"We have no government armed with the power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion... Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other." John Adams
Our lessons of English Country Dancing have ended for the summer, and we finished them up with a ball on Sunday after church. We had dance cards, tea and punch, and did both the line dancing most known from Austen movies and period waltzing, finishing up by learning the polka. Also, with the steps our teacher taught us, we taught ourselves Mr. Beveridge's Maggot (otherwise known as Elizabeth and Darcy's Big Dance in the 1995 Pride and Prejudice) and performed it for her. We are all looking forward to when we start lessons again in the fall.
This is a quote that should tickle all linguists and philologists. The quote comes from The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde, in which fiction is run by a government and style is regulated.
"Good. Item seven. The had had and that that problem. Lady Cavendish, weren't you working on this?"
Lady Cavendish stood up and gathered her thoughts. "Indeed. The uses of had had and that that have to be strictly controlled; they can interrupt the imaginotransference quite dramatically, causing readers to go back over the sentence in confusion, something we try to avoid.”
“Go on.”
“It’s mostly an unlicensed-usage problem. At the last count David Copperfield alone had had had had sixty-three times, all but ten unapproved. Pilgrim’s Progress may also be a problem due to its had had/that that ratio.”
“So what’s the problem in Progress?”
“That that had that that ten times but had had had had only thrice. Increased had had usage had had to be overlooked, but not if the number exceeds that that that usage.”
“Hmm,” said the Bellman, “I thought had had had had TGC’s approval for use in Dickens? What’s the problem?”
“Take the first had had and that that in the book by way of example,” explained Lady Cavendish. “You would have thought that that first had had had had good occasion to be seen as had, had you not? Had had had approval, but had had had not; equally is it true to say that that that that had had approval but that that other that that had not.”
“So the problem with that other that that was that...?”
“That that other-other that that had had approval.”
“Okay,” said the Bellman, whose head was in danger of falling apart like a chocolate orange, “let me get this straight: David Copperfield, unlike Pilgrim’s Progress, had had had, had had had had. Had had had had TGC’s approval?”
There was a very long pause.
“Right,” said the Bellman with a sigh, “that’s it for the moment. I’ll be giving out assignments in ten minutes. Session’s over—and let’s be careful out there.”
Every Thursday I go and assist a third-grade teacher in the public schools, rather as an introduction the career I am pursuing. The class I assist with is wonderful, but there is one student in particular who stands out. It did not surprise me in the least when I heard today that he had once been in a school for gifted students, but it did surprise me exceedingly to hear that he had been dropped from that school. This student is polite, friendly, cheerful, fun, and very intelligent and articulate; a joy to work with in the classroom. It would seem to most people that he should have no obstacles in his education. However, this student who seemingly has it all is lacking something that is, unfortunately important: this boy is white. Yes, the only reason he was dropped from the gifted school was because of "cultural diversity".
Now, as before, I have to ask myself: can the people who make these decisions be thinking through their actions? Do they not realize that they are creating an aristocracy, where (sometimes despite abilities) certain groups of people are given special privileges? Can they not see that this satisfies neither equality nor justice? What happened to color blindness? What is America coming to?
Last week I filled out several forms for entrance into community college. Though the fine print stated all the reasons that could not be used to evaluate my application (gender, race, country of origin), the form itself asked what race I was. After the story I heard today, I wish I had marked "Other".
As a member of a homeschooling family who enjoys the "home" part of it all very much, my life was always relatively sedate. Yes, we went on field trips, camping trips, and occasionally other outside activities, but the time spent at home seemed by far more plentiful. Of course, I knew that as I got older things would get more busy as I finished my journey to adulthood and all its responsibilities, but knowing is not the same as understanding.
My revelation was not grand nor dramatic, for it was not difficult to see how busy my life was starting to get as I began working, but these past three days served as an extreme indication of my life to come.
Cue scene Tuesday: nothing much happening, just a normal day in the house, with chores and enough time for me to catch up on all my blogs and online groups. Night falls, and Wednesday morning opens the drama. At 10:30am we all go down to a homeschoolers' play day, and do not get home until 2:00pm. A man comes by to fix the furnace, leaving me with enough time to do some chores (including the weekly gathering of due library books) before heading to an exercise place at 3:30pm. I get home at 5:00pm, just in time to finish chores before heading to the library and church. We don't get home until 10:00pm, leaving me just enough time to get to sleep before waking up at 6:30am on Thursday. I take the bus down to the school where I am assisting, arriving at 9:00am just before school starts. School lets out at 3:30pm, and I have just enough time to gather my things and catch a bus home, arriving there at 5:00pm, with just enough time to throw on some pasta and sauce for dinner. After a grand total of fifteen minutes for eating, we hop in the car again and drive to a performance of Sheridan's "The School for Scandal", and get home just in time for me to go to sleep at 11:00pm. Friday morning, I am up again early, and we go to an amusement park for Iceman's 12th birthday, not getting home until 5:00, where I have babysitting from 6:00pm to 11:00pm, when my day ends. Thank the Lord that Saturday and Sunday are empty...for now.
And here I am, adding college this fall...what am I thinking?
I went to a wonderful meeting recently that was very inspiring and
convicting. I heard one enthusiastic speaker after another sharing about
the joy and blessings in their lives. I was also given some very practical
advice by very experienced women.
The questions that really touched me were:
What am I passionate about?
What is the greatest gift I have received?
Oh, that second one was easy. I lived a very sinful life before I came face
to face with Jesus. He drew me up out of the mire and I am daily thankful
for his forgiveness and the hope of heaven.
That first one was a bit convicting, though, because I am often most
passionate about my family. I can often be heard to passionately discuss
politics, homeschooling, breastfeeding, homebirth, and even doctrinal
issues. But I do not often speak passionately to others about Jesus. And
when I do, it is usually to His followers.
At this meeting I heard speaker after speaker encouraging me to talk to
strangers I meet at the store and tell them about the "greatest gift I had
received." To share my passion with them. Boy, that is hard for me to do.
I also listened to one speaker who shared how she gets others to "accept the
greatest gift." She would share the blessings of the gift and then ask them
this question in closing, "Do you need more information or are you ready to
accept the gift?" It seemed so easy when she spoke of it.
I was reassured that if one person wasn't interested, not to worry, because
there will be another one down the road. Just keep offering the gift to
everyone without pre-judging. You never know who will accept it.
It was an amazing day. There were hundreds of people there listening to
these speeches but I doubt very many of them came away convicted the way I
did. And the reason is that I was at a Tupperware convention.
As a homeschooled student, I must have commited some kind of heresy by choosing teaching as a career path, but it is one that I do not believe I will regret. I had been considering teaching for quite some time, and when a friend of ours who had been homeschooled but became an elementary teacher offered to let me assist her in the classroom, I jumped at the opportunity to see if this was a path that I really wanted to follow. And so, every Thursday, I go down and help her with her 3rd grade class.
Though still a firm advocate of homeschooling myself, I have greatly enjoyed my days working at the school, and both the students and other teachers have been a joy to work with. I have seen both sides of the teaching experience, attending meetings where teachers swap curriculum ideas in much the same manner as homeschooling mothers, and also helping out small groups of students in the classroom in much the same manner as helping siblings at home. My days at the school fly by, and often I am surprised when it is all over and done with. Though someday I wish to homeschool my own children, I believe that if that never happens I could spend a happy life as a teacher.
