Choice and Accountability

I’m a mother. Heavenly Father has blessed me with four amazing children. At first, this may seem a little off topic for my blog. But parents will understand how fundamentally liberty and parenthood are intertwined. Today, I want to share a few thoughts on the importance of teaching your children about freedom and its implications.

I like to say that I never “force” my children to do anything. I allow them to make their own choices and help them to understand that the consequences they face are a result of making bad or good choices. Once, I had another mother respond to this assertion rather angrily. She said, “Well, I’m not going to allow my son to hit his brother so that he can have freedom.” I can see how my parenting philosophy would initially seem very much like an absence of discipline. In hopes of helping other parents understand the importance of liberty, I want to explain this idea a little more.

There was a time, at my house, when I used to say “If you make good choices, good things happen” and, “If you make bad choices, bad things happen,” an awful lot. Now, I say, “If you make good choices…” and I’m immediately interrupted by at least one of my children responding, “Mommy, I already know that!” They have come to understand two very simple things: 1. They are free to make their own decisions and 2. The consequences of those decisions will follow naturally.

To those people who find this to be a disturbing lack of discipline, let me make one thing perfectly clear: I DID NOT GIVE THEM THEIR AGENCY. Ultimately, their ability to make decisions is a gift from God. The mother who objected to my methods cannot prevent her son from hitting his brother without tying him up or locking him in his room at all times as a preventative measure. Agency exists. As parents, we can handle its existence in one of two ways.

Here’s a scenario: Your older child sees the younger one with one of his toys. He walks over, takes the toy and pushes the other child down. You, now have two choices. You can fly off the handle, yell at the older child. Tell him that he can never, never hit his brother. In essence, you have just said with your actions and probably your words, “I will not allow you to do that.” Here, the child sees the parent restricting him. That makes the parent the “bad guy” in the child’s eyes.

There’s a second way to handle this fight. You can walk over to the older child and look at him, so he understands you’re trying to communicate something important. This may include taking him by the shoulders. Calmly, you say, “That is a bad choice. You made a bad choice by hitting your brother. When you make bad choices, bad things happen. Now you need to sit in time out.” Just by changing the wording a little bit, the choice becomes the “bad guy” and the punishment is a natural consequence, not mom being mean. When something like this happens, I put my child in time-out until he says he is ready to “make good choices” and then I explain that apologizing would be a good choice. If he refuses, I calmly explain, “That’s fine, that’s your choice. But you have to stay in time out until you are ready to make good choices.” My children get praised for apologizing. I tell them how proud I am of their good choices. This helps them see that good choices bring good things. It almost always works for my kids.

I further enforce it by immediately rewarding good behavior. For example, this morning, my son was playing his video game. I had told him that he had ten more minutes of play time before we got dressed for the day. My husband didn’t know about that and told my son to immediately clean his clothes up out of the bathroom. My son obeyed without complaint. When he returned, I explained to him that obeying his dad was a very good choice and I would start his 10 minutes of play time over because he had made a good decision.

We’ve been doing this for a long time. I always make sure my kids understand the consequences of their decisions and I always make certain they know that the choice to obey or disobey is theirs, but there will be a consequence (good or bad). Over time, tantrums have virtually disappeared. My children do sometimes disobey. But they are quicker to accept their punishment, because they do not feel they are being controlled. Their punishment was clearly explained to them when they chose to disobey. For example, there are never dessert tantrums anymore. My children may have dessert if they eat all their dinner. Otherwise, because they like sweets, they will fill up on them. We’ve reached the point where my son will stop eating in the middle of a meal. When he says he’s finished, I tell him “That’s okay, you should stop eating when you’re full. But, you won’t get dessert tonight because you can’t put sugar into your body when you haven’t eaten the good foods first.” For a while he would cry, but now he smiles and says, “Okay, mommy, I’m done.” The “punishment” is never a “punishment.” It’s a choice and he knows he’s in control.

So, why am I posting this on my blog which is concerned primarily with sharing the importance of liberty? It’s just this. So many of the people in this country seem to have never learned how choice and accountability work. They are like children who want to think of themselves as victims of circumstance, rather than dealing with the natural consequences of their actions. This feeling of being victimized is, in and of itself, a tyrant. And the ignorance that begets it is the ignorance of how natural consequences work. As I said earlier, I did not give my children agency. It exists because of our Heavenly Father. I didn’t invent the concept of good choices bringing good things and bad choices bringing bad. But I will help them to understand it. So, I want to say to every American: “When you make good choices, you are free; When you make bad choices, you enslave yourself.” It’s not just the children that need to come to understand this principle. There is no one holding you down or forcing you to live poorly. You will only be truly free when you choose to stop blaming and start acting.

Knowledge is Freedom

This blog is interested in the defeat of tyrants, who/whatever they may be. This often lends itself to political discussions. But, I think it’s important for all of us to realize that the worst tyrant of all is ignorance. Please permit me a moment of reflection.

This week my three year old little girl got very sick. The whole family was recovering from a seemingly never-ending upper respiratory illness. It’s been going on for almost two weeks with each of us spiking fevers at different times and working toward recovery. Nothing much has gotten done in my house lately. I wasn’t surprised when my little Chloe started fevering again last Saturday. We waited and watched. She didn’t seem to have any other symptoms besides the residual cough and she sometimes coughed herself to the point where she threw up.

I alternated Tylenol and ibuprofen for the fever. She was on a serious roller coaster, because she seemed to recover completely when the medicine kicked in. She stayed home from church on Sunday and I was starting to get seriously worried. On Monday my husband, a resident emergency medicine physician, commented, “It looks like a UTI, you should take her to the pediatrician.” It was the opening I was waiting for. You see, I try to be responsible. I know that there is nothing that anyone can do about the viral infection we’d all been dealing with. I know that irresponsibility with antibiotics is creating resistant strains and I didn’t want to take my daughter to the doctor to be told to go home and wait it out. But, I was afraid, and I was glad to have it legitimized by my husband.

I was able to do a walk-in appointment at my pediatrician. He did the same examination my husband does at home and told me he didn’t see any reason to suspect a bacterial infection. That is to say that the ears, throat and lungs looked good. I knew that. I told him that we suspected a UTI and he asked a whole series of questions like, “Does she have a history of urinary infections?” and “Does she complain about pain when she urinates.” As the questions went on, I began to feel a little dumb because I kept answering “no.”

The doctor said, “Playing the odds here, this is most likely a flu. But, UTI’s are serious and we need to rule it out, so we want to get a urine sample.” Chloe panicked at the idea of peeing in a cup. We gave her water and popsicles and sat in the doctor’s office for over an hour. She cried, refused bribes and stuck her bottom lip out as far as it would go. Finally the doctor gave me the sterile cup and told me that if I could get one, I should bring it back. He suggested I might have more luck if I waited until the next morning. I considered that since she seemed to have so much control over her bladder, it likely wasn’t a UTI anyway.

At home, Chloe stopped pottying all together, despite drinking constantly. She burst into tears whenever I suggested she consider the cup. I got creative and put plastic wrap under the toilet seat to try and catch some. She was too smart for that. That night, my temporal thermometer was reading 104. I changed the batteries. Still 104. I ran to Walgreens and bought a rectal thermometer: 105. I started freaking out. Luckily my husband was there to be the voice of reason. We gave Chloe Tylenol and ibuprofen. We fed her ice cream, gave her water, and kept her lightly dressed. Her fever dropped below a hundred before I put her to bed. But, neither of us slept.

Tuesday morning I bawled when she continued to refuse to potty. I got angry and yelled at my husband. I begged with her and made promises. We were both in tears when I collected half an ounce from the plastic wrap and ran to the doctor’s office. It took an agonizing half day before I got the answer. I called the doctor’s office and was told by a secretary that these tests take 2 days. I told her there was no way I was waiting two days. She told me the doctor was out of the office. The doctor, himself, called me back. The test was positive, he was calling in a prescription. I ran to the pharmacy. They didn’t have it yet. I went home and called the pharmacy. They couldn’t find the order. I called the doctor AGAIN. He told me who he had spoken to at the pharmacy. I called the pharmacy again. They had found it; it would be a half hour.

That night I held my three year old in my arms while she slept. I kept kissing her forehead, amazed at how cold it felt. Had I forgotten what non-feverish skin felt like? I was completely overwhelmed by the situation. She’d only had one dose of the Augmentin.

Thoughts whirred through my head. I remembered my baby girl as a two-month-old with a fever. Of course, I had rushed her to the pediatrician, who had rushed her to the hospital. She had pneumonia. We were given antibiotics and sent home. Within a day, it was like the whole thing had never happened. Penicillin was discovered in 1928, within my grandparents’ lifetimes. Would my baby have even survived two months without them? What would have happened this time if she had? What if we didn’t have immunizations? How many of my four beautiful children would have suffered from debilitating childhood illness?

I realized, again, the power of knowledge. As I am writing this, Chloe is acting completely normal. She will take the medicine for the next 9 days, but she is no longer lying listless, barely able to move. She’s laughing and jumping. It’s been 15 hours since I got her medicine.

This is getting reflective, but it’s something I want to share, because (although nothing could be bigger to me), it speaks to a much bigger point in its implications. This circumstance is really an excellent parable for what I am trying to communicate on this blog. Knowledge is power. It is power because it is freedom. It is our obligation to be informed as parents, as citizens, and as children of God. The slavery that comes from ignorance isn’t just disease. The choices we make either lead to freedom or enslavement and the ONLY way to insure that we remain free is to become informed before we make those choices. I truly believe that is why God gave us agency. He wants us to learn and to grow. He wants us to be free. I can understand him wanting that for his children. I want it for mine.

"A word to the wise ain't necessary - it's the stupid ones that need the advice."

A Loving Tribute to Bill Cosby


I will say that I love this man. It all started with his stand up comedy DVD called, "Bill Cosby, Himself" If you haven't seen this remarkable piece of comedy, you must. I have a distinct memory of my husband laying on the floor with his legs stuck up in the air, laughing so hard that the only sound coming out of him was a hilarious clicking noise. And I remember being struck at the anomaly. Here, we had a comedian who was so funny without being perverse or shocking. I immediately started the practice of buying the DVD for everyone I loved when their birthdays came around.

I also found much refreshing about his determination to push the black population away from blaming "the man" and claiming victim status. It is a message everyone, of every race and ethnicity, could benefit from. He has been a voice for personal responsibility in his activism and I respect him more than I can express. That being said, there are obviously matters on which we disagree. He spoke of what a great experience it was to vote for president Obama. He made the point that the president was a man who was educated, well spoken, and took care of his beautiful family. Certainly, I cannot argue with that. It is the fact that his policies enable people who are claiming victim status that bothers me. Still, whether or not our opinions differ, Mr. Cosby is one of the endangered species of educated entertainers and I love the man. So, today I want to share a few of my favorite Bill Cosby quotes:

On Victimhood:

“As you probably know, certain people tell us that we are picking on the poor. Many of those who accuse us are scholars and intellectuals, upset that we are not blaming everything on white people as they do. Well, blaming only the system keeps certain black people in the limelight, but it also keeps the black poor wallowing in victimhood.” (Cosby and Toussaint)

"It's not what they're doing to us. It's what we're not doing. 50 percent drop out. Look, we're raising our own ingrown immigrants. These people are fighting hard to be ignorant. There's no English being spoken, and they're walking and they're angry. Oh God, they're angry and they have pistols and they shoot and they do stupid things. And after they kill somebody, they don't have a plan. Just murder somebody. Boom. Over what? A pizza? And then run to the poor cousin's house."

On Parenting:

"I'm talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit. Where were you when he was two? Where were you when he was twelve? Where were you when he was eighteen, and how come you don't know he had a pistol?"

"50 percent drop out rate, I’m telling you, and people in jail, and women having children by five, six different men. Under what excuse, I want somebody to love me, and as soon as you have it, you forget to parent. Grandmother, mother, and great grandmother in the same room, raising children, and the child knows nothing about love or respect of any one of the three of them. All this child knows is “gimme, gimme, gimme.” These people want to buy the friendship of a child….and the child couldn’t care less. Those of us sitting out here who have gone on to some college or whatever we’ve done, we still fear our parents. And these people are not parenting. They’re buying things for the kid. $500 sneakers, for what? They won’t buy or spend $250 on Hooked on Phonics."

"Ladies and gentlemen, the lower economic and lower middle economic people are not holding their end in this deal. In the neighborhood that most of us grew up in, parenting is not going on. In the old days, you couldn’t hooky school because every drawn shade was an eye. And before your mother got off the bus and to the house, she knew exactly where you had gone, who had gone into the house, and where you got on whatever you had one and where you got it from. Parents don’t know that today."

"Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell the name will carry."

On Education:

"I’m looking at the junkiest room I’ve ever seen. It is a classroom in an American public school; it is public education in America today. A child did not make the room junky; generations of litterers – legislators, school board members, superintendents, principals, taxpayers, teachers and presidents did."

AND FINALLY...On Fatherhood:

"Only people as intelligent as we could fake such stupidity."


I love you, Bill. Thanks for being a great example of someone in the entertainment industry worth looking up to. And thank you for being a spokesperson for the freedom that comes with empowerment, education and a strong family.

Americans do care!

Guess the movie quote:

"How long has the military been handing out jets, doctor?"

"The boys over at Lockheed handed me this one, I hope you taxpayers don't mind."

"WE DO!!!"

If you know what movie that's from, you are way cooler than either of the other people who read my blog. Now, watch the clip!

Big Government is Making You Fat

That’s good news isn’t it? We all wanted someone to blame! Well, that’s not the reason I’m posting this on by blog. I’m doing it because no one seems to understand what a free market is. There is an entire camp out there, including Nancy Pelosi, who blame the current market situation on the free market. The Speaker of the House specifically said, “It’s really an anything-goes mentality. No regulation, no supervision, no discipline.” Well, let’s talk about that "anything goes" situation a little.

Some people have found it strange how the tables have turned recently as far as wealth and nutrition are concerned. Once upon a time, it was fashionable to be very large because that meant that you were wealthy. Now, medical research has made it clear that the current profile of an obese person usually includes poverty. It has been established that foods which contain little nutritional value are the cheapest foods. If you don’t put too much thought into it, it’s easy to think that makes sense. Shouldn’t healthy foods be more expensive? But consider the processing that goes into creating junk food vs what it takes to grow an apple. Why in the world would highly processed foods be cheaper?

Government Regulation

According to Wikipedia, the U.S. Farm Bill is, “the primary agricultural and food policy tool of the Federal government of the United States. The comprehensive omnibus bill is passed every several years by the United States Congress and deals with both agriculture and all other affairs under the purview of the United States Department of Agriculture.” It includes a host of government subsidies which, in effect, make it cheaper to produce unhealthy food. The one food that the farm bill supports more than any other is corn. This makes it very cheap to produce corn syrup, even the high fructose kind we’ve all been warned against. Basically, the U.S. Government is paying farmers to produce high carbohydrate foods.

According to the New York Times, “A result of these policy choices is on stark display in your supermarket, where the real price of fruits and vegetables between 1985 and 2000 increased by nearly 40 percent while the real price of soft drinks (a k a liquid corn) declined by 23 percent.” If you can, you should really read this entire article. You can find it here. It explains how these policies have also had a negative impact on other countries and our over-all economy.

So, what’s the good news here? It’s that the left’s constant attempts to tell us that “willy nilly free market policies” have caused the economic problems is just a scare tactic. How in the world can they argue that when we have not had any political leaders willing to stand up for freedom in years? Take a look at history. Take a look at what government intervention has done and ask yourself if laissez faire wouldn’t be better. You certainly can’t argue that it hasn't worked in the past, because it’s never been tried. Politicians have always been too tempted by the power that comes with control, even though they deny the responsibility.

Not Venezuela

I wanted, so badly, to post a great victory today. Yesterday, Hugo Chavez, one of the most evil men in the world, won the right to unlimited power in Venezuela. He has been in power so long already that he has managed to muscle out everyone who opposes him. Now, he has amended the constitution so that he can remain in power as long as he wants. He has solidified his position as a tyrant. This man banned all alcohol on Valentine’s Day so that people could focus on voting for his ridiculous amendment. Then, his people made comments about how that was good because then everyone would be able to vote. Are you catching the problem here? This is not about whether alcohol is good or bad. This is about the fact that people think it’s good that their choices have been taken away. Unfortunately, I cannot declare victory today. The people of Venezuela continue to vote away their rights.

I promised to keep this blog positive, so I can’t focus on the situation in Venezuela. Instead, I want to take a brief moment to reflect on the history of freedom in America. People like to talk about how liberty was the basic premise that our country was founded on. It wasn’t, not really. How can we claim that when there was categorical, legal discrimination from the beginning? The fact is that the cause of liberty has been fought for over the history of this country as we evolved into an understanding of what it means to be truly free. We defeated the laws that discriminated against women, minorities, religious groups, etc, as this country grew to greatness. We continued to define liberty as we worked to understand what it really meant to be American.

But let’s be quite clear on this, the goal is equality under the law. It is not to eliminate individual identity. The government has no right to tell people what to believe any more than they have the right to tell us whether or not we can drink alcohol on Valentine’s Day. The premise of liberty is that we have the right to make our own mistakes and live the consequences of those mistakes. I never drink alcohol, but that is my choice. I would fight for your right to choose differently. America, stand up and be proud that we still live where we can make our own choices and live with our own mistakes. Take responsibility for yourself and fulfill your own obligations. Vote for liberty and responsibility rather than for babysitting and forced obedience. We are not Venezuela, yet.

To all the people I love:

I just wanted to tell you that I love you. I appreciate all you do and I am thankful to Heavenly Father for the chance I be had to be a part of your life. Of course, I loved you yesterday and I will love you tomorrow. But yesterday I was doing laundry and dishes and tomorrow I’ll be buying groceries. It’s not that I don’t want you to know that I love you every day. I am grateful to have a day set aside to remember and celebrate all the people I love.

I feel like I have been surrounded by a barrage of people telling me what a horrible, commercialized holiday Valentine’s Day is. Ironically, the most frequently cited argument for this contention is that we should show our love everyday, not just on holidays. It seems like the people who feel this way ought to love Valentine’s Day the most. After all, it’s the people who think about Jesus everyday that love to celebrate his birth at Christmas. I pray in gratitude every night for my beautiful children. That is why I am so glad they have a birthday once a year where I can set aside the everyday struggles and simply celebrate their births. I am disturbed by all the people who think being ornery and feeling pestered by a holiday meant to honor the people we love is a better expression of love then being excited at the opportunity to set aside the mundane. I was even more disturbed to open up foxnews.com this morning and find a story about why everyone hates this holiday. Valentine’s Day is not about flowers and chocolates. Think about it as an opportunity to reflect on all the people who wish they had someone to celebrate with, rather than feeling bothered that you’re expected to say “I love you.” Remember how lucky and blessed you are to have love. And remember, as always, that I love you.


Happy Valentine’s Day,


Amy

Ignorance and Autism

I have always thought the title of my blog, "Tyrants are but the spawn of ignorance, begotten by the slaves they trample on," had many different applications. One of these is that people often become slaves to ideas that simply aren't true because they do not or cannot find out the truth.

My sister has a beautiful little boy with autism. I cannot begin to explain the struggle she went through before she had a diagnosis or the heartache she's had to endure since. But she said something very interesting to me once when we were discussing the autism/vaccination link. She said, "I really don't understand all the details of the arguments. What I do know is that I can't let myself make decisions concerning my children based on fear and that's what all the hype is." Her children have all received their vaccinations on schedule. You see, fear is probably the worst tyrant of all and it's nemesis is education.

Today, there was a great victory for freedom from fear. A federal court ruled that autism is not caused by vaccinations and that parents of autistic children cannot claim money set aside for those who have had serious reactions to vaccines. And since I believe that knowledge is what eliminates fear, I want to share a few fact on this matter.

The original scare came in 1998 when a study was released analyzing 12 children. The study claimed that the MMR shot was to blame for the rising rates of diagnosed Autism. The study has never been duplicated, despite multiple tries. 10 of the 13 authors of the study has since recanted their findings, citing problems with the science or sample.

When I asked my husband what he had learned in medical school, he said this, "There is no link. There has not been one study that conclusively proves a cause effect link." Oh sure, there are studies that claim that they found children who developed autism after receiving the MMR. But I once read a study that proves that the fall in the level of the Great Salt Lake causes more crime. It was proven by association. Of course, a logical person would see that the warmer weather caused both the change in the lake and the change in crime. The studies linking autism to MMR are similar in their logic. In fact, the information in favor of a link comes from self-reporting studies. In other words, the parents of the children talked about the changes their child underwent after receiving their immunizations. Sadly, at least one survey has shown that the same parents reported different results before and after the media hype about the supposed link. I don't think they meant to change their stories. I just think that they were subconsciously effected by the coverage.

"A worrying feature of this study, revealed by detailed review of the case records, was that in 13 children the history given by parents had changed after publicity about MMR vaccine and autism. Before the publicity the parents often reported concerns early in their children’s life, usually before the first birthday; the current history for the same children recorded symptoms as developing only after MMR vaccination, in some cases shortly after"

Yes, children are diagnosed with autism after they have their immunizations, however, there is no clustering in symptoms. In other words, the children are just as likely to begin exhibiting symptoms of autism after their immunizations as at any other time during early childhood. There are plenty of studies that show the number of children diagnosed with the disease is actually lower in immunized populations. That doesn't prove anything either. But more telling, is a recent study done in Japan after they banned the MMR shot. Autism rates continued rising, despite that. Here's the article: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7076

It's certainly indisputable that autism is on the rise, although several studies accredit this increase to increased awareness and diagnosis rather than an actual increase in cases. But the accepted research has not found any reason to think that there is a link between having your child immunized and autism. Those people who believe that there is a link frequently complain that the government is part of some conspiracy to keep it quiet. That's why it's nice to hear it from someone who has nothing to gain by sharing the info.

When you choose not to immunize, you choose to put your child and those around him/her at risk. So, are you going to base you choice on fear or on facts. I adore my autistic nephews. They are a gift from God and there is no reason to find blame for their conditions.

Sometimes the government does something right. Today's ruling is a step toward liberty by being a step away from fear. Top scientists declared it a "victory for science." I am declaring it a victory for freedom.

On a personal note, please visit my nephew's blog: http://gavinrausch.blogspot.com/ . It means a lot to my sister when people take the time to comment.

Just for Smiles

Okay, I promised to keep this blog positive. Because of that, I do try to ignore much of the political scene because it is so negative. As everyone knows by now, Tom Daschle recently withdrew his name after Obama nominated him as Secretary of the Health and Human Services Department. There have now been three cabinet nominees who have faced tough criticism because they were caught cheating on taxes. Tom Daschle is my favorite, though, because the whole situation is so hilarious. How did he cheat on his taxes? He didn't pay them on a limo and driver given to him by his employer. Why does that make me laugh so hard I can't see straight? Check out this real campaign ad from the 80's...



That's not all folks, 1998 Mr. Daschle gave a passionate speech on the senate floor during which he said, "Make no mistake, tax cheaters cheat us all, and the IRS should enforce our laws to the letter."

Okay, if that didn't brighten your day, then I don't know what's wrong with you. Politics can be fun!

Saving the Earth

Today is Sunday, so you'll have to forgive me for being a little more philosophical than usual. I don't usually take the time to write on Sunday, but I read something this morning that made me need to share a few thoughts.

As the mother of four amazing children, I have, on occasion, faced some people who think that I am trying to destroy the world. The most frequent opposition to my family is the argument that the education system should not be over burdened by my desire to have kids. I brush these naive arguments off. I know these people will stop their griping the minute they realize that it's my children who are providing their social security.

But this morning, I read an article that gives voice to Jonathon Porritt, who chairs the British government’s Sustainable Development Commission. This man wants to save the Earth and he believes that he can do it by proving to the rest of the world that it is irresponsible to have more than two children (ironically, the number that he has). He states, as proof of this problem, “We still have one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancies in Europe and we still have relatively high levels of pregnancies going to birth, often among women who are not convinced they want to become mothers."

WHAT?

Now listen, I am not making a secret of how I feel about abortion. I cannot be happy about the mass genocide of unborn children because I believe that children are the greatest of God's gifts. But, pro-choice vs pro-life isn't even in it here. This is not someone saying that women should have the right to choose about abortion. This is someone arguing that abortion is a moral obligation and that it is, in fact, "irresponsible" to carry a child to term.

Why? Because of global warming. Yes, we must wipe out the children in order to save the children. Here is the real problem I have with this entire issue. It seems to always be those who have no religious footing that want so desperately to SAVE the planet for future generations. LET'S BE QUITE CLEAR ON THIS ARGUMENT. Life on this planet is an accident. It climbed out of the slime and progressed over billions of years through a series of genetic mutations (aka: more accidents). There is no divine purpose, no life after death, and nothing special about humans. We must consider ourselves equal with the mosquitoes, because they have the same right to be here that we do. Of course, that means no right at all. It's simply coincidence. BUT, in a few million years we may have, though our irresponsibility, used up this Earth's resources and caused a disaster for the planet. Life may, in fact, be utterly wiped away. This, of course, would leave us right back where we stared. And, I must say, "Who cares?" There was nothing divine about that life we destroyed anyway!

Okay...count to 10...Let me tell you what I know. I know that we are Children of God. As such, we have a divine purpose and an eternal destiny. We should be good stewards of the world we have been given precisely for this reason. But, killing, devaluing, or simply detesting children is the FARTHEST thing from a solution. Be grateful, Mr. Porritt, that there are those of us who value our children so much that we are willing to sacrifice careers, money, trips and other luxuries to raise them and teach them of their divine worth. Be glad that we aren't all teaching our children that the human race has no inherit worth. Be glad, because the values that I am trying to instill in my beautiful children are the ones that will make this world livable for yours.