Too Much, Too Early; a Bit of Holy Envy; Catch it High

Ah...I remember well my first crush. It was fifth grade at Mountainview Elementary in Chatham Township, New Jersey. I thought she was the best thing since sliced bread. She had green eyes and dark brown hair and she was at least 6 inches shorter than the average fifth grade girl. In my pre-pubescent mind, I had life pretty well worked out. Thinking about her occupied...well...3% of my time anyway. I had street ball on Johnson Drive and kick the can to worry about instead. I probably did some homework as well although not nearly as much as I should have done.

I drive two fifth graders and a second grader to school every morning. The fifth graders are obsessed with who's going out with whom and who likes so-and-so, etc. Even my second grader has a "boyfriend" that she swings with at recess. Healthy? Yes, and it proves that no one is born to be a deviant since the boys like the girls and the girls like the boys. However, it is too much, too early! Our children are growing up without childhoods. The home should be a refuge but not a fort. I am so glad that my neighborhood does a fairly good job of getting together. There are movie nights, backyard barbecues, and fun events for kids sponsored by our local LDS ward. All are welcome at the ward events and will have a good time as long as they avoid the ward mission leader.

Even so, I am amazed and appalled at how little true playing goes on here and everywhere else I have seen. I want my kids to enjoy these warmer days outside with their friends. Oh, how I wish they had woods to play around every day. Also, why aren't there any porches? While I am on my soap box, let me just say that developers are ruining our state and our country under the guise of being "sustainable". They cry sustainability, but it is pure greed to cram as many houses as possible onto postage stamp lots. I digress.

I want my kids to have childhoods. I want them to have fun just being kids. I hate television, video games, and the internet. Somehow, even without TV and extensive internet use, my kids are drinking in and spreading the poison. It's public school. Don't get me wrong, I don't have any use for home schooling. I could say something about the social abilities of those people I have known who were home schooled but I won't. The problem is that public schools are way too concerned with all the wrong things. Also, parents suck today. Some parents try to teach their children to avoid the "dross and refuse" of the world, but so many others drink it in whole hog. The mix produces wild branches where you thought the vines were pure and the soil rich. Of course, it can be turned to your child's advantage by making him/her stronger through strong lessons in the home.

Krister Stendahl (who, in all fairness, would disagree with one of the things I wrote up above) was a minister and professor of divinity at Harvard Divinity School. He taught the principal of "holy envy". This means that even though one believes (as I do) in his own church in deference to all others one can have "holy envy" for certain things about other churches. For example, Stendahl's "holy envy" was for the LDS practice of temple work (particularly baptisms) for the dead. Here is my "holy envy" for something Catholics and Lutherans do. They invest in schools for their young children and have their clergy run the schools. Imagine if we Latter-Day Saints had church owned elementary schools run under the direction of the priesthood with amazing non-unionized and bishop approved men and women running them. The CES folks do what they can for high schoolers, but it is getting to be a bit too late by the time they reach high school--don't you think? I know that some have tried to found "LDS standards based schools" independent of the church's official sanction, but these have been overpriced and have under delivered. Egregious, they have been! The American Heritage schools are successful among the very wealthiest 1% of Utahns. So much for that option.

In reality, the above is just a pipe dream. It isn't in the cards. All you can do is teach your kids how to be decent people at home. Teach your daughters and sons to avoid the backseat of the car with their boyfriend or girlfriend because all they will learn in school is to be ashamed of what is in the gas tank (even there they won't be taught or inspired to do anything about it, only to be disgusted and ashamed). Just like the state water authorities are telling us here in Utah this year, catch it high. If we can build dams high in the mountains, then we can avoid regular, costly flooding downstream. "Teach them correct principles and they will govern themselves." If that advice from Brother Joseph was good enough for the people in his day, then I bet it will work for us.

Oh! By the way, the girl I had a crush on in fifth grade couldn't have cared less about me. Luckily, I found a wife, Utah Mom, who likes me ever so slightly more than that.

April in Utah

Growing up in New Jersey, I remember April being my second favorite month (behind October) because of its frequent drenching rainfall and its vibrant colors and dramatic rebirths. April 1st was planting time (no fooling). Although late frosts did occur, they were a rare unwelcome visitor to Chatham Township. You could rely on variations between warm and wet and cool and wetter--rarely snowy. I used to visit relatives in Utah in July or August every other year or so. I was so excited to see the mountains and canyons and go fishing at Mill Creek or Walsenberg that I never really came to realize that it was hot outside. Now I live in northern Utah County at 4,893 ft. April for us means simply that a few warm, dry days will be scattered between the snowy, windy, cold days. More still, here in my little neck of the sagebrush, we really cannot contemplate planting a garden until May 25th. Even so, we have occasional frosts until late June requiring the covering of tomato plants and pepper plants.

So, why live in Utah with its two-extreme-seasons climate? The two states in comparison with pros and cons for both:
1. Utah has a repressive tax code that socks it to everyone unfairly.
1. New Jersey's tax laws are surprisingly good. There is no tax whatsoever on food or clothing (unless luxury).
2. Utah has Temple Square, Albion Basin, Nebo and Alpine loops, and St. George for the winter months.
2. New Jersey has Autumn.
3. Utahns still believe in the sanctity of the traditional family as the foundation of society and their marriage laws reflect the same.
3. New Jersey, despite the large volume of fantastic religious people of all faiths, has desecrated marriage and family with its laws.
4. Utah's public schools still allow "Merry Christmas" and "I don't believe in global warming" to be spoken.
4. Many of my friends of faith (Catholic, Lutheran, and otherwise) in NJ send their kids to private religious schools at great financial sacrifice to save them from the trash they would get at the public cess-schools. (It is worth noting here that if the UEA had their way, we Utahns would be right there with New Jerseyans.)

I guess I can put up with the two seasons and crappy gardening.

2012 Huntsman Candidacy

I can't wait to see how the whole Huntsman candidacy thing plays out. There may be a million theories out there. My theory is based on the fact that Obama's people are shouting Huntsman's praises from the rooftops and the media is very favorably speaking of Huntsman. Hmmm. Here's my prediction of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

First the bad! A Huntsman candidacy could undermine Romney's chances of getting the nomination. Splitting the mormon vote is not a big issue because the church is too small to matter that much. Huntsman will simply split the mainstream Republican vote enabling an extreme, unelectable candidate to receive the nomination ensuring Obama another four years. That is bad considering the shape the economy is in right now. We know that there is some very bad blood between Romney and Huntsman after the 2008 primary given Huntsman's support of McCain in Florida. The Governor was booed at his own state's convention that year.

The good is very simple. If the tea-party's horse gets the nomination but then loses the race, then that will be the end of the movement within the Republican Party. A few total whack jobs will leave the party to pursue some kind of third party thing that will never amount to anything. The rest will come to their senses and be contented with the genius of mainstream politics. This is the good because it will free the Republican Party of the malignant growth that is the tea party movement.

The ugly, as with the good and the bad, is pure speculation. Someday, the truth will come out about this backroom deal between Obama and Huntsman. With Obama done with his 8 years and safely out of the way, Huntsman will then be free to run again in '16. I will say no more. I hope I am wrong. I don't normally believe in conspiracy theories, but this just seems to weird to be on the up and up.