And neither are you. Get over it!
I'm so tired of all the bumper stickers I see all over the place: "My child is an honor student at Fill-in-the-Blank Elementary!" "My child is Student of the Month at Such-and-so Middle School!" "My child is a STAR! at the Twinkletoes Dance Academy!" "My child is an Accelerated Reader!" "My child goes poop in the potty on a consistent basis!"
Except for the last one, I've seen all of the above (names changed to protect the not-so-innocent) in the past week. Plus all of the huge magnetic thingies that are shaped like cheerleader megaphones and football helmets and whatnot that announce the child's name and jersey number and what team s/he is on. I'm beginning to think the proliferation of Monstrous Behemoth SUVs is an outgrowth of the desire to turn the back of one's automobile into the personal billboard advertising the greatness of one's children.
My school is feeding the ego-frenzy, too. Instead of generic stickers that advertise the school, we now have stickers for football, stickers for cheerleading, stickers for the Arts Guild, stickers for the swim and dive team, et cetera. We do have generic school stickers, but we also now have stickers to go under the generic school sticker for Every Single Activity/Club/Sport in which your kid is involved. Bonus points if your sticker collection has to make two rows. (And I'm not talking just a "Band" sticker. We have "Marching Band," "Jazz Band," and "Concert Band." "Swimming" and "Diving" are two separate stickers.)
At one time, I think, putting stickers on your car advertised support for a school or organization with which one was involved, not one's individual achievements or accomplishments. Now it's all about the individual -- like the organization exists to showcase Your Specialness!
I'm having a hard time this year dealing with parents and children who believe that they are Special. It's not that I don't want children to believe that they are precious in the eyes of God and worthwhile individuals who have much to offer their world -- I do -- but it seems like more and more, I'm just seeing children who think they're the only persons who count in the world. Everybody Else has to meet certain standards, but I'm Special, and I need to be treated differently! And then I meet the parents, and I get where it's coming from.
Instill a sense of individual worth in your children -- that's great. But when it's not accompanied by the lesson that other people are just as worthy, then you've created Selfish Monstrous Bratty Beasts.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Three years and counting...
Today The Greatest Man in the World and I are celebrating three years of wedded bliss. (It's also parent/teacher/student conference night tonight, so our celebrations won't really begin till after 7 p.m. But who wants an early dinner anyway, right?)
I don't pretend to be an expert on All Things Marriage, but I can say that after three years, it isn't what I expected -- it transcends expectations. It's also hard but rewarding work, this vocation.
The Holy Father's Angelus address from Sunday 8 October is addressed to married couples, and he puts it better than I can:
"My thought is directed to all Christian spouses: With them I thank the Lord for the gift of the sacrament of marriage, and exhort them to remain faithful to their vocation in each stage of life, "in joy and in sorrow, in health and in sickness," as they promised in the sacramental rite.
"May Christian spouses, aware of the grace received, build a family open to life and capable of facing together the numerous and complicated challenges of our time. Their testimony is particularly necessary today. Families are needed that do not let themselves be drawn by modern cultural currents inspired by hedonism and relativism, and that are willing to realize their mission in the Church and in society with generous dedication.
"In the apostolic exhortation "Familiaris Consortio," the Servant of God John Paul II wrote that the sacrament of marriage "makes Christian married couples and parents witnesses of Christ 'to the end of the earth,' as authentic 'missionaries' of love and life" (cf. No. 54). This mission is oriented both to the internal life of the family -- especially in mutual service and in the education of children -- as well as the external: the domestic community, in fact, is called to be the sign of God's love to all. The family can only fulfill this mission if it is supported by divine grace. For this reason, it is necessary to pray tirelessly and to persevere in the daily effort to keep the commitments assumed on the wedding day."
The biggest assumption I made about marriage three years ago was that it was mostly about my husband and me, and what wasn't about us was about our families and friends. That assumption's been turned on its head many times since; in fact, what our marriage is has less to do with us as individuals and more to do with what God is calling us to be in this mystery.
The priest who celebrated our wedding (God rest his soul) began the ceremony with the words "We interrupt this wedding to bring you...a miracle." And in the years since, I've realized he was right -- that this holy mystery is miraculous and a high calling, and through it, we are transformed and transforming, changed into something more than we were as individuals by His Divine Grace. I don't understand it -- I just try to live it.
I don't pretend to be an expert on All Things Marriage, but I can say that after three years, it isn't what I expected -- it transcends expectations. It's also hard but rewarding work, this vocation.
The Holy Father's Angelus address from Sunday 8 October is addressed to married couples, and he puts it better than I can:
"My thought is directed to all Christian spouses: With them I thank the Lord for the gift of the sacrament of marriage, and exhort them to remain faithful to their vocation in each stage of life, "in joy and in sorrow, in health and in sickness," as they promised in the sacramental rite.
"May Christian spouses, aware of the grace received, build a family open to life and capable of facing together the numerous and complicated challenges of our time. Their testimony is particularly necessary today. Families are needed that do not let themselves be drawn by modern cultural currents inspired by hedonism and relativism, and that are willing to realize their mission in the Church and in society with generous dedication.
"In the apostolic exhortation "Familiaris Consortio," the Servant of God John Paul II wrote that the sacrament of marriage "makes Christian married couples and parents witnesses of Christ 'to the end of the earth,' as authentic 'missionaries' of love and life" (cf. No. 54). This mission is oriented both to the internal life of the family -- especially in mutual service and in the education of children -- as well as the external: the domestic community, in fact, is called to be the sign of God's love to all. The family can only fulfill this mission if it is supported by divine grace. For this reason, it is necessary to pray tirelessly and to persevere in the daily effort to keep the commitments assumed on the wedding day."
The biggest assumption I made about marriage three years ago was that it was mostly about my husband and me, and what wasn't about us was about our families and friends. That assumption's been turned on its head many times since; in fact, what our marriage is has less to do with us as individuals and more to do with what God is calling us to be in this mystery.
The priest who celebrated our wedding (God rest his soul) began the ceremony with the words "We interrupt this wedding to bring you...a miracle." And in the years since, I've realized he was right -- that this holy mystery is miraculous and a high calling, and through it, we are transformed and transforming, changed into something more than we were as individuals by His Divine Grace. I don't understand it -- I just try to live it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)