It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.
Mahatma Gandhi
Saturday, March 26, 2011
What About Abstinence?
There was no author claiming credit for this essay but it is a keeper I like to pass on when given the chance. Found it this morning in my file-cleaning frenzy and wanted to share it.
What About Abstinence?
Author Unknown
I was holding a notice from my 13-year old son’s school announcing a meeting to preview the new course in sexuality. Parents could examine the curriculum and take part in an actual lesson presented exactly as it would be given to the students.
When I arrived at the school, I was surprised to discover only about a dozen parents there. As we waited for the presentation, I thumbed through page after page of instructions in the prevention of pregnancy or disease. I found abstinence mentioned only in passing. When the teacher arrived with the school nurse, she asked if there were any questions.
I asked why abstinence did not play a noticeable part in the material. What happened next was shocking. There was a great deal of laughter, and someone suggested that if I thought abstinence had any merit, I should go back to burying my head in the sand. The teacher and nurse said nothing as I drowned in a sea of embarrassment. My mind had gone blank, and I could think of nothing to say. The teacher explained to me that the job of the school was to teach “facts,” and the home was responsible for moral training.
I sat in silence for the next 20 minutes as the course was explained. The other parents seemed to give their unqualified support to the materials. “Donuts at the back,” announced the teacher during the break. “I’d like you to put on the name tags we have prepared - they’re right by the donuts - mingle with the other parents.” Everyone moved to the back of the room. As I watched them affixing their name tags and shaking hands, I sat deep in thought. I was ashamed that I had not been able to convince them to include a serious discussion of abstinence in the materials. I uttered a silent prayer for guidance.
My thoughts were interrupted by the teacher’s hand on my shoulder. “Won’t you join the others, Mr. Layton?” The nurse smiled sweetly at me. “The donuts are good.” “Thank you, no,” I replied. “Well, then how about a name tag? I’m sure the others would like to meet you.” “Somehow I doubt that,” I replied. “Won’t you please join them?” she coaxed. Then I heard a still small voice whisper, “Don’t go.” The instructions were unmistakable. “Don’t do!” “I’ll just wait here,” I said.
When the class was called back to order, the teacher looked around the long table and thanked everyone for putting on name tags. She ignored me. Then she said, “Now we’re going to give you the same lesson we’ll be giving your children. Everyone please peel off your name tags.” I watched in silence as the tags came off. “Now, then, on the back of one of the tags, I drew a tiny flower. Who has it please?” The gentleman across from me held it up. “Here it is!” “All right,” she said. “The flower represents disease. Do you recall with whom you shook hands?” He pointed to a couple of people. “Very good,” she replied. “The handshake in this case represents intimacy. So the two people you had contact with now have the disease.” There was laughter and joking among the parents. The teacher continued, “And whom did the two of you shake hands with?” The point was well taken, and she explained how this lesson would show students how quickly disease is spread. “Since we all shook hands, we all have the disease.”
It was then I head the still, small voice again. “Speak now,” it said, “but be humble.” I noted wryly the latter admonition, then rose from my chair. I apologized for any upset I might have caused earlier, congratulated the teacher on an excellent lesson that would impress the youth, and concluded by saying I had only one small point I wished to make. “Not all of us were infected,” I said. “One of us abstained.”
What About Abstinence?
Author Unknown
I was holding a notice from my 13-year old son’s school announcing a meeting to preview the new course in sexuality. Parents could examine the curriculum and take part in an actual lesson presented exactly as it would be given to the students.
When I arrived at the school, I was surprised to discover only about a dozen parents there. As we waited for the presentation, I thumbed through page after page of instructions in the prevention of pregnancy or disease. I found abstinence mentioned only in passing. When the teacher arrived with the school nurse, she asked if there were any questions.
I asked why abstinence did not play a noticeable part in the material. What happened next was shocking. There was a great deal of laughter, and someone suggested that if I thought abstinence had any merit, I should go back to burying my head in the sand. The teacher and nurse said nothing as I drowned in a sea of embarrassment. My mind had gone blank, and I could think of nothing to say. The teacher explained to me that the job of the school was to teach “facts,” and the home was responsible for moral training.
I sat in silence for the next 20 minutes as the course was explained. The other parents seemed to give their unqualified support to the materials. “Donuts at the back,” announced the teacher during the break. “I’d like you to put on the name tags we have prepared - they’re right by the donuts - mingle with the other parents.” Everyone moved to the back of the room. As I watched them affixing their name tags and shaking hands, I sat deep in thought. I was ashamed that I had not been able to convince them to include a serious discussion of abstinence in the materials. I uttered a silent prayer for guidance.
My thoughts were interrupted by the teacher’s hand on my shoulder. “Won’t you join the others, Mr. Layton?” The nurse smiled sweetly at me. “The donuts are good.” “Thank you, no,” I replied. “Well, then how about a name tag? I’m sure the others would like to meet you.” “Somehow I doubt that,” I replied. “Won’t you please join them?” she coaxed. Then I heard a still small voice whisper, “Don’t go.” The instructions were unmistakable. “Don’t do!” “I’ll just wait here,” I said.
When the class was called back to order, the teacher looked around the long table and thanked everyone for putting on name tags. She ignored me. Then she said, “Now we’re going to give you the same lesson we’ll be giving your children. Everyone please peel off your name tags.” I watched in silence as the tags came off. “Now, then, on the back of one of the tags, I drew a tiny flower. Who has it please?” The gentleman across from me held it up. “Here it is!” “All right,” she said. “The flower represents disease. Do you recall with whom you shook hands?” He pointed to a couple of people. “Very good,” she replied. “The handshake in this case represents intimacy. So the two people you had contact with now have the disease.” There was laughter and joking among the parents. The teacher continued, “And whom did the two of you shake hands with?” The point was well taken, and she explained how this lesson would show students how quickly disease is spread. “Since we all shook hands, we all have the disease.”
It was then I head the still, small voice again. “Speak now,” it said, “but be humble.” I noted wryly the latter admonition, then rose from my chair. I apologized for any upset I might have caused earlier, congratulated the teacher on an excellent lesson that would impress the youth, and concluded by saying I had only one small point I wished to make. “Not all of us were infected,” I said. “One of us abstained.”
Cookies and Quilting . . .
While I was quilting, yesterday, the many colors I was employing into my scrap quilt brought to mind the colorful bar cookies I make that has become a family favorite. I guess my German heritage leads me to this inclination but here is my version of German Lebkuchen!
A spicy, fruity, Christmas cookie bar. Mix ethnic groups and try them with a cup of Mexican Hot Chocolate!
LEBKUCHEN BY BARBARA
3 large eggs
2 1/4 cups dark, brown sugar
1/4 pound mixed, candied fruit*
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
Confectioner’s sugar
Juice of one lemon
Grated rind of one lemon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease an 8 x 10-inch baking pan, dust it lightly with flour. In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs one at a time to the brown sugar, beating well after each addition. Stir in the candied fruit and spices. Into another bowl, combine the flour and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients, a little at a time, to the egg mixture, combining well. Spread the cookie batter into the prepared pan and bake it for 15 minutes or until golden.
Add lemon rind and enough juice to confectioner’s sugar to make a thick icing. Spread the icing over the warm cookies. When the icing has set, cut into serving size squares.
*Soaking the candied fruit in brandy over night greatly enhances the flavor of the finished cookie!
Instead of the lemon glaze, you can sprinkle semi sweet chocolate chip over the cookies when they come out of the oven and spread them out evenly as they melt.
A spicy, fruity, Christmas cookie bar. Mix ethnic groups and try them with a cup of Mexican Hot Chocolate!
LEBKUCHEN BY BARBARA
3 large eggs
2 1/4 cups dark, brown sugar
1/4 pound mixed, candied fruit*
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
Confectioner’s sugar
Juice of one lemon
Grated rind of one lemon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease an 8 x 10-inch baking pan, dust it lightly with flour. In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs one at a time to the brown sugar, beating well after each addition. Stir in the candied fruit and spices. Into another bowl, combine the flour and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients, a little at a time, to the egg mixture, combining well. Spread the cookie batter into the prepared pan and bake it for 15 minutes or until golden.
Add lemon rind and enough juice to confectioner’s sugar to make a thick icing. Spread the icing over the warm cookies. When the icing has set, cut into serving size squares.
*Soaking the candied fruit in brandy over night greatly enhances the flavor of the finished cookie!
Instead of the lemon glaze, you can sprinkle semi sweet chocolate chip over the cookies when they come out of the oven and spread them out evenly as they melt.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Why are paydays so far apart?
We have reached that point of no return. We are far enough away from the last payday to have forgotten what money looks like and not near enough the next one to get reacquainted with cash again. We basically have five pounds of flour and the knowledge that the water bill is paid and we will not die of thirst. How will we survive those last few days until payday?
Unless we can afford a winning lottery ticket, we will have to depend on th what is left in the refrigerator and freezer. My family almost enjoys these extremely strict budget periods. The meals start getting very creative.
On the weekends we have a surplus of cash ( surplus being entirely in the mind of the beholder), I tend to purchase items in bulk that have lasting power. In spite of the tears of my anti-carrot son, I usually purchase ten pounds of carrots. If all the other vegetables run out, we always have carrots. Carrots make salad, they stretch soups and stews and can be juiced with an orange for a beverage. I have also been known to coarsely grind up carrots and pass them off as ground beef in lasagna. I have not always been completely successful but I still have circumstances come up where I have to try it again.
Whenever I trim the fat from steaks or roasts or have a left over pork chop, I freeze them for a between payday crisis. I simmer them all day long with whatever old vegetables have survived the week and obtain broth for soup.
If you have flour and eggs between paychecks, you are indeed rich. You can easily make noodles or dumplings for that broth. Breakfast for dinner is also a possibility as you have the makings for pancakes.
Small amounts of leftover chicken or beef can be stirred fried with lots of whatever vegetables you have on hand. If you want to elaborate on the Chinese theme, it only takes oil, water and flour to make interesting Chinese pancakes to go with a main meal. My family doesn’t feel they are eating Chinese unless they have those crispy Chinese noodles to accompany the main course. I have found that left over, boiled spaghetti deep fries nicely into a crunchy, Asian side dish.
If you are looking for something sweet, you can boil almost any shaped noodle, deep fry them and toss them with cinnamon and sugar. They don’t soak up the grease and the children like them. Your flour, eggs and milk come in handy again, too. Mixing them into a very thin batter, you can make fragile pancakes and roll them around fresh or canned fruit. Your family will start to think their mom has turned gourmet!
And if you are entirely at a loss, make a dough of flour, salt, yeast and water, let it rise and bake bread. Any family coming in to the smell of baking bread will be thrilled with whatever the rest of the meal turns out to be.
Unless we can afford a winning lottery ticket, we will have to depend on th what is left in the refrigerator and freezer. My family almost enjoys these extremely strict budget periods. The meals start getting very creative.
On the weekends we have a surplus of cash ( surplus being entirely in the mind of the beholder), I tend to purchase items in bulk that have lasting power. In spite of the tears of my anti-carrot son, I usually purchase ten pounds of carrots. If all the other vegetables run out, we always have carrots. Carrots make salad, they stretch soups and stews and can be juiced with an orange for a beverage. I have also been known to coarsely grind up carrots and pass them off as ground beef in lasagna. I have not always been completely successful but I still have circumstances come up where I have to try it again.
Whenever I trim the fat from steaks or roasts or have a left over pork chop, I freeze them for a between payday crisis. I simmer them all day long with whatever old vegetables have survived the week and obtain broth for soup.
If you have flour and eggs between paychecks, you are indeed rich. You can easily make noodles or dumplings for that broth. Breakfast for dinner is also a possibility as you have the makings for pancakes.
Small amounts of leftover chicken or beef can be stirred fried with lots of whatever vegetables you have on hand. If you want to elaborate on the Chinese theme, it only takes oil, water and flour to make interesting Chinese pancakes to go with a main meal. My family doesn’t feel they are eating Chinese unless they have those crispy Chinese noodles to accompany the main course. I have found that left over, boiled spaghetti deep fries nicely into a crunchy, Asian side dish.
If you are looking for something sweet, you can boil almost any shaped noodle, deep fry them and toss them with cinnamon and sugar. They don’t soak up the grease and the children like them. Your flour, eggs and milk come in handy again, too. Mixing them into a very thin batter, you can make fragile pancakes and roll them around fresh or canned fruit. Your family will start to think their mom has turned gourmet!
And if you are entirely at a loss, make a dough of flour, salt, yeast and water, let it rise and bake bread. Any family coming in to the smell of baking bread will be thrilled with whatever the rest of the meal turns out to be.
Seems to fit the mind set of today . . .
“The human race has always had a tendency to hate God. It crucified Him, after all. Now it is trying to convince itself that He does not exist or that, if He does, he is indulgent to and indeed identifies with its every whim, even the most sinful.”
Serpent on the Rock by Alice Thomas Ellis.
Serpent on the Rock by Alice Thomas Ellis.
What is wrong with people!
I just heard on the radio that Abercrombie & Fitch (or whatever their name is!) is bringing out a line of padded bikini swimsuit tops for . . . eight to fourteen year olds. First, not that many eight years olds have enough to warrant a padded, push-up top swimsuit. Second, what mother would want to put her little girl out there for perverts to lust after? There are way too many mothers allowing or encouraging their daughters to dress way above their age group. You just have to wonder what is in it for the mother? Is she that anxious to get her daughter's childhood over and done with so soon?
I was shopping, one day, and overhead a mother encouraging her little girl, who looked about eight years old, to buy thong underwear! A grandfather was treating his granddaughters to a clothing-buying spree and when one of the little girls came up with a pair of faux leather jeans, the grandfather actually exclaime, "Oh, get them, honey! You will look SO hot in them!" I was wondering where to turn in 'funny' grandfathers.
It seems to me in my antiquated opinion that morals and modesty make growing up so much easier. I raised my daughters with the same values and they dress nicely but modestly. One of their friends, who was about twelve years old at the time, was told she needed to loosen up in her outfits. She dressed modestly. The elderly man said the way she dressed, she probably sat at home all week reading the Bible!
Now, our parents were raised with a moral mind set so it is very disturbing when you observe and hear such as the above.
A news report said that there are several countries in the world today that do not believe in God at all. Seems reasonable as so many wayward mothers are wiping any thought of God out of their minds with the skimpy bits of clothing they put on their little girls.
I was shopping, one day, and overhead a mother encouraging her little girl, who looked about eight years old, to buy thong underwear! A grandfather was treating his granddaughters to a clothing-buying spree and when one of the little girls came up with a pair of faux leather jeans, the grandfather actually exclaime, "Oh, get them, honey! You will look SO hot in them!" I was wondering where to turn in 'funny' grandfathers.
It seems to me in my antiquated opinion that morals and modesty make growing up so much easier. I raised my daughters with the same values and they dress nicely but modestly. One of their friends, who was about twelve years old at the time, was told she needed to loosen up in her outfits. She dressed modestly. The elderly man said the way she dressed, she probably sat at home all week reading the Bible!
Now, our parents were raised with a moral mind set so it is very disturbing when you observe and hear such as the above.
A news report said that there are several countries in the world today that do not believe in God at all. Seems reasonable as so many wayward mothers are wiping any thought of God out of their minds with the skimpy bits of clothing they put on their little girls.
Rainy Day and Quilting?
It has been a busy week and the one thing to suffer is getting much quilting done. Can you believe my family wants dinner EVERY day of the week? I did get a quilt top pieced and almost ready for quilting and hope to advance on that today. Interesting scrap quilt (my favorite kind!) in that once I had all the blocks sewn together, I just didn't like the way it looked. I know, how picky can you be when there is no rhyme or reason to a totally scrap quilt using every color fabric in your scrap collection. When I'm not happy about how something looks, I can't seem to get any energy to continue on it. I have the pieces laid out on the table and keep looking and looking at it. Finally, I start wondering what would happen if I were to cut each pieced square in half and then resew them differently. I figured I didn't have much to lose trying this with one square. I was amazed, it changed the whole ebb and flow of the organized confusion of the scrap quilt and thoroughly changed the dynamic. Now, I wish I had taken a before and after picture of it.
Aside from braving the rain for Mass this morning, I'm thinking a wet day is a good one for staying home and close to the warmth of my sewing machine!
Aside from braving the rain for Mass this morning, I'm thinking a wet day is a good one for staying home and close to the warmth of my sewing machine!
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