Friday, February 24, 2006

An Excerpt...


...from a conversation with my nine year old son.

I wrote a week or so ago about the travails I had finding suitable note cards on which to write my son. It all came out fine, except for the fact the note cards were rather plain. I dressed up a note card in my last letter by affixing an old 523rd Fighter Squadron sticker to the front of the note card (the unit emblem pictured). Bobby, my son, received the letter yesterday and called me last evening. He began the conversation by saying “That sticker is familiar! I remember that!” And so he did, from previous visits to New Mexico and to Cannon AFB, home of the 523rd and the former squadron of his older brother. From that opening intro we went on to talk about Crusaders and The Crusades, the historical variety. Bobby, like a lot of nine year olds, is fascinated by knights and all things medieval. I asked how much he knew about the Crusades, and this is where we’ll pick up the conversation.

Bobby: The Crusaders fought to recapture Jerusalem.

Me: Yeah, that’s right. But they also fought to capture other Holy places from the Muslims, too.

Bobby: But they lost.

Me: Yes, they did. Some people say that war is still being fought.

Bobby: It was over hundreds of years ago.

Me: That’s true, but Muslims have very long memories; they don’t forget.

Bobby: The war in Iraq is for control of the oil.

Me: (pause) Uh, what?

Bobby: The war in Iraq is being fought for oil.

Me: Bobby, that’s not true.

Bobby: Yes it is.

Me: Let’s talk about something else.

Nine years old and already indoctrinated. I worry.

11 comments:

  1. Probably "learned" all about it at school.

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  2. He was home-schooled up until this past Fall, Laurie. His Mom is a self-proclaimed "academic liberal." Teaches at Colo State U and is a PhD candidate in English. I KNOW where he gets it... and I worry.

    Completely off-topic, but... This is one big reason why one of my hot buttons is the REAL lack of "diversity" in academe. How many conservative profs do you know in the Liberal Arts? I know not a one.

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  3. Whatever happened to marching to the beat of a different drummer? Text books are politically correct, schools are standardized, and mediocrity is praised. Just a few of the many reasons we chose to homeschool. When people would ask, "What about socialization?" I would answer, "That is one of the big reasons we homeschool."

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  4. Hmm, well, you can hope and pray somewhere along the way he learns independent thinking.

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  5. That is a really cool story. It's also cool that he has such an opinion at that age and a good memory. Very impressive young man. Hope you're well. I've been raising hell on my blog, spitting out the truth and that really scares people. Fagetaboutit!!

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  6. Oh my, Buck. This is sooo odd, because I just posted relating to something similar. I picked up a quote from The Chief over at The Truth ...

    Worried is a tepid reaction for me ... :{

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  7. Fix4RSO sez: Worried is a tepid reaction for me ... :{

    Hey Steve...I like the new blog! One does what one can, and in this case, there's not a lot I can do. Annual visits with his brothers help, but Mom remains the biggest and most influential person in his life. I cannot change her politics, nor would I really want to try. I DO resent the indoctrination, though, and "resent" is VERY mild compared to my true thoughts on the subject.

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  8. Eeeks! Mild and Tepid - aren't we a pair of Websters-ites!!!

    :)

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  9. Indoctrination comes in many forms...your grandson already believes the French are a bunch of pansies and couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag! Wonder where he got that idea? ;)

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  10. The kid's right!

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  11. No, Anon, he's not right. He was just a nine year old (at the time) with a moonbat mother, whom he worships. I can make allowances for that, but what's your excuse?

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Just be polite... that's all I ask.