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Sunday, April 13, 2008

Children and how they deal with the new reality.

Someone asked this when I first started with the blog.
It’s been on my mind ever since, and it made me notice a few observations and attitudes my son has.

For example, my son is now scared of the “bad men” outside.
When I asked about that he said “like the men that robbed mommy”(my wife got mugged by some armed kids , age 10 or 12 , some months ago)
According to him we should go looking for them and kill them. (wish it could be that simple)

He understands that daddy has guns precisely to protect us from people like that.
I’m not sure if kids in other places have this attitude. I try to protect him from all this stuff but sometimes it’s impossible. It’s on the news, it happens to you, it’s the reality you live with.
I insist that he has to finish his food because I explain to him there are lots of kids that have nothing to eat.

I suppose many parents tell similar things to their children, the difference after the crisis is that your kid actually sees those hungry, bare footed kids on the sidewalk, begging for some coins or something to eat.
Last week I explained to him what the reporter was talking about, the lack of food supply in supermarkets.
The following day when I came back from work he ran to me and said “ Daddy! Daddy! Remember the guy on tv last night? He was right! We went to the supermarket today with mommy and there was no meat, fruits or milk!”

Does this help to build up character? To bring up more healthy minded, down to earth kids?
I don’t know, but I think that my son is too young to be worrying about these things, so I try to shelter him from all this.

One day we’ll be living in a civilized, 1st world country, and all this will be left behind, thank God. But I don’t think he’ll ever forget what it’s like when things don’t work as they are supposed to.

Maybe it’s not such a bad thing.

FerFAL

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

FerFAL,

Thanks for keeping u clued into your real world experiences. Your comment about kids and bad economic times got me to thinking about how strong Christian churches are in the third world right now, while the western countries have almost abandoned them (theologically as well as in attendance).

Sort of the old adage about, "there are no atheists in foxholes." When life gets to soft and convenient it is easy to take that abundance for granted and not have to face immediate consequences of our decisions and actions.

Nobody wants to see their kids grow up in such conditions, but with the proper teachings they might be able to appreciate priorities in life and strengthen some belief in a spiritual life beyond earthly suffering. And they might learn to be more thankful for life's blessings than many of their 1st world contemporaries.

Be safe, and pray, as our family will do for yours.

NWPilgrim

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous 4:55 AM: How can you equate Islam and Christianity?

Some of the most tranquil societies that I know of are the 90%+ Christian nations of the South Pacific, such as the Cook Islands.

If America has a problem, it is not that it is *too* Christian. Just the opposite: the problem is that it is no longer sufficiently Christian for people to treat each other in a civil manner. Look at England, where church attendance is now much lower than in the US. The street crime rate in England is exploding. The yobs are taking control.

"Festering"? Perhaps that is a good description of Wahabbi Islam, but certainly not Christendom!

"Slave mentality"? The only slaves that I know of (outside of the Islamic world--where slaves are still kept and traded) are some of my neighbors that are slaves to sin. I was unshackled by Christ's love and forgiveness.

Free in Christ said...

The best slave is the one that does not even see his shackles! Our second anonymous poster's thoughts are simply flowing with the contempary secular flow that truly believes any religion with a name is bad. This is an easy way to think and doesn't require critical analysis of the historical/cultural results of each different theological perspective over a period of history that the individual has studied from preferably original sources. Please consider your ignorance/biases. Otherwise your shackled mind will be permanent.

Free in Christ

PS Your secular humanist thinking meets all the requirements of a religion itself. The fruit of such thinking since the turn of the century has brought many results. Particularly public education in America. Just how well do you think the Public Schools in the US are doing?
Ever studied Horace Mann?

FerFAL said...

Thanks for that excellent comment Jim.

Anonymous 4:55 AM, you are very confused regarding the places where Christianity “festered”.
NO doubt about it, the place where it festered the most was Europe, and form there to the American continent as it was “discovered”, or conquered by Europeans.
Now, do you seriously think Europe is better off now, with atheism or Islam spreading?

Even the highly criticized Roman Catholic Church is still one of the last institutional bastions of moral values which Christians hold dear.
And I can say without a doubt, that in some of the poorest places of this country and the rest of Latin America, there’s a Catholic priest working day and night to help the poor.
Of course, one pedophile article sells much better than 1000 articles of Catholic priests that gave their lives to Christ, to a life of servitude.

That doesn’t seem to sell as many papers.

And you are also wrong regarding “cause/effect”. When everyone went to church every Sunday, we had a totally different country, one with moral values.
These days people are much more desperate and they turn to false promises, particularly which craft.
SO while Catholicism is growing less popular here by the day, false religions, particularly false Christian versions of brazilian “macumba” and “umbanda” , are growing more and more popular.
An there yes, you do see the cause/ effect relationship, as our Society turns away form Christ and goes towards these umbanda voodoo promises, the violence and depravation is more and more evident.

Anonymous said...

I've not thought this out, and haven't much time to write, but it seems to me that in Europe, with the masses turning away from Christianity, that the old adage, "nature abhors a vacuum" is coming into play, and Islam is filling that vacuum, for the worse.

The R Man

Anonymous said...

Hello - I was just down there a few weeks ago with some others who live in BA and their experiences vary greatly from yours. I messaged them the other day concerned things might be bad and they didn't share any of the same concerns.

I was curious if it's maybe the area they live in? Most live directly in downtown BA (Recoleta, Palermo, etc). Curious to hear your thoughts...

Anonymous said...

I've enjoyed reading this blog, but the comments in favor or the Christian criminal syndicate are simply delusional. The church is biggest gang of greedy criminals:

Let me get this straight:

1) Follow the 10 commandments

2) If you don't obey you are burned and beaten in hell.

3) Oh wait... But Jesus loves you - and please donate some money. Ha Ha

Check out this story:
Clergy Response Team, Church and Bush's Homeland Security team up to take guns.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRIDNQNsUss

Anonymous said...

Organized religion is for the weak-minded. Mental and emotional bondage, and the source of much suffering, war, intolerance, and exploitation throughout recorded history.

Anonymous said...

Popular disorganized irreligion is for the lazy weak-minded. When irreligion takes hold, the result is mental and emotional bondage, and the source of much suffering, war, intolerance, and exploitation.