Tolerance

(Disclaimer: Here I go opening cans of worms again)

So Emma read me a book she checked out from her school library tonight. It is called the Family Book-that's the actual title. It goes through and says things like, "Some families look alike, some families look different, some families are small, some families are large, some families live close, some families live far away...etc....." So one page says, "Some families have two moms or two dads" My mind quickly flashes to the Christian hype and how absolutely HORRIBLE it is that a book like this would be available to children. I mean really, that is straight out ACCEPTING homosexuality. Especially since the last page says, "There are lots of different ways to be a family. Your family is special no matter what kind it is." There you have it The author and publisher of this particular book are trying to make children think that just because they have a stepmother or a single mother that they can have a valuable family experience-what are they trying to do-the nerve! Maybe I should march up to the school and demand that the book be removed. Maybe, but I don't think I will. You see, one of the pages of the book says, "Some families live in a house by themselves some families share a house with other families" I like that Emma heard that from an outside source, because even though she has never mentioned it-she is completely aware that most people including EVERYONE in her first grade class, live in a single family home with a single family. She can kind of relate to the child of a homosexual couple in the fact that their family/home life is different and maybe not accepted by the general population. God has placed us here with an extended family. It's certainly not normal but I would hope that my children would not be UN accepted because of what God has called us to. I like tolerance. I think a lot of people could learn a lot of things.

So I won't be protesting this book, in fact Emma is sharing it with her class tomorrow.

This reminds me of a scene in the great movie classic "Footloose". The radical Christian townspeople are burning books from the library and the reverand of the town stops them and says, "Satan isn't in these books. He's in here. He's in your hearts. After you burn all these books, what are you going to do then? Who appointed you to be the saviors of everyone's souls in Beaumont? Go, and sit in judgement on yourselves. "

And in honor of my husband, from Star Wars, " Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering." We fear what we do not know and do not understand. We don't have to agree or adopt the things we learn about. But we can't love someone if we don't know or understand them. The way I understand the Bible is, we were taught to love God and love each other. That sounds like a little bit of tolerance would be necessary to me.