7th Heavan

Last night my brother & I watched a program called 7th Heavan. It's a show we used to watch all the time and has nothing to do with that closet game you played at your first boy / girl party. No, in fact this show follows a family where mom works from home, dad's a minister and there's 7 kids. Last night's episode (which I sure was a repeat) talked about the youngest girl Ruthie who's about 7 or 8 years old and is part of a penpal program at school where she writes to a Marine over in Afghanistan. The family all becomes overly curious as to what exactly she's writing about each of them so she lets them read her latest email. In this email she tells her Marine what each of her family members is greatful for living in the USA. Naturally you want to cry when you watch this because each person has something that we consider quite basic but through the eyes of this munchkin you see how important it is. Maybe I'm confusing you, let me break it down this way. Her eldest brother Matt is marrying the daughter of a Rabbi and both are going to school to be doctors. He's greatful for the chance to study medicine and help others. The eldest daughter - Mary - is going to school to be a flight attendant. She was greatful for the chance to travel freely around the country / world. The stories like this go on and on. Lucy was greatful to be able to follow in her father's religious footsteps and the ex-boyfriend they took in is greatful to be accepted as a member of the family, even without blood relations.

All this got me thinking and then my brother put it to words. "Why don't more schools have programs like this?" Good question. Answer: We've become so afraid to offend another person that we've PC'd ourselves right into a situation that a couple hundred years ago, our ancestors fought to get out of. Freedom of Religion for example. We escaped England so that we could practice what religion we wanted. Now we've got a ton of them.... A GREAT THING!! But no one's afraid to just practice and enjoy. You've got your fanatics who think only their religion should take precedent or we're afraid to stand behind it. Take religion out of the schools and out of our justice system. Funny, I know working at a non-profit means I don't make much money but last time I saw a dollar it had the words "In God We Trust" printed right on it.

You can take the Politically Correct movement in a million different directions and never come up with the same answer twice....... or can you? When does PC go too far? Is this a vicious cycle we're doomed to repeat?

It was when reading a magazine that I came across an article about www.emailourmilitary.com and it's been one of the greatest things I've done in my life. Somehow it's become un-PC to support your military yet here's an organization that does just that. Why don't we take this to our school children? I've got about 15 service men / women then I send cards / emails to. It costs practically nothing, you're brightening someone's day and if it's not Politically Correct in someones eyes my response is........... Look the Other Way. Or better yet, join and see what it's really about. Don't let Political Correctness limit your visions. Our country was founded & expanded on visions and dream and make them come to exist. Remember that the next time an email comes along you might not normally forward or you see a newscast you may not like. Look deeper and question everything. And when you find something new, remember to thank little Ruthie Camden.