Plays Well With Others

Church and State…

Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.

If Scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.

Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That’s no offense; it’s a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise.
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.

For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all.
In silence alone we must meditate,
God’s name is prohibited by the state.

We’re allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks.
They’ve outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.

We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the ‘unwed daddy’, our Senior King.
It’s “inappropriate” to teach right from wrong,
We’re taught that such “judgments” do not belong.

We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd.

It’s scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school’s a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; my soul please take.

This is a poem that’s been circulating the internet for a few years now. Recently a high school principal decided to read the poem to the school, before the Thanksgiving break. I’m sure he didn’t see any harm in it, and probably thought it’d give them a chuckle while also giving them something to think about.

Upon returned to school after the break, he was confronted by parents who were less than amused. One parent even stated, “Basically, I found the poem offensive, but even if I didn’t, I still would believe it crossed the line between church and state.” These parents took time to not only complain to the principal himself, but when so far as to call the superintendent to file complaints also.

Now, my commentary isn’t directly so much at whether he crossed a line or not, but really the parents who seem to have nothing better to do than to file petty complaints over the reading of a light-hearted poem. I highly doubt the kids were offended by it.

It seems like more and more people have lost their sense of humor and are ready to attack anything and everything just to give themselves something to do. Personally, I don’t find a problem with the poem. If the principal had shown porn over the schools television network, maybe they’d have a basis for a legitamit complaint, but I don’t find this particular poem to be worth of a call to the superintendent.

People just disgust me. They act like animals when shopping at stores during sales. They file frivolous lawsuits over spilling hot coffee on themselves. They call the superintendent because the principal read a light-hearted, thought provoking poem. They shoot each over squatting rights to an area to kill animals. Society sucks. And parents suck for not allowing a principal to run his school the way he sees fit.

I don’t have a problem with being involved in your kids school. In fact, I think more parents need to get involved. I think it needs to be a partnership between the school and the parents to show that as a united team, you believe in your kids education. These parents, however, have undermined the principals authority at this point, basically showing the students that their parents will side with them over anything the school says. To an extent you should give your kid the benefit of the doubt, but also keep an open mind to what the school is saying. Most parents will knock down walls fighting for their kid. The problem is that the school really has nothing to lose, while the kid has EVERYTHING to lose. Most parents don’t really care what their kids do while in school anyway. As long as they have a place to put them for most of the day, while they’re at work, that’s mostly what matters. Big old babysitters.

As for the principal, “I apologized to them today in another statement. I said that there was no attempt to individualize or to bring ridicule on any particular person with the poem.” The superintendent hasn’t come up with an disciplinary action to take against the principal. Ugh.

3 Responses to 'Church and State…'

  1. personal avatar
    Renee | 30 November 2004

    What redneck hillbillies!


  2. personal avatar
    Cam | 01 December 2004

    I kind of like the idea of America being a melting pot and a nation of tolerance, and it oughta work both ways; religious folks should be tolerant of aetheists and aetheists should be tolerant of religious folks. Kids aren’t sheep – they’ll make up their minds on religion, and reading a poem like that isn’t going to make a difference.
    I used to work as a maintenance man at a private school and every morning a convoy of mini-vans would drive through the school cul-de-sac and unload their children. In the first few minutes after 8 a.m. there would be 15-20 four year-olds running around the preschool. In an effort to keep them organized, the teachers would sit the kids down and read them bible stories like Noah’s Ark or David and Goliath. One evening some guy gets up at a PTA meeting and starts raising heck about not wanting his daughter to be subjected to that kind of “propaganda”, even though his daughter was in 7th grade. Everybody was like, “dude, they’re children’s books and they’re 4 years old – they’re just looking at the pictures. We’re just using the books as tools to keep the kids from running outside when there’s so much traffic going through the school grounds…” He wasn’t hearing any of it, though, and the pre-school had to pull some more p.c. books out of the library to read to the youngsters. Pretty bad when even private schools have to tip-toe around those kinds of issues…


  3. personal avatar
    Greg | 01 December 2004

    Kids aren‚Äö?Ñ?¥t sheep – they‚Äö?Ñ?¥ll make up their minds on religion, and reading a poem like that isn‚Äö?Ñ?¥t going to make a difference.

    That’s exactly right. Being read a poem or a story, religious or not, isn’t going to make a difference one way or another. Most of the kids probably aren’t listening and more than likely don’t even care. The problem seems to be more with parents these days. Everyone’s got a soapbox to stand on, everyone’s pissed off about something and everyone feels the need to create a little bubble around their children to the point that the kids grow up knowing nothing but their parents point of view. The only way people learn and form their own opinions is to be exposed to what’s around them. A good parent is going to teach their children their values at home and then send them out to make use of them in a world full of diversity. Too bad these parents spend so much time trying to stifle that diversity, instead of spending it at home with their children teaching them about it.


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