I loved your Christmas editorial … but you only touched on the girl
of Want when you brought up our attitudes toward welfare reform. This addresses
the boy of Ignorance. I know it's long but I'd appreciate it if you would
at least read it and consider it for publication.
Brian McMahon 797-5016
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This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all
of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see
that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased …
Educating The Boy
The creationists want to have their theories of the universe's creation
taught in public schools. You know the theory. God's six busy days. And
God said "Let there be light." Alas, there is no scientific evidence
to support "instant creation." There is no scientific evidence
to support the very existence of a God. To teach something in our schools
that is not supported by evidence would be totally inappropriate.
The Big Bang theory is what science espouses as the creation of our
universe. Everything that exists in our observable universe can ultimately
be explained by cause and effect over time … lots of time. It took billions
of years for our universe, our world, to reach its present state. It makes
good sense.
The Big Bang theory did not kill God. God could have created whatever
banged … and all the rules of the physical universe. And what some see
as sublime chaos could all have been a part of God's plan. But that is
the stuff of theology and we cannot favor a theological belief in our schools
… no matter how widely held. We must stick to the facts.
Nor can we teach of God creating Adam. Science shows us how we evolved
from the monkey. It's that cause and effect and time business again … slowly
… ever so slowly over time did man evolve as an ever flowing process. It
makes good sense.
And over time, following the laws of the physical universe, man will
cease to exist as we now know man. We may evolve to a higher, more enduring
life form, or we may go the way of the dinosaur; survival of the fittest
as I recall it. Survival of the fittest makes sense. The law of the jungle.
The law of the jungle makes good sense.
But what of society's rules? What of this Boy we would educate? Why
shouldn't the Boy kill a weaker male caught chasing his would-be mate?
Because the law says he can't? Science taught him that we are animals like
any other animal. And science taught him with consistency … showing cause
and effect. Why shouldn't the law of the jungle prevail?
The physical science we teach has consistency. It has no morality …
it has cold, hard facts. It has cause and effect over time. The rules of
social science as evidenced by our laws lack consistency and often absolutely
deny cause and effect. The cardinal rule in the social sciences seems to
be "where education is required legislation provides an economic quick
fix."
If lawyers and legislators were responsible for educating our children
in the physical sciences, no doubt there would be laws that the world is
flat and that apples cannot fall from the tree. If an apple should fall
it is breaking the law.
That may sound ludicrous but it is no more ludicrous than an 18 year
old who is responsible enough to choose those who will lead him, responsible
enough to offer up his very life for those who lead and those he loves,
but 3 years shy of the responsibility required to have a beer with his
friends.
It is no more ludicrous than a government that would preach that all
we need is a dollar and a dream, nor more sad than the hopelessness of
those who might believe it.
How ridiculous is the very thought of a "sin tax"? And from
those who have sworn to abstain from religion in their dealings of state.
Call it small but it softly mocks integrity. And how ludicrous to leave
the home as the last bastion of the smoker and say that we are protecting
and educating our children? If we really had the child's interest at heart
would not the home have been the first place to prohibit smoking?
If the sea were to well up and swallow a boat would we judge it guilty
of killing the boatsman? Would we spit at and scorn the sea for its horrendous
act? No, but we would quench the thirst of ignorance for reason and justice
by declaring "Guilty but insane." Where is the insanity?
How ludicrous that we teach consensual sexual intercourse does not result
in the conception of new life but in an invasion of privacy? The physical
sciences will show us cause and effect and the social sciences will deny.
The physical sciences laugh at the concept of a God instantly creating
a full born Adam, yet the social sciences create laws which insist that
a woman can. Blink and it's an invading fetus. Blink again and it is a
creature with the sacred rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
And only a woman has that sacred wink which brings a fetus to life;
the voiceless male must wait and wonder what his goddess of mutual consent
will do. If she blinks sacred he will be financially and legally bound
to that which she favors. If this is not insanity enough consider that
a course in prayer is not required of our school boys. Boys had better
know how to pray … at least to their goddesses.
And how long shall we hold a life to its sacred and unalienable right?
Until the insanity we have taught it takes its toll and it rebels in holy
terror against our feigned righteousness? Is that when capital punishment
kicks in? Or do we weigh the quality of this life and determine if and
when an "assisted suicide" would be most noble? Nor long would
sacred stand against the just war waged for holy oil, or other precious
resource.
If life is sacred then let us make life sacred. If nothing is sacred,
if we are nothing more than the monkeys we came from, then let the law
of the jungle prevail. As a society we must believe in something; an ethic
if not a religion; a human life if not a God. And we must be consistent
if we would have others believe.
When we attempt to use legislation as a substitute for education we
attempt to bully ignorance into submission. Such logic is fatally flawed.
The bully is the servant of ignorance. Bad logic begets bad laws. More
bad laws. More ignorance. More bullies. There is no quick fix for education.
And what we end up teaching is a course in hypocrisy and inconsistency.
This course is wearing holes in the walls of our society. The law of the
jungle is slowly seeping through.
I blame the educators for our current mess; the social scientists who
teach our children. Who are these social scientists? We are. Each and every
one of us. We are the scientists who can demonstrate a consistency to our
children. We teach them the truth of love and respect. We teach them how
sacred life is. We are the educators and we cannot abdicate or all is lost.
We pay the lawyers and legislators but they cannot do for us what we will
not do for ourselves. They only record and echo us. If we do not like them,
if we see them as corrupt, it is only our reflection.
As a society we must stand for something or we will not stand. What
will it be? The time has come to make our stand. If the world is simply
one big farm where all of life is the same; if our laws serve nothing greater
than to force the ignorant dog to sit then this dog will no longer sit
but stand. I will stand and say that I am a man. I am a strong man and
I will not go gentle into that good night. I will rage against the dying
of the light. I am fed up with our hypocrisy.
Who am I to speak so strongly? I am a boy you taught. There is good
in this boy. I dare believe I'm noble. I dare believe we are sacred. I
am no zealot but for all of us.
This light which flickers dim is not of life but dignity. There is no
sword that will rekindle this flame. There is only the hope that those
who believe will stand with me and say "Enough of ignorance. Let us
face this boy. " Let us begin the difficult task of education where
it needs to begin; in our hearts and in our homes. And let the walls of
our society be strengthened and secured by our commitment to this task.
And let the graffiti of our fear be cleansed from these great walls and
replaced with clear, consistent law, so that no time, no life, no being
great or small will ever doubt the nobility of our cause.
I will not be quieted by my religious beliefs, nor will I impose them.
I will not be quieted by those who might say that I only rouse the rabble.
If in truth there are rabble then we are all of it. I will not be quieted
by those who might say that I have something to gain like ego fanned. These
words are much too big for little me; these thoughts too great for one
small mind but none too great for all mankind. I have heard these words
spoken and better said throughout history. They have been spoken not by
gods but by men. I only remember and believe and call us to remember and
believe and begin again. It is the human spirit that is blowing in the
wind. The answers are there if we will only remember and believe and stand
for that which we believe in.
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