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I would like to report that I am cautiously optimistic about how they will decide on this, but I can't even muster up that much.
This is the same Supreme Court that a few years ago that effectively destroyed the security of owning personal property by way of the Kelo decision. They ruled in favor of "the community" then and against the rights of the individual. Why should we believe that they will do any differently this time, on this issue?
Actually, I must confess that part of me is secretly hoping that the Supremes will attack individual rights on this one. Maybe then some of the Christians in this country - who I am still angry toward regarding their sheepish complacency - will wake up and realize what's going on with this country. Maybe they would... but again, knowing what I do about them I can't be very hopeful on that one.
But I'm not terribly worked-up about this, however it turns out. Because I know enough about why the Founding Fathers included the Second Amendment to understand that they no doubt fully anticipated something like this happening eventually. The Second Amendment is written confirmation that the individual has the right to protect himself or herself... but that's not the main reason why the Founders made such prominent note of it. They were people who were plenty wise about human nature and its capacity for corruption and destruction in the pursuit of power.
So it is that the primary purpose of the Second Amendment is a temporal guarantee that government in America is derived by the consent of We The People, and that the People have the right and responsibility of overthrowing that government if and when government becomes abusive without restraint.
In other words, the Second Amendment is there not because we can shoot the bad politicians dead in the streets, but so the bad politicians will know that we can shoot them, if they get out of line.
Thus, the Second Amendment is the final "checks and balance" of government in the United States. It is a bulwark against human nature... because without that, this country will become something that few of us want to see.
No wonder why many who enjoy exercising the power of the state are hoping the Supreme Court will quash individual rights again in this case.
No, I am not a violent man. I just understand enough of humanity's capacity for violence to know not to trust it.
Last night the Rockingham County Board of Education, after months of outright frustration on the part of parents, students and other citizens, voted 7 to 3 – and with 2 abstentions – to rescind its April vote to implement Standard Mode Of Dress (the euphemism for school uniforms) at Reidsville Middle and Reidsville High schools starting with this upcoming academic year.
Now for the full skinny on what went down, at least from the vantage point of one of the members of P.O.T.S.M.O.D. (People Opposed To Standard Mode Of Dress) ...
After last month's meeting, when members of the board refused to acknowledge citizens' concerns about the uniforms and the legitimacy of the initial vote, I had vowed to show up at the July meeting dressed in my Jedi Knight costume: admittedly, and I even said this last night, as an "attention-getting device". And that's exactly what I did. I put on the outfit early yesterday afternoon and wore it when Tracey McCain from WFMY News 2 came by to do a quick interview. Earlier she went to the house of Samantha Fettig – who deserves bigtime props for her leadership of P.O.T.S.M.O.D. these past several months – and covered the students there who were working on picket signs to carry outside the schools' Central Office yesterday afternoon. A little after 4 p.m. I left home and headed to the office. Vehicles from WFMY News 2 and WXII Channel 12 were already there, and a short while later a huge "mobile studio" from WXII rolled into the parking lot.
A few minutes after that Samantha Fettig, Susan Imus, Wendy Inman and the high school students who've been part of P.O.T.S.M.O.D. arrived with their signs. Samantha's son Chris Fettig also showed up… dressed as a prison-striped convict! WXII's Melissa Marsh interviewed us for a quick story to run during the 6 o'clock news. Here’s the clip ...
And here are the students and several of the adult members of P.O.T.S.M.O.D. protesting the uniforms on the other side of Harrington Highway across from the Central Office ...
And just for the record: wearing a Jedi costume – which includes two layers of shirts, a tabard, a waist sash (all muslin), thick belt and heavy cloak over all of that, in 90-plus degree hot July sun ... tends to make one a little sweaty, to put it mildly. But, it was way too much fun to have done that, especially for a good cause :-)
I went back up into the office at about 5:30 'cuz by that point the heat in that outfit really had become somewhat overwhelming. Going in I saw board chairwoman Elaine McCollum (who was also my old high school homeroom teacher), board members Lorie McKinney and John Smith and Nell Rose, and school superintendent Rodney Shotwell. Ummmm I think "amused" would be a good way of putting their reaction to my attire ... but in a good way, not the "oh Lord this guy's a nutball he's not going to try to do the Jedi mind trick on us is he?" sort of way.
I went downstairs to the board meeting room and it wasn't long before there was a considerable media presence getting ready to cover the meeting: Melissa Marsh's crew from WXII, Erich Spivey and his team from WFMY, and Kira Mathis from News 14 Carolina. Also on hand were Heather Smith from the Reidsville Review and Jonelle Davis from the News & Record.
The meeting convened and after the traditional Pledge of Allegiance, then approval of the agenda and with no intervening business, Elaine McCollum declared the public comments portion of the meeting to be open.
Now, I must confess here that I didn't take good notes during public comments about who exactly said what. By this point I was really struggling to stay cool (in the thermal energy sense) and focused, and all the stuff that I had in my hands didn't allow for much dexterity in taking notes. But the following will give you a pretty strong idea of what happened during comments. Here are some photos (thanks to Erinn Murphy for taking these!) ...
Here are the news stories covering the meeting ...
At around 8 o'clock, during the Consent items on the Agenda, a brief recess was called for. After the meeting resumed, the board went through the Action items and spent considerable time discussing issues pertaining to year-round schools. This went on until around 9:20, when the meeting arrived at Reports/Discussion items and after Dr. Shotwell gave a series of reports, the evening finally arrived at item 7.3: the superintendent's report on Standard Mode of Dress implementation for the next school year.
Dr. Shotwell absolutely must be commended for following through with another survey – this one giving the parents the option of choosing NOT to be in favor of the school uniforms – in light of how much confusion and accusation and appearances of impropriety that surrounded the earlier survey. According to the figures from this new survey, which was taken around June 23rd, combining the results of polling parents of students at both schools yielded a strong 57 percent opposed to Standard Mode Of Dress, compared to 42 percent who said that they were in favor of the uniforms: a marked reversal from the stats of the initial survey.
Dr. Shotwell, for the purpose of relaying to the board his report on feasibility of implementing SMOD at Reidsville Middle and Reidsville High schools this coming year, talked about his research and discussion with administrators at schools that do have uniforms, particularly talking about the experience that one middle school in neighboring Guilford County is having with the uniforms. Which on the surface seems to be a rousing success there. The thing that makes SMOD a fairly feasible thing in Guilford County and that is lacking in Rockingham County, Shotwell noted and what was discussed at length in the ensuing dialogue, was that many lower-income students with SMOD in Guilford can be accommodated with the required attire out of the generosity of local contributors, be they individuals or corporate and other larger interests. And the fact is, there is no comparable "charitable infrastructure" in Rockingham County that could likewise help lower-income families acquire enough needed uniforms if SMOD were enacted. Because of this, Shotwell made the recommendation to wait at least a year before implementing SMOD at the two schools.
What happened after that was easily the liveliest – some might even say chaotic – discussion among the board members that I've seen in a year of regular attendance. Whether the schools were the least bit prepared to enact SMOD was an issue immediately pounced-upon. At-large member Lorie McKinney asked if the board was ready to decree which items of clothing that students could wear, and noted that some students are allergic to certain fabrics: was that matter being taken into consideration? The issue of discipline for those students who refuse to adhere to SMOD was addressed: Dr. Shotwell said that schools would try to be prepared to assist students if they needed it (i.e. the teachers at the schools he studied had 3 belts per classroom, to lend to students who did not have belts of their own to wear). Chronic violation of the uniforms mandate would result in calls to parents, then in-school suspension and then corrective action at the principal's discretion.
Celeste DePriest – one of the four who voted in April to not implement SMOD – said that she still did not believe in enacting this policy. Reida Drum – one of the nine who voted for the uniforms – expressed that it was a good policy that should be followed-through on. Dr. Jim Austin, who also voted for the uniforms, then asked if there was an "escape clause" available as an opt-out for those parents who did not want or could not otherwise participate in school uniforms for their children. I overheard a number of people in the audience note that there were a lot of reasons why parents would not want their children to wear uniforms … which could possibly even include religious reasons (I've known some Christian families who maintain a strict dress code among their own for their children: SMOD as was voted upon in April would even violate many of these families' beliefs on modest dress).
Then Dr. Austin started talking about the support in the community for Standard Mode of Dress. He stated that he believed the numbers from both surveys could be considered accurate: "People change their minds," he noted, and that there had obviously been a "valid change of statistics." Austin said that he was now very much troubled about the prospect of putting in place a policy that there was no longer support for, and that he had to question how he could go on supporting it.
Dr. Austin made the motion to put the matter up for a vote to rescind the April vote of approval for SMOD. "The time has not come in Rockingham County for uniforms," he said, adding that this would be an unwise policy without gradual adjustment to the idea beginning with earlier grades, and that without an escape clause out of SMOD that the system would be wide-open to legal challenges.
Board chairwoman Elaine McCollum seconded the motion.
And then Ron Price – honest folks I am not out to "get" this guy, he does it all on his own to demand the ridicule – had to weigh in. Price said that he agreed with Dr. Austin that there had been a change in public opinion, but he said that the earlier decision to implement the uniforms was sound and should be upheld. Then Price totally lost it: he outright blamed a "small group in the community" that was making "loud noise" for "changing public opinion". Yes, Ron Price said that ladies and gentlemen: that people had changed their minds and that he did not like it. He did everything short of calling out names of individuals for their "activities" in spreading the word about the uniforms. But when he expressly called out Reidsville television station WGSR for giving P.O.T.S.M.O.D. an outlet for its views and blatantly said that WGSR was "bad for the community" ... well, not for the first time in a school board meeting, I saw and heard members of the audience chuckling and laughing at Ron Price.
The guy has lost it. I hate to say this, but when an elected official lets a tiny teevee station get stuck up his craw and that he has to lash out like this ... well, it doesn't exactly inspire confidence in that official, does it? I heard one person say that Price sounded like "a whiney teenager". Which is ironic 'cuz I've watched and listened to a lot of real teenagers get up to speak since this all started, and none of them ever acted like how Ron Price did last night.
(Look when something sticks out like a gangrenous thumb, the tendency is to point to it, ya know?)
Elaine McCollum then said that she had been thinking a lot about this matter in the past month and that she had especially "been listening to children really closely". And, McCollum said she had come to realize, the SMOD issue had become something that it had been thought it would avoid: dividing the community. "We need to cancel out that vote," McCollum proclaimed, "and start over only if there is real interest."
Reida Drum then brought up a survey that had been conducted in April: one that it was said did give parents a clear option of voting "no" to the Standard Mode Of Dress. That survey, Drum announced, was 53.1 percent in favor of the uniforms and 46.9 percent opposed: practically the opposite again of the June survey figures. Lorie McKinney quickly noted that some people who were contacted for the April survey were parents of students who were no longer students at Reidsville High School: "I see definite questions about this survey," McKinney said, adding that she knew of one person whose child was already well out of the schools and thus she should have no say in the matter. "She's a taxpayer," Drum responded. Some in the audience very quickly pointed out that if this was the case, then all the taxpayers in Reidsville should have been polled about whether they supported the uniforms.
And now, Herman Hines chimed in, with what had to be the most colorful and impassioned spiel coming out of the board during the entire night. Once more, Hines indicated that he was going to abstain from a vote to rescind, on the same grounds for his abstention from the April vote: that unless this was something affecting students county-wide, he wasn't going to have anything to do with it. But he said some things that I believe haven't been stated very much in these proceedings: that the matter of clothing is something that ultimately is the responsibility of the child's parents. "It starts at home," Hines said. That unless the mother and father take an interest in their children and lay down the boundaries of what their children can and cannot do, then anything the schools tried to do was really a moot thing. Hines did heavily imply that the schools absolutely do have a say-so in how the students come dressed, and that when he was an educator he had a policy of confiscating hats and caps from students who already knew that those were not allowed: "When I retired in 1985 I had a lot of hats and caps," he quipped, to considerable chuckling from the audience.
Personally, I thought that Herman Hines had a lot of good things to say. Maybe not necessarily about Standard Mode Of Dress directly as an issue, but he is right: unless the parents do involve themselves with their children, beginning in the home, then there's really very little that the schools can do for those children.
Throughout this entire discussion by the board, it was becoming creepingly obvious – and eventually blame was laid directly on this – that the administrators at the two schools had, intentionally or not, encouraged the belief that there was widespread support for Standard Mode Of Dress ... and that this led to a lot of mis-information. By this point it was being widely agreed by most that the entire process that had led to the April vote to approve the uniforms had been "sloppy" and with little real thought or consideration. Tim Scales was especially emphatic in registering his disgust with the process: "I will never support SMOD in Rockingham County again because of how this was handled."
Wayne Kirkman had some of the final remarks of the discussion, protesting that "we didn't just make up the SMOD dress code. We thought we had the information." He then said that "we've taken a lot of heat for the past four months" about the uniforms. Earlier during the public comments portion of the meeting, Kirkman – while never mentioned by name – was referenced in derision by many speakers (including Yours Truly) for his comments in Sunday's Reidsville Review that "School is about learning, not about individuality. It's about how to find a job."
Finally, the vote was called for.
Voting "yes" to rescind the April vote to implement Standard Mode Of Dress at the two Reidsville schools: Celeste DePriest, Lorie McKinney, Amanda Bell, Elaine McCollum, Nell Rose, Jim Austin, and Reida Drum.
Voting "no" to rescind the April vote to implement Standard Mode Of Dress at the two Reidsville Schools: Wayne Kirkman, Ron Price, and John Smith.
Abstaining from the vote were Herman Hines and Tim Scales. Scales announced his abstention by saying aloud that "I've had enough of this!"
Standard Mode Of Dress was rescinded – not postponed or otherwise delayed, but completely done away with – with 7 votes out of 12 that could have possibly been cast.
The rejoicing from P.O.T.S.M.O.D. was politely delayed until the board members finished with two additional items, after which it was announced that the board would have to go into closed session for discussion of personnel items. But before they closed the doors, there were several minutes of reaction and outright jubilation on the part of the SMOD opponents, and the members were thanked for their vote to rescind the policy. After all these months of tension and frustration, it was finally over.
And, a lot of people didn't hesitate to let their hair down a bit in the spirit of the moment. While I was at the front of the room meeting with several of the board members, Dr. Shotwell produced something out from under his place at the table, that he had made it a point to go looking through storage for this just so he could have it at this meeting ...
Here he is, Dr. Rodney Shotwell, Superintendent of Rockingham County Schools, with a full Darth Vader mask sitting on his desk:
And here are "the Two Chrises" - Fettig and Knight - in their costumes:
By the way, all while this was going on, I might have just been seeing things but I could have sworn that Ron Price, while sitting at his place at the table, was using a small flash camera to snap at least two photos of me after the meeting. Curious, that ...
After the meeting went into closed session, the P.O.T.S.M.O.D. people congregated in the parking lot. There was a lot of hugging and high-fiving and chest-thumping and plain-out celebration! We hung out for about a half-hour, then went home. But from the looks of all the e-mails that have been flying among the members, this was definitely a binding experience that, I really can't help but think that brought us together in a very unique and powerful way and that's something that will always last.
The people of P.O.T.S.M.O.D., I can't say enough how much of an honor and privilege it has been to work with Samantha and David and Chris and Wendy and Eddie and Susan and Bob and Terri and Cliff and Sherion and Judy and Rebekah and Erinn and Angela and Tina and Melanie and Jill ... and anyone else that I might have momentarily slipped my mind (not kidding folks: I sorta did get some heat exhaustion from that crazy lil' Jedi stunt yesterday, so my brains are a bit frazzled at the moment).
Sometimes, the good guys do win.
Thank you to everyone in P.O.T.S.M.O.D. who worked so long and hard, and sacrificed so much, to see this happen last night.
And to the members of the Rockingham County Board of Education who voted to rescind the vote and remove the uniforms policy: from the bottom of my heart, thank you. I've said twice now that if you would admit to having made this mistake and would make amends for it, that you would win our respect. Last night, you definitely did that. The stock that I have put in you has gone up tremendously because of this.
The right thing was done last night. Time to move forward. But always remember: this moment has been won ... but P.O.T.S.M.O.D. will still always be out there, somewhere, if there's ever a need to call for them again. We're like Batman: we lurk and we watch and when we have to we come out. And like Batman, we don't tire easily either.
Am still working on getting the full report about last night's meeting up. It's written, but it's taking a bit to encode the video of the news clips that I want to include with the report. That should be done in the next hour or so.
In the meantime, here is the full text of the remarks that I made - while wearing my full Jedi Knight costume - before the Rockingham County Board of Education last night.
Good evening. My name is Chris Knight, I reside at 1516 Sherwood Drive in Reidsville, and since most of us came here to discuss uniforms, tonight I've chosen to wear my own.
Your purpose, as part of this democratically elected republic, is to present a bulwark against the citizenry becoming overwhelmed by its own appetites. That your particular task involves the education of the next generation gives your charge considerably more crucial import than that of most functions of this government.
But when you fail to heed not only the legitimate concerns of the voting public, but also what absolutely should be among the dictates of your good conscience, then you have failed utterly in the carrying-out of your duties and are become something that is quite alien to the vision of the Founding Fathers.
Indeed, in the past few months, regarding the Standard Mode of Dress issue, I have seen this board act less as our public representatives and more as if it was a sovereign lord that believes itself beyond reproach.
I wear this costume to symbolize the frustration that most of us had during the previous meeting of this board. For well over two hours we addressed this board about why we are opposed to the Standard Mode of Dress. Not only because we believe that the uniforms are an inherently wrong idea, but also because in light of how the uniforms policy was implemented, our own good conscience has led us to demand that the vote to mandate the Standard Mode of Dress be completely rescinded. Not postponed, nor put off any longer, but taken fully and immediately off the table.
The vote to implement the Standard Mode of Dress was based on fraudulent data, and it remains an open question as to whether or not this was done intentionally. That this board is apparently determined to see it enacted despite the dubious procedure that led to the vote, does nothing to increase our faith in the board and in fact is drawing us to disrespect it that much more. I said last time and I will say it again: if you do the right thing by rescinding this vote, we will respect you. But if you insist on perpetrating this fraud, how much reason do you give us to trust you at all?
And the example that this board is setting for the young people of this county is that it is perfectly acceptable to in effect lie if that's what it takes to achieve one's goals. By refusing to acknowledge our protests in this regard, the board compounds this grievous sin by demonstrating that it is not only okay to lie ... but that it should be exercised without apology.
Please tell me: is the cause of mandatory school uniforms enough to justify setting this kind of moral example to our children?
You haven't addressed our concerns. You have instead attempted to use the assignment of a new principal at Reidsville High School as political cover away from us. Now we've returned, once again forcing consideration of an issue that you should have felt led to confront on your own, for sake of good conscience. You have failed to do that. You have further failed to demonstrate that you are sincerely listening to your constituents. Because of this and in the spirit of many students who have gone before, we have been compelled to employ an attention-getting device. The result is that now the world is watching this board and is bearing witness to what it is doing.
I doubt it is perceiving this board's actions on the uniforms issue as earnest leadership. Real leadership entails having the courage to admit that you were wrong. Running away from the matter and being disingenuous with those who have elected you is not leadership. That's the furthest thing from real leadership there can be.
Here, tonight, you once again have the opportunity to show leadership quality by making this right, for all of the reasons that I, and many others have brought up not only regarding the morality, but the very legality of the vote to implement the uniforms. But since the last meeting other concerns regarding this matter have crossed my mind.
If implemented, the uniforms will be an expense far above and beyond that of necessary personal cost. I know of no comparable expenditure that parents are called to make for their children's education. And in fact, I have been told by a number of people who have better minds than my own on the subject that it could be argued that in requiring parents to subsidize a government policy out of their own savings, that this is tantamount to levying an indirect form of taxation. I need not remind you that under current North Carolina law, no school system is authorized to levy taxes.
Is this school board willing, or could it afford, to see this premise tested in the courts?
Is there an ample stock of uniforms in the area to accommodate the students at both schools throughout the year? Or will some parents have no choice but to drive all the way to Greensboro or Burlington or Danville to purchase these uniforms. Once again, this would obligate travel costs that would in any other situation be needlessly exorbitant for some families of limited income. Has this also been taken into consideration?
For sake of time and because there are many others wishing to comment about this tonight, I will attempt to keep my remarks as brief as possible.
But now, there is one more reason why this board should rescind the uniforms policy. It was one that I was prepared to touch upon but the argument did not truly achieve its substance until yesterday morning's edition of The Reidsville Review.
One of the members of this board stated the following, and I quote from the paper ...
"I voted for what's best for our children and what will make the schools safer," this member said. "School is about learning, not about individuality. It's about how to find a job."
Members of this board: this is wrong. And it cannot possibly be more wrong. I would even dare to say that any member of this board who holds to this belief about the role of education has so little understanding of what education is supposed to be, that he or she should be voted off of this board at the earliest possible opportunity.
There is little doubt about why public education was started in America. One of the provisions of the Northwest Ordinance was for the establishment of public schools. Why? Because Thomas Jefferson, among others, wisely understood that the strength and vitality of America depended on her citizens being fully capable of reading and critical thinking. For America to survive, Jefferson and the other Founders knew, her people must be educated and enlightened, and as fully much the individuals that God created them to be. For there to be a government of the people, by the people and for the people, it is first necessary for the people to be masters of their own fate. So it was that part of the Northwest Ordinance was a plan for public schools ... for the express purpose of educating the people to be something more than what the world around them expected and defined them to be. Free government was dependent upon a free people ... and it still is.
This is why our public schools are the most coveted and lusted-after institutions for political control. Too many who claim interest in education do not see our children as individuals. They see them as a collection of assets to be exploited for selfish gain. To them our children, and we who are of age, are nothing more than bags of meat to be tagged. We are numbers in a system and to these people, our only purpose is to breathe and to eat and to consume and to spend and to watch television and to do as we are told and then to die. That is the totality of our existence to those who consider our children as nothing more than interchangeable parts of a machine.
That is not what our children are. They have a name. They have a soul. What they make of their lives is between they and their Creator. It falls unto us to do everything in our power to make sure that they go into life as equipped and enlightened as they can possibly be so as to meet its challenges and wildly surpass them. Anything less than this, is tantamount to putting our children in intellectual and spiritual bondage.
They should not be reduced to being mere factors to be plugged into an equation in order to achieve an expected outcome. Education is not supposed to be a precise science. Education, however, is a fine art. It is the art upon which all others are founded. This county isn't nearly thankful enough that it's managed to have and maintain the teachers – each of them a gifted artist in his or her own right – who are willing to share their love of their chosen subject matter with their pupils. They want to be free to practice their art.
But we – and by that I mean systems of education across this country, even many that are private – have turned this highest of arts into an industrial machine. We've allowed the soul to be taken out of the art of education. And now it seems, in reflecting upon this member's words, that this is all that our education is supposed to do: stamp out soulless automatons with a fixed designation that is beyond their ability to alter.
I see this board continually take measures that whittle down our teachers' passions and stifle their creativity and drive. It's no wonder that many of our children cannot learn: they do want to learn. I don't know of any child who did not on the deepest level desire to learn. But public education has become a system that frustrates our teachers and frustrates our children in turn. And by implementing the Standard Mode Of Dress, this board would heap on yet another unnecessary thing for our teachers to have to accommodate. I've spoken with a lot of teachers across many schools in this county. They want their freedom. They want to be trusted again by this administration to do what they were trained to do and have spent their lives longing to do. You aren't doing them any favors by forcing this ham-fisted measure on them.
This statement by the board member speaks volumes about why the Standard Mode Of Dress should not only be off the table, but something that should never have been considered in the first place.
If you want to improve the education of this county, indeed in this country, then do what you can to make the students WANT to learn. They really do want that, as much as the teachers want to teach and to teach HERE. But you are driving them away from both this area and their interest in learning out of this lust for more heavy-handed control.
Perhaps this is where we who are out here and some of you on the board differ. I wonder if it's something that's even reconcilable.
You would have our children shackled to a desk. We would see them fly as the eagles.
You would have them conform. We would have them dare to question and if need be, to defy.
You would have them be under control. We would have them control themselves.
We want them to be as much as possible the individuals that God has purposed for them to be. They are not here to do nothing more than to help pay for your Social Security.
There are some educational institutions that do mandate uniforms, but most of these can afford to do so because they already fully understand the true mission of education. This school system is not one of them.
I am here to demand three things:
First, that the Rockingham County Board of Education immediately vote to rescind the April vote to implement the Standard Mode of Dress, out of regard for the morality of the situation.
Second, that if it is yet believed that the students would benefit from having a standard mode of dress, that a serious attempt be made to determine how agreeable the parents and students are to the idea. This would mean bringing in an outside agency that is unattached to the school system in any way to conduct the survey. Much of the problem that has brought us here again tonight results from the fact that this school board failed to act in a way that would avert the semblance of impropriety, by letting the school system carry out the survey. If the parents and students honestly want the uniforms, then fine. I've no problem with that. But that requires an honest determination of fact: something that has been entirely absent in these proceedings.
Third: I want to sincerely ask that the members of this board of education take a few steps back, and introspectively consider what its goals are for the children of Rockingham County. And I want you to ask this among yourselves: is it your intended mission to stamp out replacement parts for the mad machine that is our society? Or are you doing your absolute darndest to nurture and encourage the growth of individual minds, equipping them with ability and the wisdom to use it, so that they will be capable of making the choices that will guide this nation and this world when it is time to pass the torch to them. I sincerely hope and pray that your mission is the latter. But the very notion of imposing school uniforms in the present context flies fully in the face of this noble goal. For that reason alone, I ask you to abandon the Standard Mode Of Dress completely and without condition.
If nothing else that I have said tonight has persuaded you to desist from pursuing the Standard Mode of Dress, I have a few more words to share, and they are most assuredly not my own. Some have asked that if I'm dressed as a Jedi, where is my lightsaber. Well, I didn't bring my lightsaber tonight ... but I did bring the surest Sword of all ...
(holding up Bible)
The words of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 10, verses 1 through 3:
"Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people. What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?"
The uniforms policy is unjust, because it is based on a falsehood. It will definitely be oppressive in the sense that it will hit many people hard in the pocketbook. And how many single-parent families is this going to affect?
What will you tell them?
James, the brother of our Lord, asks this also: "Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?"
The Standard Mode of Dress will make very many of the students, in the words of James, "without clothes". And the board has made it quite clear that it cannot provide adequate clothing for all, instead effectively telling them nothing more than "I wish you well."
If you can not respond to we among your constituents about these concerns, then how can you respond to the words of these great and noble men?
I just got home. I am feeling quite rank after wearing a full Jedi Knight costume since 4 this afternoon.
Here's the quick tally: with 7 "yes" votes, 3 "no" votes and 2 abstaining, the Rockingham County Board of Education rescinded the Standard Mode Of Dress - the euphemism for mandatory uniforms - at Reidsville Middle School and Reidsville High School this coming school year.
Sometimes, the good guys do win one.
More later. First I've got to eat and shower and probably go to Wal-Mart to pick up some Gatorade so I can restore some electrolytes :-)
Full report, including lots of pics, real real soon!
EDIT 07-10-2007 4:30 a.m. EST: The report isn't quite finished. Part of it is capturing/encoding video of the news coverage that this got, so it can be embedded as YouTube clips. I'm going to get a few hours sleep, and then come back and finish this up. Expect a complete report, maybe around 10 or so this morning.
I've never understood why most churches in this country put an American flag in the sanctuary, practically on par with the cross. As if the apostle Paul had the believers in Corinth prop up a Roman standard emblazoned with S.P.Q.R. in the corner of their meeting place.
A flag is a symbol of temporal power and authority. It has no place in a house of worship... unless what the flag symbolizes IS a focus of worship.
And if it is, then there is a problem.
Jesus called His followers the "salt of the earth". Only a little salt will preserve the meat. But if the salt loses its saltiness, as Jesus said, then it is worthless. And it does nothing. The meat will deteriorate.
That's what Christianity in America has become: it's lost its salt. Because too many of those who boast of Judeo-Christian morals don't realize the damage they have done by confusing lust for power with love of God.
And everything around us is rotting because of it.
Let's start with the most obvious thing: common courtesy and respect in America is dead.
America is now a Schadenfreude culture: everything from our moral character to our entertainment to our economy has become dependent on taking joy at the suffering of others. The "SCREW YOU I GOT MINE JACK!" mentality dominates this land. We aren't a happy people unless we are being vicious and cruel to someone else. I see it everyday, cropping up in things ranging from mundane conversation to the Internet (why does the web seem to magnify the animosity of most people?).
You see it in our political system and how it's reported on Fox News and CNN. We barely even pretend anymore that our actions are done for the greater good: "Let's hear it for the power!" as Nancy Pelosi shouted on the day she became House Speaker.
We've let people like Ann Coulter on "the right" and websites like Democratic Underground on "the left" make hating others not only something that's morally acceptable, but fashionable. Too many of us have eagerly followed their lead.
A people that have divided themselves between "conservatives" and "liberals" are shallow and ignorant. Those who insist that the world is divided into "red state and blue state" do so because they have not matured past the childish instinct to hate someone. Show me a man who rails against "liberals" or "conservatives", and I will show you a man who is unhappy unless he has someone to thoroughly despise.
Partly because of our willingness to hate, we largely don't think for ourselves anymore. The two most recent presidential administrations have proven that much. We've shown that we're all too willing to swallow any lie that is presented us. And we have readily demonstrated that we will eagerly fall into line behind whatever pretty face the powers-that-be decree we are to follow. Americans by and large don't vote for the most qualified person, or for someone who puts principles ahead of everything else. Today they vote for someone who is "electable". That is to say, someone who is handsome enough or is better known for being an actor than being a statesman. Our system of government has devolved into a high school popularity campaign.
It's come to the point where those who do dare question the qualifications and motives of these "leaders" are openly accused of "aiding and abetting the enemy". And look at what that has brought us to: government monitoring of our phone conversations and e-mails, the veritable suspension of Habeas Corpus, warrant-less searches, a "no-fly" list that apparently targets some for nothing more than stating political beliefs, forthcoming national ID cards...
Why is it again that America was a better country than the Soviet Union?
The rule of law in America is almost completely dead. Government does what it wants without restraint. Our representatives are installed by a political machine and with rare exception have any connect with the American people.
But we don't dare protest. We not only nod our heads and meekly accept this as "the way things are". Then we commence to buy things fast and loose on credit so that we can watch the Super Bowl on a plasma-screen TV, or get something else that we really don’t need and can't afford. Instead of confronting the problem we drink ourselves into numbness and hope that it will "just go away".
God bless America.
Right now two former Border Patrol agents are sitting in prison, with one already brutalized by fellow inmates. Their crime? They opened fire on a Mexican drug lord who went north of the border to conduct his "business". The U.S. government gave the foreign criminal legal immunity in exchange for testifying against two Americans who were doing their best to protect national sovereignty. They were doing a lot more than how most politicians in Washington are inclined to act.
If we can't appreciate the value of a strong border, then we might as well admit that there is no more United States at all. I'm sure the people of Mexico have their problems... but the good and proper thing for us to do as their neighbor is to tell them to clean up their own house, instead of foisting their miseries on us. Because the simple fact of the matter is: we can't take their population, and we shouldn't be expected to.
Why do I mention our border problem? Because it demonstrates how we've allowed these same politicians – egged-on by wealthy patrons – to sell out our nation's economy.
America used to be a country of manufacturing and production. We could feed ourselves, and the rest of the world. We made good products: American denim jeans helped to bring down the Iron Curtain. Today those same jeans are made cheaper in factories overseas, along with a lot of other items. They're even being made in a country that would rather America not exist at all. Now we're becoming a service economy and a lot of big business wants that as cheap as they can get it, too. Hence, the sly winking by even President Bush at the millions of illegals who are overrunning our borders.
I think this is the most material example of how God has given us something in America... and how we have abandoned it in the pursuit of worldly riches. But sadly, there are others.
Abortion is the most evil act that this country has let happen: even more so than slavery. But there are very few in either elected office or among the "activist groups" that seriously want to see abortion ended. There is too much money to be made in support of it...
...and there is even more money to be made in opposing it. If abortion were ended, James Dobson would have far fewer millions of dollars from "the faithful" rolling into his coffers. The GOP would also have lost its biggest reason to compel the "evangelicals" to keep voting straight Republican (I could also say that anyone who votes straight ticket doesn't deserve to vote at all, but I digress...).
No, abortion is going to remain nicely legal for many more years to come: both "sides" in the debate have too much to lose if it were to suddenly go away.
The same holds true for many of those claiming to oppose "gay marriage". There is no need for a "traditional family" amendment or law that "protects" marriage. Because "homosexual marriage" is a spiritual paradox: it cannot exist. Homosexuality is the pursuit of a carnal pleasure and true marriage is about something much deeper than satisfying the flesh. Marriage is something instituted by God that exists above man's law: we cannot either diminish it or endorse it.
Like I said, "gay marriage" can't really exist. But there is lots of money and power to be gained – and voters to be persuaded – by opposing it.
So now marriage itself has become a temporal weapon. We've taken something created by God and befouled it with political purpose. How can we possibly hold human life as sacred if we whore our principles so cheaply?
We see this callous disregard for the sanctity of the human soul in the most ill-conceived conflict in American history. Those who continue to support it love to cite that "only" thirty-eight hundred have died in Iraq, and they'll compare that to the number that were lost in one day at Antietam, or Iwo Jima.
But if even one soldier dies in an immoral war that we started, then that is one life too many. And we should be ashamed of ourselves that we have become so stone-hearted as to believe that the loss of one person in this situation is somehow "acceptable".
Don't tell me that those young men and women are over there serving and protecting this country. The only reason they are in Iraq is because corrupt – and I'll even say evil – politicians who have never seen combat sent them to exploit a situation... and again, for money and power. These people don't see members of the armed forces as unique and precious individuals. All they see is collective might that begs for the will to wield it without apology. The men and women who volunteered to serve did so in the good faith that their efforts would be used wisely. Yet I hear some proffer that because they did volunteer, that they can be used however their "leaders" see fit.
This government is not America. America is what we the people make of her. America is what we desire her to be. America is a reflection of who we are.
Patriotism for sake of patriotism is worthless. Patriotism has value only if there is something inherently good in a nation to be proud of.
What is there left in America for us to boast that we are blessed with?
If America is a land where her people cannot practice simple kindness, if we have made the desire for "things" our greatest priority, if we think nothing of exploiting our fellow man… then what good is there left in America at all?
When you think about how this nation was founded and the tenets it once held precious and how we are today, it makes you wonder if we in the modern day really ever wanted that America to begin with.
So I am compelled to ask: is America worth defending anymore? Does America deserve to still stand?
If we can again be a people that put ideas before ideologies, that can be courteous to others even when we disagree with their beliefs, and that can resolve to do what is right before doing what is convenient... then yes, America is still worth fighting for.
But if it has become that America and God are just convenient tools in the pursuit of avarice, then America does not deserve to persist. And we might as well admit that we do not desire God.
Indeed, if it's no longer possible that we can be kind to one another, then America does not deserve to stand at all.
"God bless America"? Why should He?
If America is no longer worth defending, it is because we who profess the Judeo-Christian ethic, having failed to seek God's will, have sought to impose our own. The Christians of this land should have long ago crucified their lust for power. Rather they ran and hid it within their hearts. In the name of collective might, we have turned our hearts away from the God of Heaven and toward a god of fortresses.
But instead of repenting and turning back from this idolatry, we dare ask God for His seal of approval.
We decided that we wanted an easy life on earth instead of righteousness before God. And the rest of the country naturally followed our lead.
These things didn't have to happen. But we let them happen all the same: because we've chosen the pursuit of power over the pursuit of good.
This was a good country once, because for the most part it was generally held that there was something higher than ourselves to which we would be held accountable.
Is America worth defending now? I don't believe so.
Could it be made worthy of honor again? Yes, definitely.
But we – all of us – are going to have to come to understand something first...
It doesn't take "the right man" being elected to Congress or the White House, or a mass rally by thousands in Washington, to change things for the better.
God doesn't act through governments or politicians who think they are "anointed". God doesn't act through the Republican Party, or the Democrat Party for that matter. God doesn't act through the 700 Club or Focus on the Family. God doesn't act through any denomination. God certainly doesn't act through the latest "church growth" fads.
God acts through that most despised of minorities: the individual.
If America deserves to be lost, it is because ordinary men and women knew that something was wrong but did nothing. Because they were too cowered by "the system": they felt they didn't have enough strength or wealth or political pull.
Without true and sincere acknowledgment of God for nothing less than its own sake, we are fast descending into a race of barbarians. It happened to Germany. There's no reason to believe it won't happen here also.
I'm amazed at the number of professing Christians who show more zeal and delight in attacking their "political enemies" than they do in preaching the kingdom of Christ. It only signifies that their primary interest is gaining favor and power in the eyes of the world, instead of being separate and looking toward something beyond this realm.
There is a spiritual decline in America's character because we as Christians let it happen: we became too fixated on acquiring power. It corrupted us and it went on to corrupt the nation around us.
There needs to be a nationwide repentance and contrition on the part of this nation's Christians, if they truly desire a country worth being thankful for again. And not repentance for sake of the America's well-being, but repentance solely for the sake of how far we have drifted from where we are supposed to be in the sight of God.
But we can't wait for a "movement" to germinate dedicated to "fix" these things. Indeed, something organized toward this goal with a "leadership" would be counter-productive. It is impossible for collective will to save us.
Whether America lives or dies depends on the individual.
Think that one person can't make a difference? Think of Gandhi. Think of Rosa Parks. It only takes a single person possessing the will to do what is right to make an empire tremble.
I don't know if that will ever happen. Pride is too much our master. We have become like the rich young ruler who could not follow Christ because of his wealth.
But if we can choose in our hearts that America and what is good about it is still something worth passing down to our children, then it seems that each of us would be willing to sacrifice some temporary luxury – and to begin to think for ourselves instead of letting others think for us – in order to give that to them.
We can decide that we want to leave this country – and this world – a little better than how it was that we found it. Or we can let it be lost forever: if not this year or the next, then assuredly at some point in most of our lifetimes.
We can opt to live for ourselves and let it all be lost, or surrender our lust for power and seek righteousness... and give America a chance to endure.
Don't wait for your government, or for Pat Robertson or Jesse Jackson or George W. Bush or Hillary Clinton or anyone else of that kind to tell you how to save this country. We know what they're really after now. They had their chance and they blew it.
If America deserves to survive for our grandchildren, then it's going to be up to you and me to make that happen.
