Doghouse

Authority, Voice and Incarnation

Adam and Camille preparing for Spongebob.





One of the few connection points that Adam and I can enjoy daily is playing side by side in a game called Starcraft. He's quite good. In fact, recently we went head to head like a good chess match andhis direct attack decimated my flanking him from the right. I was proud of him. Well played.

I suppose it was a replay of that story my Dad likes to tell when I was 16 and I was beating him in basketball 16-4 and he asked about getting "points".

"You never gave me any" I said.

Well he likes that story and I like this one. Older son Thomas utterly schooled me in Tribes. Proud of that. You want your kids to excel and are happy when they have success...even if you have to suck a humble bit of pie.

Well we could not play yesterday because L had barred Adam from using his computer.

"Why?"

"She said I was disrespectful."

So maybe he was and maybe he was not. It would not be the first time a 14 year old boy was sassy with his mother. So I will not assume...I mean I was not there.

But the policies of disrespect are more concerning. Adam recently told me that now whenever he has ANY argument with his sister (who is about to turn nine) he loses one day in getting his drivers license.

Well I think we all know what that means in both directions. On the one hand there is nothing more important to a young man than a car (okay, that and girls). On the other hand the power over that has been handed over to his 9-year-old sister. It's not if his argument is right or wrong...it's the simple act of speaking up for himself and respecting himself.

Do that and you lose a day.

Now Adam's relationship with his sister is very different from what I grew up with. They love each other on most days. At times Adam has been almost like a third parent as he has been the one constant in Camille's life. L has not always been there, and neither have I. But Adam always is, and he handles it well.

If that sort of rule had come down at my old house I would have gotten my license around the age of 35.

Now it is true what Bill Cosby says. Parents do not want justice "what they want is quiet!". But this is unjust because it gives Camille too much power and it disrespects Adam and makes it sure he has no voice.

Voice is at the core of our self-respect. That is global, political, social, and personal.

Sure, we are responsible for that voice. I am now as I type these words. LIBF accused me of libel and I challenged him to show me where and when. No response. I was never worried as I have been very careful to speak only about what I know is verifiable.

We are actually commanded to tell the truth, which seems a very hard thing for most people (see the present election). The attempts to silence open disclosure are constant. I get it every week.

I found out recently on a business trip that I am on a Government Watch List (obviously for my political views of this administration). I comfort myself with the honor that Tony Campolo, Jim Wallis and others are on the same watch list. I'm pretty sure that LIBF is too. [You shd check that out R. All you have to do is ask if they have not already informed you.]

Dad, you probably are too because you write those editorials I so enjoy. Keep writing them. They are really good.

When the woman at the airport asked me if I was on the LIST I laughed. Too dumb to consider...but as she typed in info I got worried. I sheepishly asked "er, am I on the Government Watch List?"

"Yes, you are Mr. MacDonald. Have a nice flight."

Now what would you feel walking away?

A surreal feeling washes over you. Then you wonder as you drop your shoes, belt and possessions into trays for scanning "who is watching me if I am on a Watch List?"

It's a mixture, in my case of fear and pride. Kind of like the Irishman I so enjoy in Braveheart who says "this conflict has brought out the finest people". But I still felt fear about simply voicing my opinion and talking mostly about facts.

********

I was "Banned" fourteen times last year from a popular blog (Tennapel.com) that is Christian Right-wing at it's worst. It's not a forum for the squeemish. You need to show up in Internet blue-face.

The interesting thing was I was not banned for being rude or overly Liberal. I was banned because I made reasoned arguments. I made scriptural arguments, logical ones, historical ones, epistimological ones. I used story, narratives, and classic apologetics.

Banned. Shut Up Mac.

So I ask you, isn't the message to my son "shut up"?

"Just lost another day...oh...there's another one...and another"

Well, he is my son. As Reese says "Tree...apple...sigh". He has self-respect, and he should. He will bear the indignity of being silenced for a period of time, but that time is running out.

My only fear for him is that he will personalize it. People want to silence you not because of what you are saying, but because of their fear of what you might say and open disclosure.

This is the nature of self-repression and overt oppression.

So far he bears it well, with good humor. All parents are idiots in their own way, myself included. When we hurt our kids is when we pretend we really know what we are doing. God knows what He is doing...we are just stewards, and rather foolish ones on many occasions.

Keep your sense of humor son. Try to respect your mother whether she earns it or not because it is good for your soul. She loves you and is doing the best she knows how. Keep your own self-respect. I respect you.



********

Incarnation in a bit...I have to go to Church.

posted by Obi-Mac BakDon @ 8:20 AM