June 1, 2007
What It Takes
Posted by michaelindc under 2008 Politics, Christianity, Education, Family Values, Hillary Clinton, Morality, Reflection, politicsThe Executive Vice President of the supermarket chain I work for came through my line last week as he was touring all 70 of our stores. He asked me if I had any comments or concerns. I told him of one:
My supermarket has checkout lines for parents to bring their children through. These lines don’t have candy and the items they do have are pushed back, so that kids won’t grab at items from their carts. However, at my store in these lines, one in particular, there are books. While perhaps a third of these books are children books, the other two-thirds are graphic, tawdry, sexual paperback novels. These novels have explicit covers which often feature people in bed together, a woman taking her clothes off…et cetera…
In other words, in the line that parents were encouraged to take their children through, my supermarket had sexual novels plain in view.
The VP had the novels removed within an hour.
I came home feeling quite pleased as that had bothered me for months.
Late that same night, it hit me…
Hillary Clinton was right.
She was absolutely right. It takes a village. While the nuclear family unit is the most important factor in the development of a child, it is not enough. Children need role models outside of their family. Communities must censor themselves. While some conservatives, as they like to do on many issues, including immigration, would like to pretend it’s as simple as a strong mother and father will always lead to a son or daughter of high character, those of us with common sense know that that is not true. It takes a village. It takes a cashier thinking it’s wrong for kids to see something they aren’t ready to see. It takes Hillary Clinton supporting the V-Chip. It takes communities fighting against pornography, foul music, shallow drivel on television, movies and radio stations…Now more than ever, a good, even godly family is not enough.
This is related to another topic. Anderson Cooper discussed on tonight’s “360″ inner city violence and the death of 28 public school students in Chicago. All of those killed were black. It takes a village to take on that problem as well.
I will discuss it more in my next entry.
If any of you have thoughts please share.
God Bless.
June 4, 2007 at 3:09 am
Michael,
some interesting points you have raised here. The question for me is not does it take a village, you have laid out a strong case for why perhaps it does take a village… but the question is why does it take a village, or what are the dangers in it taking a village?
For instance, should it really take a village for our children to know that premarital sex is dangerous, leads to unwanted disease, pregnancies, and, in my opinion, is morally wrong? Why should my children need to learn this lesson at school. Or worse, do I trust my school to teach this to them? If you haven’t heard, there was a bit of controversy in Colorado, California, and other places, when some schools allowed, nay, forced, students to attend a seminar where the speaker talked how about good sex feels and why it is okay to explore and experiment with sex at that age.
Is this the village that is helping raise our children? Can villages sometimes harm, rather than help, our children? I feel that in this instance, that is exactly what happened.
June 4, 2007 at 10:01 pm
Oh yes…My point is not that “the village” is doing a good job. My point is merely that it takes one. My point is that the village will have an impact. To pretend as if a family unit is an isolated thing. That it’s the only factor with an impact on a child. That is a lie. I grew up in a family that was not Christian…if it was not for the village, those influences outside of my family, I would never have become a Christian.
I believe it is primarily the family’s responsibility to teach our children about premarital sex. However, the roar of the village can overcome even the strongest family.
So yes, the village can harm…that is the point. The culture has to change.