Homogeneity

Homogeneity.  Sociologists abound and their studies are legion.  This is no scientific analysis of human behavior.  It is simply some observations regarding humankind's proclivity to flock with like birds.

What portion of homogeneous divisions among us are natural and what percentage of them are artificial would be an interesting study.  Also, who believes what regarding these divisions would be of interest.

I recall an incident that occurred during my tenure as a public school administrator in which we were proposing a cross-graded continuous progress segment, a school-within-a-school, so to speak, in which students from ages six through eleven would be grouped together.  Ignoring the obvious fact that this is a homogeneous group in some broader definition, we found that when we opened the proposal for public discussion  some on either end of the liberal/conservative spectrum wanted to ignite a firebomb and throw it into the mix;

The ultra-conservative members of the community were armed and ready with charts and arguments all the way back to Adam and Eve to demonstrate that the "natural order" of things required that children should be grouped in  much narrower homogeneity, namely traditional graded age groups, else society would ultimately topple.

On the other hand there were those who adamantly pursued their own agenda, that is pipe-dream, that no order should be imposed at all, that the natural developmental processes of the human social and intellectual growth would take care of themselves, should we simply let children "decide" in their own time when they are ready for any given stage.

Our proposal was ultimately approved and a large number of students over a period of years functioned quite well in the broader "family" setting, but that is not the point of my rambling.

Last evening I attended a meeting of a group of people of "a certain age."  These people could correctly be identified as older people, but we are given to euphemisms, e.g., "Seasoned Citizens," "Keen Agers," "the Golden Years," and so forth.  Our group is called "Best Years Fellowship."

I have lived long enough now that I have been lumped in with the very students I taught when they were children in the public schools, for a number of the members of the group did indeed sit in my elementary classroom, lo those many years ago.

Where is the homogeneity?  Well, the groups would ultimately get pretty small.  There were but two people in the room besides me who were my age or older.  And the ninety-six-year-old guy could comprise a group all by himself.  I mean within our social reach, he has no peers.

The whole "age" thing is pretty dumb, anyway.  We are born, we live, some longer than others, and we die.  What our group has in common more than "age" is like-mindedness with regard to the way the world works and the ways in which we should work within it.  Instead of developing insular social groups in which people of like age "relate" to one another, why not a broad spectrum which includes everyone relating to each other?

I do not need interaction with other old poops so much as I need the stimulation of new ideas, new ways of viewing things.  And where will I find that?  Younger people, of course.  And trust me, the younger people would be well -advised to get close enough to their elders to allow some of the wisdom to rub off onto them.

Loving Parent, Responsive Child

Even as we expect our children to submit to our correction, so should we submit to the discipline of the Lord.  Do those children sometimes push back?  Do we push back when the Lord directs us?  I suspect that God often finds His children to be as intractable as we sometimes find our children to be.

Heed wisdom:

11 My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline
    or be weary of his reproof,
12 for the Lord reproves him whom he loves,
    as a father the son in whom he delights.  --Proverbs 3:10, 11 (ESV) 


Matt shares some serious thoughts on parenting as he and his wife eagerly await their first-born.  Check it out here.

Proverbs 27: 1,2

Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.  --KJ21

Happy birthday to the beautiful lady who makes my life on this mortal coil worthwhile:  Grace JoAnn, I love you.

Live and Learn

Looking through some of the bookshelves I came upon this little tome which I had not seen in a long while.

Proverbs

22 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold.

² The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all.

³ A prudent man foresees the evil, and hides himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.

⁴ By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life.

⁷ The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

⁹ He that has a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he gives of his bread to the poor.

¹⁵ Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

¹⁶ He that oppresses the poor to increase his riches, and he that gives to the rich, shall surely come to want.

I don't often select passages at random, but today's passages are from Proverbs 22 which was a "thumb between the pages" choice.  Included here are only eight of the proverbs from this chapter which includes way too much for me to digest in one sitting.

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Oodle Addles, Beans, and Skimmer Handles #T

My father used a number of quaint but pointed phrases to convey wisdom to me. Some of these sayings evoked images that have stayed with me all these years. There is a certain humor in the statements, but the love and the message were not lost on me.

An expression I heard Dad use often was, “He (she) went up the skimmer handle;” or “Don’t go up the skimmer handle.” I cannot find the phrase “skimmer handle” in the Bible, but I think the wisdom is biblical.

He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that rules his spirit than he that takes a city. Proverbs 16:32

Another of Dad’s expressions, usually directed to me in the form of a question was, “Do you reckon you’ll ever amount to a hill of beans?” I doubt that can be found in the Bible, but again, I think it has scriptural support.

It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding has wisdom. Proverbs 10:23

There are many other references one might cite to suggest that to amount to something is to be preferred to foolish behavior.

Finally, a thought inspired by a statement that BBBH uses on occasion. “I,” she will say, “am a princess.” If asked, she will expound on this by pointing out that the children of God, that is Children of the King, are, by definition, princes and princesses. Did you know that you are royalty? Are you aware that the Children of God are not tasked with a life of ease and entitlement here on Earth, though their reward for faithfulness will be great?

 Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world;  Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. Philippians 2:14-16

Yet another term I recall hearing often as a child was “oodle addle.” This was almost always in the expression, “running like an oodle addle on a windmill.” The missing subject might have been, from time to time, a nose, a Ford V-8 60, or a local politician. I find no scriptural mention of an oodle addle, and though I now know a bit about the derivation of the term, I do not have the slightest idea how my father who grew up hard-scrabble on the high plains acquired the expression. Oh, yeah. “Hard-scrabble.” That is yet another term...

Image:  Wikipedia

Redeem the Time #T

Monday morning BBBH left the premises with the announcement that she was "going shopping; I'll see you when I see you."

This rather left me at loose ends in an empty house.  Oh, I did have a load of laundry in the washer and a load in the dryer, so I was destined to have a few minutes of productive time.  What else to do?  Ah, peanut butter cookies.  I ripped a recipe from a BH&G that was lying around and gathered the required ingredients.

I do not cook, but Beautiful tells me (often) "If you can read, you can cook."  I'm not about to let that dictum reach the stage of verification, but I don't mind making cookies or candy on occasion, and I have been know to bake a cake now and then.

The details would only bore you, thus it is sufficient to say that the cookies were baked, the kitchen cleaned up, and the laundry folded by the time the spouse arrived home.

What a good boy am I.

The point?  Surely not to fish for your approbation or admiration.  But go ahead, if you wish.  Rather it is this.  I was thinking of an expression, probably biblical¹, which my father used quite often.  "Redeem the time," he would say.  I suspect, looking back through the tunnel of time, that often his point was simply that I was a sluggard, or at best I was wasting good time which might be better utilized.  When I was twelve, fourteen, seventeen, or whatever, I suspect that I had little enough grasp of the true value of the time we are allotted.  I may have taken his words as chastisement and received them with resentment on occasion.

That is one of the problems of youth.  In our youth, we have the strength and stamina for the tasks set before us, but we haven't the good sense to recognize the gift we have received in having been granted time.²

Now, Dad is gone and the time remaining to me is rushing past like a foehn wind down the east slope of the Rockies.  I have neither the strength nor the stamina, I have too little time.  What I have is the wisdom that comes with experience,³ but not time enough to avail myself of the benefit of that wisdom.

So, in an effort to "redeem the time," I may just bake more cookies, read more poetry, take more pictures.  Well, it's a thought.

¹Ephesians 5:15-17
²Teenagers, sadly, are immortal in their own eyes.
³BBBH says it is true we learn by experience; but, we will never have that experience again.  So what do we do with the lesson learned?