Politically Correct Kids

Sometimes I blog in order to journal my life. Sometimes I blog to bring a smile to your face. Sometimes I blog because something just gets under my skin and ticks me off. Today's blog falls into the later category. In truth, I learned about what I am about to tell you sometime last fall. I have just hesitated to share it until a good friend and regular blog reader asked me why I never talked about it. So here it comes.

We have new schools popping up all over the place. Now when I say new schools I do not mean the ones that were just built yesterday. I am talking about schools who are teaching utilizing different methodology than was utilized when you or I were in school. One such school is Washington Elementary in the Kingsport City School system. I went to the original Washington Elementary school. The new Washington is one of those cutting edge schools. They have won numerous awards. Many of the teachers have been recognized for their superior performance in a variety of different categories. But I heard something about one of the policies in place there that really caused me to wonder.

The daughter of some of my good friends was playing with another little girl in her neighborhood one day. As they played, the remark was made that they were "best friends." The neighbor little girl quickly made it clear that they were "really good friends" only because at her school they were not allowed to have "best friends" for fear that someone could get their feelings hurt. She went on to say that they could not use the term "best" to describe anyone.

Are you kidding me? Think back to when you were in elementary school. Some of us had a half dozen or more best friends over the course of those 5 to 6 years depending upon if you were in kindergarten or not. Some of us had best friends who have remained as such to this very day. Your best friend helped you cope with life. Your best friend helped you to learn societal dos and don'ts. Sometimes you got mad at your best friend. You then learned forgiveness and how to get along with others. What would you have done without your best friends?

I can also remember the best kickball player, the best basketball player, the best dodgeball player and the best looking students in my school. Why do we feel the need to deny the obvious? Is their something wrong with excelling at something? If we stop striving to be the best at whatever we endeavor, where does that leave us? Striving for mediocrity?

Where would David have been without Jonathan? What if Paul had simply cast lots and chosen Timothy from among a bevy of so so, would-be disciples rather than enumerate his many qualifications and declare him as the singular obvious choice to accompany him?

Ecclesiastes 4:10-12 says, "If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to pick him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." Three strands= you, your friend and God. Do you know what you call a cord of 522 strands (i.e. all your "good friends")? A pile of cotton. At some point it stops becoming a cord and therefore loses its usefulness and identity as a cord.

Maybe you could argue that it is just semantics and we just want to try to teach our children to love all mankind equally. Spiritually speaking, I would agree with you. We are to love and value all of God's creatures, but the bottom line is that you are not going to like them all. There are some folks you hit it off with and there are others that you do not. This continual emasculation of society by making sure that no one ever gets their feelings hurt is doing nothing to prepare them for the real world. I remember working on being a like-able person so that others would want to be my best friend. I guess that was a waste of my time.