Hi friends.
B. and I were talking about some of his assignments at school. He has been watching the presidential debates as a homework assignment and has some very insightful perspectives. Tonight we discussed if it is necessary to prove your innocence when a bully makes a false accusation against you. If someone accuses you of being something that you are not, are you innocent until proven guilty, or is the onus upon you to disprove the aspersion?
Anyway, I asked him what he thought we could do to help the USA. He replied that it was good that we were providing government money to help people who were in need and he thought we should be drilling for our own oil. I told him what I meant was I wanted to know what he thought he could do himself. He came up with some great ideas:
-Tell a teacher they were doing a great job
-Try to use less electricity by turning off lights
-Never litter
-Help people to get along at school
-Paying off his debts and not buying something until he had saved up for it
-Speak up if someone was being treated unfairly
-Don't break the law
Since he is still in school, there are some things he can't do yet, but it only took us a few minutes thinking together to add these ideas to the list
-Do volunteer work
-Buy American
-Hire American
-Stay in school and be part of an educated workforce
-Stay healthy
-Be sure to have health insurance
-Stay out of debt and save money
-Help troops, their families, and veterans
-Consider a job in community service, public service, or military service
-Get to know the neighbors and watch out for their safety
-Utilize public schools, participate in school meetings, and keep schools strong
-Be tolerant of others regardless of ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or political belief
-VOTE!!!
Once you start thinking about how you can help, it becomes a fun challenge to try to think of something new!
For more ideas, (including the great suggestion to fly the flag), I found this site from our government: http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Usgresponse/Help.shtml
We all can do something!
17 October 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Feedburner Link
4 comments:
I'm really glad you posted this. Now that I'm a parent (ack! frightening), it's really important to me to raise my son to be a caring person and responsible citizen. Your list with B is a reminder that the little things we ALL can do make a big impact on society. We don't have to be president or congressman or someone else "important" to make a difference. It's also a reminder that my husband and I are the best examples for our son, so we should try to live our lives being the kind of person we would want him to emulate.
It looks like you have a smart kid there.
One of the lucky parts about having the Green Party in Canada is that at least part of the message that our kids get is the message "Think globally, act locally." Oftentimes the best thing that we can teach our kids is that responsible citizenship begins with the things that we see and do in our daily lives. We might have a different political structure, but it all begins with how you live your daily life.
To your son B:
You know B, this might be a shock to you, but as an adult you have taught me something and for that I THANK YOU !!!
xo xo
Deb Estep
Proud Air Force Mom
Proud Air Force Mother-in-law
Dear Sara, Jen, and Deb,
Thanks for stopping by. I really hope this excitement about the elections, continues as excitement for our nation once the eletions pass by!
Chris
Post a Comment