What You Say by Judy Lyden

Just read a little Facebook and noticed that some the the pillars of the church are denigrating Sarah Palin to the point that is uncomfortable and unreasonable. What they are doing is taking her humanity away and condemning her. No matter what you think of Sarah Palin or for that matter any public figure, the idea of destroying someone's humanity is a bad example to adults and an even greater wrong to children.

The ability to separate what is important from what is inane is the job of the truly adult person. Politics are important, but in no way are they the new religion. Is Sarah Palin's humanity more important than her politics? I vote YES.

Discrediting "the other side" of any argument is popular play. It always has been. But today, it's lethal. We not only want to discredit someone's position, we want to eviscerate the person, tear them apart, crucify them. Is this what we want to teach our children to do to one another? As evil as it sounds, the ability to tear a politician down at home translates into tearing a disliked teacher down at school, and then the unpopular children as well. Children model their behavior after their parents. So if parents are venomous toward other people, children will learn that behavior and be venomous toward the only audience they have - other children.

Parents who engage in personality and humanity bashing send a chilling call to their children. To teach hate and revenge is against peace and harmony no matter the supposed enemy. This call to indecency was expoused by the wife of the Bishop's right hand man. What does that lead me to believe about the bishop and his message?

When children take hate to school, it only teaches hate. When children take peace and thoughtfulness to school, it teaches peace and thoughtfulness. People are either usually and predictably hateful and vengeful or they are peace loving and hopeful. These personality traits are learned by adults and by children because it is not a natural thing to hate. It is a natural thing to be curious.

Loving one another means trying to see the other person's point of view. This openness breeds openness in children. To see a parent struggle with what he does not understand and apply reason to either supporting another or taking support away is a legitimate and intelligent way of going about one's life. Children are watching.

We live in a very divided world. We live in a world that bespeaks a lot of hate and a lot of ridicule. We live in a world of suspicion and contempt, and isn't that a shame because hate makes people smaller and less as people, and hateful people make the world smaller and darker so that good parents who want their children to embrace that which is good, have trouble seeing it. Hateful people always make the news.

Life is a wonderful walk. It's filled with things we learn to love and things we turn away from. This is a very human kind of behavior. Two of the eleven passions are love and hate. These are legitimate passions, and both are neutral. It is for us to take up these passions which will lead us to either good or bad. It is up to us and well worth thinking about.