Thursday, February 12, 2009

And thinking of Honest Abe...

Yesterday I caught a child stealing $62 worth of books from the library. Books are expensive. That was only 2 books. I turned in the student. Suspension will probably be the result, probably 3 days. Will that teach him it was wrong? I doubt it. Will he try it again? Probably. I am sad for him and for me.

Because this proves something I have been suspecting for a while. Kids are intentionally stealing the books. I have to do something. So I will probably make rules that nobody will like. And they will work on new ways to steal. It is the unfortunate truth today that without God, there is very little morality. It is reason enough to home school or privately educate your children to keep them from exposure to this culture.

Abe Lincoln whose birthday we celebrate today didn't come from a family who had money or influence. His mother and sister and, if the legends are true, first love all died while Abe was still young. He found character somewhere. He was a lawyer and still was known as Honest Abe.

We aren't going back there to that simpler time with shared community belief in God and doing what is right. But, we have not been abandoned by God. He is still with us, calling us back to Him. Calling all of us back, even the ones who steal the library books, especially those.

1 comment:

abroadermark said...

How sad! I'm sorry you're having to deal with such things, Mary.

When we first started homeschooling an older, seasoned homeschooling mom told us that - even if we did nothing but read to our children - they'd be better off than if they were in school. At first I thought she was crazy, but it didn't take long for me to see the wisdom of her words. Our culture has a way of making us blind to the things that really matter. Protecting our children from it is the first and most important step to a good education. If we can do that, everything else just sorta falls into place.