Not to start an argument or anything. I just found this interesting, and it rings true for me.
What follows is an excellent commentary by an educator at the University
> of Alabama:
>
> I grew up in rural America in the '50’s and '60’s. On any given day, you
> could walk through the high school parking lot and observe that half the
> vehicles parked there were trucks with windows rolled down and doors
> unlocked. Most of them carried, as standard equipment, an FFA sticker
> Future Farmers of America for you city folks) and a gun rack with at least
> one gun, usually loaded. You could make the same observation at any of the
> four high school campuses in our county. Amazingly, I do not ever recall
> reading or hearing about mass shootings in any of those high schools.
> What has changed in America is not the accessibility of guns, but the
> character of man. On the wall in my parents home is a plaque awarded to
> my father in recognition of service for 27 years on the local school
> board. He told me that for years, a standard requirement on every
> Teacher’s contract was membership in a local church.
> I remember starting every school day with the pledge and a prayer. I
> remember when girls who got pregnant in high school were ashamed, when
> abortions were illegal, when the divorce rate was not 50% because couples
> stayed together for the kid’s sake, when there were no X-rated movies,
> when milk cartons didn’t have missing kids faces on them and I didn’t know
> anyone personally who used drugs. I remember when kids were taught respect
> for authority and accountability to God. I hear people say that the good
> old days weren’t always so good but please don’t tell me you think these
> are better.
> Last night I attended a high school football game that was covered by
> local and national news. The news coverage was not about the football
> teams, but about the defiance of a court order by one brave little Texas
> town to preserve the right to pray before a football game. The more this
> country struggles to free itself from religion, the more we become
> entangled in the consequences.
> If people are taught that they came from slime, the obvious questions and
> consequences must follow; What is the purpose of my existence
> [hopelessness], who made you the boss of me [lawlessness], why are your
> rules good and mine bad [relativism], what does it matter how I live if I
> came from slime and return to slime [immorality and inhumanity]? I realize
> that in any given poll, the vast majority of Americans claim to believe in
> God. I claim to believe that running is good for me but that does not make
> me a runner. Putting on my running shoes and running makes me a runner.
> The climbing abortion rate, murder rate, divorce rate, alcoholism and drug
> abuse rate, child and spousal abuse rate contradict that claim and prove
> that actions speak louder than words. It is an observable truth that the
> best time you will ever make on any American City freeway is on Sunday
> morning because there are no traffic jams getting to church.
> For those who believe that separation of church and state is not enough,
> that the world would be better off with no church at all, ask yourself
> this question. How many hospitals, universities, orphanages, homeless and
> abuse shelters have been founded by the ACLU or American Atheist Society?
> It is the inclusion of the word Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian,
> Christian, etc., in the name of so many of these institutions that proves
> by actions, not just words, who really cares for the suffering of mankind
> and desires to make the world better.
> The question that people should be asking is not “Why does God allow
> tragedies?” but “When will we realize that no nation, in the history of
> the world, has ever separated itself from God and evolved to a better
> society?”
> Of course, to answer, you would have to know history. Most people, it
> would seem, prefer People magazine."
>
> Joyce Minor
> Asst. Director of Development and Alumni Relations
> University of Alabama
VB
Some people say that cats are sneaky, evil, and cruel. True, and they have many other fine qualities as well.