I found this stirring piece of history of the Civil Rights Movement and the Presbyterian ministers who joined the fight to get the Civil Rights Act passed.  Some are now trying to pretend that whites did not participate in this struggle, or that it was meaningless…and I knew that was not true.

In this file is an eerie incident of a twenty-something Presbyterian minister being run over by a bulldozer…much like Rachel Corrie.  

These ministers did what Jesus commanded us to do.  And they did not necessarily have support of everyone, as you will see in the piece.  I had been doing some research trying to remember my “roots”, and noted that the first big break within the Presbyterian Church was during the Civil War.  It divided the members who were pro-Union against those who were Pro-Slavery.

The church reunited later, however, but again, a big division came again circa 1967, when more evangelical churches left the national (PC) USA…I wondered why because the document did not elaborate.  So…now reading this document, I understand it was probably related to the Civil Rights movement.  Those churches that thought “separate but equal” was quite all right were leaving PC USA because of the national churches’ support of Civil Rights as something that Jesus would do.

This just bears repeating: “Those insisting on one truth tend to be selling something or insisting on obedience.”
In my own search for truth, I’ve been to several churches and in each the preacher was saying that their church was the TRUE church and they alone had the truth. It was disheartening as well as disturbing that someone of the cloth was actively trying the divide-and-conquer strategy of “us” versus “them”…even between Protestant churches.
It thwarts spiritual growth of knowing God, so I’m at a loss of why someone would deliberately interfere with that growth….

...involves taking time to think.  Sounds silly, I know.  But critical thinking means not hurrying to judgment nor conclusions.  It means considering all sides.  It means letting the thought(s) roll around in your head for awhile instead of making snap decisions.

Ralph Nader makes another argument — that of morality.  Instant gratification instead of patience…and destroying the ability to defer one’s own needs to allow for others.

And community.

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Pretty soon, people won’t have to go to stores; they’ll just order everything online and never see any other shoppers or have chance meetings with friends and neighbors. Let’s hear the applause from those people who haven’t thought through these “improvements” and the resulting destruction of communities.

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Yes, I’ve seen this, too.  It is especially noticeable with the destruction of public schools.  They are destroying neighborhoods by closing schools and busing children to schools halfway across town so they spend two hours a day on a bus.

They are trying their best to do that here, even though many small schools serve large rural areas. They are trying to consolidate rural schools so that kids would have to be bused or their parents drive twenty miles to school.

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In the nineteen-fifties, there were three national television networks. Now, there are hundreds of cable channels and over-the-air TV stations, not to mention the avalanche of internet-based programs and diversions.

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You know, this gives the illusion that there is more diversity, but in reality, the media is concentrated into the hands of a few.

When I started my college career, I began counting the number of seconds on a screen before the shot changed.  It was six seconds.  Now I think it’s down to two.  And some ads are using flash in such a way that it’s almost like they want to give people seizures.

A commenter brought up the birth analogy — first, I think mothers should be giving birth at home; secondly, they are trying to speed up births, as well.  That was the point of giving me Pitocin — a harmful drug that can cause seizures.  Not only that, it can cause terrible distress and even brain damage by interfering with blood flow from the mother to baby during labor.  A mother is supposed to have a pillow under her hips, and her head elevated to prevent this.  Neither of these practices were followed when I was given Pitocin.  Yeah, so I’m not sold that hospital births are superior to home births because frankly, I don’t think doctors give a sh*t about infant and mother safety.  Of the developed nations, we have one of the highest infant mortality rates!

We’ve been brainwashed into thinking faster is better, smarter, “progress”…not the truth.

There’s nothing like forcing an audience to listen to your propaganda, er I mean information….never mind that they are not old enough to discern facts nor are they old enough to have a job and buy the products.

Oh, but the parents will be persuaded to buy certain products because either the kids are brainwashed or the school highly suggests that the parents purchase products from favored corporations.  And if your child doesn’t comply…well, we’ll just single him/her out as “hurting the community…”

…let the bullying begin…

Unknowingly, I saw this happening with my own kids.  Like most trusting parents, I thought it was harmless for the schools to have a little advertising here, a little advertising there.  I didn’t see it as creating an atmosphere of inclusion/exclusion.

I got my first inkling when my youngest’s teacher sent home a consent form for her to go on a field trip to a local cement plant.  I refused to let her go.  Now, you’re thinking, “what on Earth is wrong with letting a child go to a cement plant?”

This cement plant was burning hazardous waste.  My mother’s instinct told me it was not a place to take a little one (or your own self, for that matter).

I was the only parent in the class that did not allow their child to go.  She spent the day at school without her class.

I later found out that the cement plant was also spewing mercury.  Yep. Oh, and Bill Clinton thinks that’s just great, too.  He was actually touting these cement plants as doing a good service by burning hazardous waste.

I tell you, I went by that plant every single day for three and a half years while driving on a road to the university.  There were days when this awful looking yellowish cloud just hung in the air over this plant.  And I drove through that air every day.  I’ve always wondered what I was exposed to — yet another source of mercury exposure.

It was also located within a couple of miles of the state hospital I worked at — more exposure.  And what about the impact on staff and patients?  Oh, who cares about them, right?  They’re just “useless eaters”  right? /snark

So I hope if any parent letting their child go on these field trips will reconsider and think about the message you’re sending to your child.  I would explain your concerns to them if you keep them from attending such an event.  And I would vocally object to schools using your child as a captive audience for corporations.