc.hu, used courtesy of Anja Ranneberg, Chris Cummings,  Rick Lesser, and Jimmy Rives.