Thursday, the boys and I sat down to watch C-SPAN online as Congress read the Constitution. The boys read along with a print-out as those powerful words were read. It was amazing.
At another point Rep. John Lewis read the 13th Amendment and I couldn't stop crying. Crying for the tragedy of what it was, crying for the beauty of what it is, and crying for repentance for what our country did. I keep checking Youtube for a clip, but still can't find one.
When the reading was finished, the session started with a request for a budget cut. A 5% budget cut. Rep. Hal Rogers said that the Appropriations Committee would see their 5 and raise them 4...they requested a 9% budget cut. It was clearly said that these budget cuts were just the beginning. While it would cut 35 million from the budget, that was not even close to the amount of debt that increases daily. Our debt is now over 14 trillion. The budget cut passed by a landslide. I'm anxious to see what comes next.
Ethan walked over to me later that afternoon and said, "Thank you for letting us watch the reading of the Constitution."
Me: "Are you sucking up?"
Ethan: "No, it's just that it has occurred to me that when everyone starts talking politics....I don't have a clue what they are talking about. It's time to change that."
Well, for one, I felt pretty lousy because it's my job to explain this stuff to him and I have not done my job. I also felt a great deal of empathy because for most of my adult life, I've felt pretty clueless about politics. I'm just beginning to learn, which tells you that anyone can learn. It matters. It really matters.
3 comments:
I know. It drives me crazy when people say, "Oh, I'm not very political." That's not true! Everybody is political because what happens there, in our various legislatures from the local governments all the way to Washington D.C., all of it affects our every day lives. We complain about, we talk about it, and we're ALL "political".
I saw everyone posting on Facebook that they were watching it, but by the time I saw their posts and got on the right channel, it was already over. *sigh*
Oh, our boy is growin' up! We hit government hard in the eight grade and the preamble to the Constitution will forever be embedded in my brain.
It's a good sign that E is taking and interest, it means he's ready to talk politics.
Have a wonderful weekend ya'll!!! :o)
Post a Comment