Due to a comment left on my webpage, I felt as though I should address the issue of sex ed. It was during a 5th & 6th grade Bible class when a kid asked “What’s a virgin?” due to a certain parable we were discussing. It was an honest question. I’m sure this particular kid had no clue as to what the term meant. This particular Bible class was not the time nor the place for this type of discussion. I’m sure some parents would have been upset if we had gotten into discussing sex in this class.
The very reason why we have sex ed classes in schools and school uniforms is because parents don’t want to do their job of raising their kids. School uniforms were brought about because kids were wearing outrageous clothing to school. This clothing distracted everyone’s attention. Everyone’s attention except the kid’s parents. Parents turned a blind eye to, or didn’t care what their kid was wearing to school. Finally the school board felt they had to step in and implement a school uniform policy. A small minority of delinquent parents ruined it for everyone.
Sex education in schools was the same way. I think it is pretty much universal in the 8th grade. I vagely remember briefly discussing sex in health class in 9th grade. But this generation’s sex ed class is much more involved. Much more time is devoted to it in school. Sex ed was put into schools because parents refused to teach their children about sex. At one point when couples have kids, they make a point to take part in their kids lives. During the very early years growing up, the son or daughter thinks their parents are their heroes. During the elementary or middle school years something happens and the kids don’t want to be associated with their parents. They think their parents are “uncool.” If parents are unwilling or unable to teach their kid about sex, then they should rely on a trusted friend, minister, or mentor to teach the kid about sex. You cannot and should not rely on schools to teach YOUR morals to YOUR kids.
Now we are relying on the school board to do the parenting for us. What is missing from the sex ed classes is the option of abstinence. Schools see this doctrine as a religious issue. They don’t feel as though asking teens to remain abstinent is being realistic. I however feel that there are teens out there with enough self control to remain abstinent until marriage. If you impliment good parenting early on, then kids will be more likely to follow your direction.
Looking back on it, I do feel it would probably been appropriate to tell the kid to ask their parents what a virgin was. The fact that the parable refers to them as virgins is not really important to the parable. The author could have used “young maidens” and gotten the point across.
Kinda reminds me how entire sermons are preached on the Biblical symbolism of circumcision, without actually discussing what the term actually means. It was in high school before I actually understood what it meant.
In other news….
OJ isn’t 100 sure he did not murder his wife Simpson Quote: “For years I’ve been pretty sure that I did not murder my wife, but if Johnnie [Cochran]�s not 100 percent sure, I�m like, hey, maybe I better take another look at this.�
(This article could be satricial, but I haven’t determined this yet).
At one time, Snapple had a flavor called Bali Blast.
Friday Five: TV
MTV Generation
1. How many TVs do you have in your home?
Four TVs. It is not unusual for each person to have their own TV around here. Growing up we’ve had as many as 5 or 6, including that hand held TV I had when I was in junior high. Used to watch David Letterman on it late at night in bed.
I remember watching that old Zenith TV growing up. It was a wooden cabinet version. One time I took a magnet to it and really messed it up. That TV lasted for quite a while. I think we finally got a new one when I was in junior high.
When we first got an Atari 2600 we put it on an old black and white TV which my mom before she was married. This one was an old one. When you turned it off, the picture slowly went into a small dot in the middle of the screen and slowly faded out. You can’t find black and white TVs anymore.
Zeniths have always been personal favorites of mine. For a while, they were manufactured in the US and I felt as though I should support US made products. But later on Zenith was purchased by some Asian firm.
Now I’ve got a Samsung which seems to do quite well. I’ve had it for a few years now.
2. On average, how much TV do you watch in a week?
Quite alot. Even more now that I’m unemployeed. It depends on how you classify “watch.” Many times the TV is on, but I’m not watching it. Kinda like having background noise. Actually watching TV, maybe 20 hours a week (yes it is VERY sad). But it is on and I do watch it.
3. Do you feel that television is bad for young children?
Like everything including the internet, schools, etc… parents should keep a close eye on what the kid does. Parents use TV too much as a babysitter. I’ve seen young children mesmerized by a cartoon. They stop what they are doing and stare at the screen until the show is over.
There are alot of bad things on TV, that I wouldn’t think of letting a kid watch. But then again there are some good things on TV. Sesame Street, Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, Electric Company….all those shows taught me educational things during my early years. Those afterschool specials….
4. What TV shows do you absolutely HAVE to watch, and if you miss them, you’re heartbroken?
I will probably get alot of flak with this. Here goes nothing.
Survivor. Yeah it’s a stupid show, but I do keep up with it.
Amazing Race; Big Brother.
With the magic of Tivo, I never have to worry about missing these shows again.
Other shows I watch, but I don’t loose sleep if I miss:
King of the Hill, Freaks and Geeks, Wonder Years, 20th Century with Mike Wallace, Late Show with David Letterman
5. If you had the power to create your own television network, what would your line-up look like?
I’ve always thought there should be reality television network. Real World, Road Rules, Big Brother, Survivor…etc. Have all of that on there. There is plenty of programming for that network. But I wouldn’t necessarily watch it.
Some of the better networks are the rerun networks. TV Land. Nick and Nite…etc. Fill it full of reruns and poof! Instant Network!
I wouldn’t care to create my own network. I like the different themes of each network. Turn to TV Land if I need a rerun. Turn to MSNBC or CNN if I want to watch news. That’s all I need. No need to wait for a specific program on a network I created. Just have it scattered throughout.
Oh yeah. They need to bring back “You Can’t Do That on Television.” Things haven’t been right since that went off the air.
No Operating System
I went over to a friend of a friend’s house to try to fix her computer. No OS. Bought directly from the state of Tennessee. Obviously something was wrong with the intergrity of the hard disk because I wasn’t able to format it. Solution: Return it to the place of purchase and exchange it for a replacement.
Spent the greater part of the day calling churches to tell them about this anti-lottery movement. Mostly I got answering machines at the smaller churches. No full time staff. I wonder if they listen to their answering machines. The rest were pretty well receptive toward me.
I was told that some kid threw up in church Sunday night during the sermon. The kid happened to be sitting up front on the 2nd row. Our minister didn’t miss a beat. Kept right on preaching.
I wish I could write something profound. But I got nothing new today. Just the same ole same ole that’s been happening for forever.
HTML Gone Bad…a listing of
HTML Gone Bad…a listing of poorly designed websites.
Weblogging
There’s an article about Weblogging in today’s Tennessean. It sounded ok. However the bulk of the article implies that the majority of webloggers are high school girls.
Speaking of weblogs, it is always a bit surprising for me to find out who exactly reads this. I really don’t post anything here very interesting. I get referred to as “JeffWhittle.com” all the time, probably due to that shirt I had printed up. But I get the picture that no one really goes to this website. But it is surprising when I find out some people actually do visit here.
As far as the frequent comment that I should be a writer – I don’t think I could ever be a writer. Throughout my life I was trained to write what the teacher wanted to hear. I composed great flowery essays with wonderfully worded language for English class. However none of it was how I really felt. If the teacher had picked out the short story to read, I always said I liked it, no matter what. I always said the author wrote very eloquently, even though I dreaded the very act of reading the essay itself. Writing this log is an outlet for me. Since I’m not forced to write it due to some English assignment, I don’t dread writing it at all.
Tonight in Bible class the 5th and 6th graders studied the parable of the 10 virgins in Matthew 25. After going over the lesson, the teacher asked if there were any questions. One of the kids asked “What’s a virgin?” I gritted my teeth when that question was asked. (Keep in mind I am a coteacher and not the one who was standing up in front of the class at the time). I thought the teacher handled that question well. He said it was a pure woman, an accurate definition in the context of the parable. This isn’t a sex ed class, so it wasn’t the time or place to tell the kids exactly what a virgin was. I also heard some other kid whisper to another kid “I’ll tell you later….” as if he was street smart enough to know what the term meant. There’s a kid like that in every bunch.
So next week I’ve actually got to teach. It’s on the great footwashing episode of Luke 22. So at least there isn’t any controversial vocabulary which the kids would be asking questions about.
So I’ve got a list of churches to call in regards to this lottery movement. We are trying to push these yard signs and the anti-lottery movement in general. I volunteered because I have alot of time on my hands right now. However to be completely honest, the lottery referendum is not something that is causing sleepless nights for me.
Oh yeah. That roll of film we found at church? It was from the church’s Tuesday Thursday school. Apparently the firemen visited one day and one of the parents took pictures of it. I gave the roll back to the director of the Tuesday Thursday school and let her deal with it.
Sink or Swim Time
Have turned to days of swim or sink.”
–Son Volt – “Drown”
“But if I can’t swim after forty days
and my mind is crushed by the thrashing waves
Lift me up so high that I cannot fall
Lift me up
Lift me up – when I’m falling
Lift me up – I’m weak and I’m dying
Lift me up – I need you to hold me
Lift me up – Keep me from drowning again.”
–Jars of Clay – “Flood”
It is sink or swim time. I try to make sure I send out at least one resume or make one phone call each weekday in regard to jobs. So it won’t be like I’m sitting around doing nothing. Apart from a couple of headhunters, no one has called me back. It’s very frustrating.
While calling contacts for jobs last night, I made a major snafu. I called when there had been a death in the extended family. Somehow my job situation seemed all that more meager….less important. My contact said it was ok to talk about jobs, so we did. It was pretty awkward during that time.
It will be an all California World Series – SF Giants vs. the Anaheim Angels. This will make the World Series about as interesting at the Subway Series of 2000 (Mets vs. the Yankees) or the Bay Series of 1989 (Giants vs. the A’s)….of which only an earthquake could bring excitement to. At least in some World Series, you can cheer for the team which is geographically close to you. But California vs. California is about as interesting as watching paint dry. Maybe I would cheer for the Angels since they are the newcomers. But like I said before, Anaheim doesn’t deserve a baseball team. Call ’em the Los Angeles Angels, but don’t try to put some type of significance on Anaheim.
Being the one who checks the church email, I get all types of letters. Today I got one of those 419 Nigerian scam letters. I’ve received numerous of these scams over the past few years. Basically the receipiant is urged to give the sender their bank account number in order to transfer a huge amount of money to them. I am convinced there is a special eternal punishment reserved for those who try to scam churches.
Wrecked Exotics….lots of pictures of
Wrecked Exotics….lots of pictures of wrecked expensive cars.
Anaheim Angels
Why does a dinky city like Anaheim, which I only know as being the home of Disneyland, have a baseball team? Have you noticed much of the South has very few baseball teams? There’s the Atlanta Braves, Florida Marlins, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Texas Rangers, and Houston Astros. But compared to the Northeast, the South has very few teams. Chicago, New York, and San Francisco/Oakland have 2 each. But somehow the South has been looked over for the most part. Is it because southerners don’t want to attend those middle-of-the-Summer games during the muggiest weather?
I don’t care about baseball. Behind tennis and golf, it is probably the dullest spectator sport out there.
Led Zepplin will tour again. Not that I’m a big fan of them. I have trouble naming their songs. I was first introduced to them in high school when some guy in my chemistry class talked about them constantly. Their songs are pretty good. Nice rock songs.
So here is my story relating to Led. We have a jail ministry at church. Some of the ladies from the congregation had gone to the county women’s jail. They were singing hymns with the inmates. They asked if anyone had any requests. One lady requested “Stairway to Heaven.” According to the ladies, it was very hard not to laugh outloud. “We don’t know that song,” was the response to this request.
Yesterday somebody found an undeveloped roll of 35mm film at church. They were going around asking if anyone had lost it. Not finding anyone, I decided to volunteer to get the roll developed to see what was on there. It will be interesting to see what pictures I get back. For some reason I decided to get the 4 inch double prints, rather than the cheaper 3 inch doubles. I am hoping the roll was left over from last weekend’s retreat.
Check out this Bizarre parking accident.
Good Day at Church
Why do people go to church? Is it to worship their God? Is it to feel better about themselves? Is it to gain business contacts? Probably a little of each. I do get certain business mailings from a church members who I know got my address from the church mailing list. “Off to the circular file,” I told his secretary (who also goes to my church). Recently we got new church directories. I know this businessman is salivating just so he can send more of his junk mail to fellow church members.
Lately folks at my church has been on a crusade to defeat the lottery referendum. Not that I would loose sleep if it was passed. Lotteries are taxes on stupid people. And there are plenty of stupid people who would vote to be able to buy a lottery ticket. There are several people in Tennessee who drive up to Kentucky each week just to buy lottery tickets. We need better state budgeting so we wouldn’t have to use the lottery as an excuse. Sooner or later we’ll have a lottery. Just like we eventually have liquor by the drink in Mt. Juliet – a concept I never fully understood. I mean the local grocery store sold packaged beer, but for some odd reason they couldn’t sell beer in a glass. People could still get drunk. They just had to open the bottle themselves. It was a silly law. Either be a dry county, or wet. It is as simple as that.
Church was good today. I felt really good for a young friend of mine who read scripture for the first time publically in church. Beforehand he had asked me when exactly in the service he was supposed to do it. I guess not having done it before, he hadn’t paid attention on when it was his time to go. He did a great job. I meant to tell him that afterwards, but I never got to. I know how it is to get up in front of people at church with your voice trembling….wondering if your friends will laugh at you afterwards if you stumble….. It’s all a big deal when you are a middle schooler. I still get slightly nervous. Maybe its the subtle fear that I might say something inappropriate in a public prayer….like praying for someone who already is dead. You stand a good chance of offending a bunch of people if you say the wrong things in a public prayer. I think it was just a few years ago when I realized that people in the congregation really don’t want to see anyone stumble in a prayer. They will still like you even if you mess up a Bible reading or prayer.
At church we do have a training program for middle schoolers who want to serve publically at church. They teach them who to lead public prayer, lead singing, and read scripture. This is so they won’t look stupid when going up there cold without any practice at all. We didn’t have this at all when I was growing up. And it showed from my short stance leading awful prayers during my junior high years.
Chinese McDonald’s
Last night I watched a travel show about Hong Kong. I really wish my friend Mark had taken me to Hong Kong when I visited China in 2000 and 2001. I even offered to pay for his ticket, but unfortunately he didn’t see it my way. Maybe sometime I’ll be able to go to Hong Kong.
I visited a Subway Restaurant in Shanghai during my 2001 trip. It had just opened and alot of the Chinese didn’t have a clue as to what restaurant it was. (Keep in mind that McDonald’s is the “cool” place to hang out in China. Apparently if you are looking for a place to hang out on Saturday night, you go to the local Chinese McDonald’s). Anyways the food in the Subway was decent. It was a good taste which reminded me of home. Although the meat tasted a little different and had a different texture to it.
You know the type of people. Those people who never talk to you unless they need something you have. Well it happened again. There’s this one particular person who always requests digital pictures of the latest group event that we go on. This person always asks for the pictures in a demanding sort of way, as if they somehow deserved it. They never seem to say two words – “thank you” after I give them. I hate that. You’d think they’d be able to use some common courtesy.