Over the years I’ve noticed that hospital stays can promote conversations that are deeper and more honest than those under normal conditions. Maybe it’s the time spent waiting, trapped, with nowhere else to go. Maybe it’s the sense of vulnerability or one’s mortality, where extraneous concerns are stripped away and what’s most important is exposed.
So it was again this week when I waited in the recovery room with my African refugee friend Harold who had just undergone prostate surgery. Harold, not his real name for reasons of privacy and safety, escaped five years ago from political persecution in his home country. His wife and children are still there, waiting for the sclerotic US immigration machinery to bring them here. In the meantime, Harold works the night shift at Walmart for $15 an hour. He lives modestly and rides his bicycle to and from work. He spoke with pride about sending money back home so that his children can stay in school. He has never smoked or drank alcohol because parents must provide a good example for their children and give them the best possible start in life. He lived on $60 a month in an urban African ghetto eating one small meal a day while avoiding his political pursuers. He believes people can withstand any hardship if they have a positive attitude, work hard, trust in God, and put their family first. He spoke about the richness of his Third World country’s natural resources, ample water and rainfall, and abundant mangoes and cassava. He said that people in the US have a lot more money, but it never seems to be enough.
His surgery successful, Harold will continue to work hard and wait to be reunited with his wife and children, while he continues to provide a glowing example of how a father, against the odds, fulfills one of his most important roles: provider for his family.
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WTF is Up With Public Schools?
I recently heard a speech by Heather MacDonald, the fearless author and commentator on such topic as crime (The War on Cops), equality (The Diversity Delusion), and other topics. She attributed the decline of education in America to the overly feminized school systems in which teachers, administrators, librarians, and union leaders are predominantly female and overwhelming Progressive.
I have said many times that the issue of fatherlessness cuts across all political, religious, gender, racial, and cultural barriers. But it’s a fair question to ask what students are learning in school about fatherhood, the role of parents, and the primacy of the family as the unit in which kids are ideally raised. And why the men seemingly most welcomed into public schools are drag queens?
In schools, and across society, we celebrate the histories of Blacks, Hispanics, and Women. We honor the LGBTQ+ community and the Earth. We have installed racial and gender curricula that many parents find objectionable, and the education establishment has labeled such parents terrorists.
Here’s a modest proposition: Let’s create opportunities for more men to visit schools — fathers, cops, firefighters, active military, veterans, businessmen, karate instructors, and judges — to talk with students about fatherhood, the family, liberty, the Constitution, the 2nd Amendment, personal responsibility, self-defense, capitalism, the rule of law, meritocracy, hard work, limited government, and the like.
In the interest of diversity, equity, and inclusion, should not such topics and speakers be a welcomed part of a balanced education in America?
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Dads and Moms are waking up with outrage to the aggressive and radical beliefs that increasing our kids being force-fed. Here are just a few examples of the attempt to usurp the roles of parents and undermine the family:
https://twitter.com/mrctv/
https://www.mrctv.org/blog/
https://mrctv.org/blog/