hope is available to usWritten by daniel nzenwata
This night was a drizzly one. I am awake, sitting on my bed and thinking. Sleep had refused to come to me, and my rational self-was demanding an explanation. I am wishing there is someone I can talk to,but in absence of anyone; I try to talk to myself but my voice is a mixture of revulsion and amazement.All day long, my mind had turned to a creative artist busy painting a picture of agonies of common man in my country. And as I begin to ponder on why common man is been subjugated to whims and caprices of those he had chosen to lead him. I also wonder why his resistance to these people who have put on selfenrichment as a breastplate and an helmet of greed on their heads has been so feeble. At thought of his resignation to fate,I feel pains slashing at my heart. I move over to center of my bedroom, from this position I move my neck to and fro as if I am searching for that season when common man had a reason that gave birth to a curiosity on his part as to what was on top of and what lied on other side of mountain. When his determination was his sable vehicle of courage. I walk over to table beside my window and I pick up a picture. I look at it and memories come flooding back to me. The picture is a snapshot of a time when he had a driving urge to search for that beacon like light that he knew with all certainty would bring him delight. Once upon a time, motion of living was so mild, now everything has become aversion of something else.The truth has been left behind in street and honesty is turned backwards.Those chosen to lead common man have put on garmet of corruption to cover up their ugly nakedness,thus making motion of surviving to suddenly become so wild. He has been left with a gaping void in fabric of his live and almost unendurable senses of know nothing. I lay picture to rest on table,I touch my face for tear that is about to stream down my cheeks and my stomach becomes filled with bubbles of dissapointment. A dissapoinment that speaks of their inconsiderate actions and non chalant reactions to common man's survivability. It is such a precarious situation, what he is going through in his attempt to stay afloat on a rampaging sea. He is striving to reach shore by struggling to hold on to a piece of log to overcome tide. It looks like he is pissing in a net.
| | A Year's Worth of Character Training to Last a LifetimeWritten by Kate Hufstetler
Ever wonder why some kids are way they are? Ever wonder why some kids seem to lack basics in true inner character? Well, just exactly how did we think children would ever get character – without being taught character. Long gone are days when whole communities worship weekly. Long gone are days when everyone in our small societal circles subscribe to same exacting morals and principles to guide life and living. I remember when my son was young we made a move to a new state. We left behind a community within a community. We left behind a large group of people (friends and neighbors) that subscribed to similar ethics and standards of behavior. Everyone we knew, predominantly, up-held same guiding principles that our family lived by. Then that ever fateful day. It was during first week at his new preschool & playing with his new neighborhood friends in our new state. My son walked in house and I made a simple statement “because that is how we do it.” To which my son replied “well, Mike’s family doesn’t do it that way and they don’t even care about that stuff.” UGH ! We had come to another milestone in parenting: awareness of diversity within family styles and values. The reality is that kids DO learn through osmosis; meaning, they will assimilate and become what they see around them. However, what is it that they see around them? Aside from home-schooled children (or those that attend private academies) children today are away from their families up to 12 hours a day in some cases including before and after school care. Being gone either 8 hours or 12 hours a day leaves precious little time for a family to model all appropriate qualities they wish to instill within their children. Not to mention, these hours are relegated to EARLY morning hours (barely awake time) and late evening before bed hours (barely coherent time again). Over a lifetime our children will spend majority of their time away from us. They will be witnesses to their friends, their friend’s families, movies, worship communities, television shows, video games, scouting troops, music, sports teams, camps & conferences, etc. There will be an excess of information coming into your child’s awareness and all of it leading to who your child becomes.
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