TEACHING OUR CHILDREN THAT SOME RULES ARE DUMB

I’m not a very happy father right now.  When I got home from work today I learned that my daughter’s campaign for school treasurer hit a snag.  Here is the problem.

She is running for treasurer, so she and her mother thought that her campaign should do something comical with money.  So, they went down to the dollar store and bought bags of fake money.  Then, right over the middle of phoney money where the president’s picture would be they taped candy to it.  On the back of the phoney money they would hand write–”Vote for Phoebe for  Treasurer.”  Today and tomorrow she planned to hand them out to the students in the hallways and in class.

She came home from school visibly upset because she was told that her campaign was inappropriate.  Wait for it, wait for it . . . you would think that they objected to the candy, right?  But no.  They arbitrarily decided that the phoney money might be construed by some as a bribe of some type.  Really?  Tonight she has to pull all the candy off and tomorrow she can hand out the candy but can’t give away the phoney money.

There is a serious lack of wisdom at Cedar Heights Junior High.

There is another problem with this ridiculous school.  My daughter loves to wear bandanas, pink, purple, orange, yellow–very girlie bandanas in her hair.  She has nice long hair that she works on and the bandanas are a part of her style.

Guess what?  Guess what?  She was told to stop wearing these bandanas because, and I quote, “Bandanas are gang signs.”  Maybe, I guess, but wouldn’t that just be part of your profile of a potential gang problem at the Junior High?  You would expect some other kind of behavior in addition to simply wearing a bandana.  Do they think that if there are no bandanas then people will stay way from gangs?  I mean, can you imagine a group of students after school mulling around the idea of forming a gang but then suddenly realizing, “Oh no, bandanas are not allowed at school!  I guess that means we can’t be in a gang.  Sorry boys.”  Its ridiculous.

Besides that, I mean, a pink bandana, really?  An orange  bandana, and I might add, notice that these are slightly ‘country’ styled bandanas.  What kind of gang would have country styled pink bandanas.  The West Side Barbies?  The Up-Town Tinkerbells?  I mean, really?

No, what this is all about, and you and I know what it s all about.  It is a power trip.  A person has the power to be arbitrary, so he or she is arbitrary.  That is all it is.  In the process they teach our children that rules are stupid and capricious and foolish so respect for institutions is further eroded.

JOB’S FRIENDS AND SUFFERING

What do you do with suffering?  More pointedly, what do you do to help other people who are suffering?

Suffering has been on my mind of late, and it is a major part of my new novel (which I’m trying to get published) not to mention a major part of my vocational ministry.  In addition to that, right now my daily Bible reading has me in squarely in the middle of Job.  Job, who was so tortured by The Satan that he lost his wealth, his livelihood, his children, and eventually his health.  He is the pinnacle of suffering.

But alas, three friends show up:  Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.  These three friends, along with a fourth one who comes later, named Elihu, speak to Job in his pain.  The things they say are very theologically sound and it is things we would agree with.  For example, here are some of Zophar’s words:

Can you find out the deep things of God?  Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?  It is higher than heaven–what can you do?  Deeper than Sheol–what can you know?  Its measure is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea . . . If you direct your heart rightly, you will stretch out your hands toward him.  If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and do not let wickedness reside in your tents.”  Job 8:7-9, 13-14 (NRSV)

See, they say good things, so why are they so wrong?  Why does God judge them at the end when he vindicates Job?

Here is why.  They have good theology but absolutely no compassion.  Theology is helpful for people to know before suffering comes and it is helpful long after the suffering has passed, but in the midst; in the midst of pain theology is lousy.  What we human beings need is empathy and care, love and concern.  When helping those who are suffering:

1.  Keep your mouth closed–People who are in pain do not need to hear your words.  There is nothing you can say to make it better, so don’t even try.

2.  Do not defend God or his ways–NEVER NEVER NEVER say something stupid like “God must have a reason for this” and then quote Romans 8:28.  You are not being helpful.  When people say things like that in the midst of pain what they are actually doing is relieving their own tension.

3.  Resist the temptation to rebut the sufferer’s feelings–This was the big sin of Job’s friends.  Whenever Job would complain about his emotional grief, they would give cold, calloused theological and philosophical reflection to try and “help” Job see how he was wrong.  Don’t do that.

4.  Don’t stay away–For all the things they did wrong, you’ve got to hand it to Job’s friends, at least they showed up!  Many of us think “I don’t know what to say or do,” so we just ignore others in their pain.  We don’t call, text or message.  We just wait.  That is the worst thing.  True friendship and love pulls up a chair and sits.

One of the greatest miracles of the Bible is that Job is in it, because it flies in the face of so many of our preconceived notions about the Lord.  In many ways it serves as a textbook to us on how to minister–the do’s and don’ts– to those who are suffering.

THE STAR TREK COUNTDOWN

Yesterday I blogged (READ IT HERE) about the new Star Trek movie, Star Trek Into Darkness.  Today, though, I am ruminating about the other films in the franchise and where I rank them in order of excellence.

KHANNNNNNNNNN!

1.  Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan–without a doubt this is the best.  It ranks in my top five science fiction movies of all time.

2.  Star Trek:  First Contact--Aesthetics, plot, acting, and the f/x were all superior in this film.  It was for everyone, but included something for the fan as well.

3.  Star Trek (2009)–I know most would put this as the first one, and it certainly made more money than any of the others, but there were too many plot holes in it for me to push it any further up the list.

4.  Star Trek IV:  The Voyage Home–Of Course, the voyage home is not to earth with the whales, but the voyage is back to the rebuilt Enterprise at the end of the movie.

5.  Star Trek Generations:  This film gets panned a lot because of the plot holes and time-travel nexus problems (which are no worse than Star Trek (2009) by the way) but this is the best thematic film of the lot in terms of emotional energy and morality.  My oldest daughter was an infant, 4 weeks old when we saw this movie in the theater.  She graduates from high school in three weeks.  Generations means something more now.

6.  Star Trek VI:  The Undiscovered Country–Kirk and crew have a great idea to work with, but the elements feel rehashed.  How many female Vulcans does Spock need to train?  However, I do love the Hamlet references.

7.  Star Trek Insurrection–I do not like this movie very much, but I do not hate it very much either.  It feels like an elongated episode.

8.  Star Trek III:   The Search for Spock–Stupid plot, poor f/x and needless emotional ploys (killing David Marcus and blowing up the Enterprise) spoil it.  The only real bright spot, Christopher Lloyd as a Klingon!

9.  Star Trek Nemesis:  Oh dear, this was an awful film.  It was a poor rehashing of Star Trek II (Which I am worried the new film will be as well) and it weakened the Romulans.

10.  Star Trek the Motion Picture–This actually is tied with Nemesis.  It is put at 10 only because of the vanity upon vanities of beauty shots of the Enterprise floating in the cloud thingy.  Never mind that this is essentially a stolen story from the original series.

11.  Star Trek V:  The Final Frontier–Awful awful awful awful.  The worst not only of the original six, but the worst of the entire franchise. The only positive aspect at all of the movie is the emotional energy of the individual ‘pain’ of the triumvirate.

Time will tell where the new film will rate.  Time will tell.  Time is “like a predator.  It’s stalking you.”

Read also:

Beard Trek

Some Star Trek Philosophy