Last night as Mary and I were praying together and putting Maddy to sleep, I noticed that our little girl was sleepcrawling. Ah, yes: sleepcrawling. I have heard of people sleepwalking and have personally observed it on a couple of occasions. This was my first time to observe the unique phenomenon of sleepcrawling. Maddy is asleep between Mary and me. She stirs from time to time. Suddenly, unexpectedly, she sits up and begins rocking her head. Her eyes are closed. No symptoms of a conscious person. She then begins to crawl across the bed. Her eyes are still closed. Her mind is in another dimension. Mary and I are both quietly busting in laughter. After Maddy has crawled a couple of feet, I quietly laid her back down on the bed. She continues her journey off in la-la land. The things babies do while they are asleep! I still marvel at the fact that they can eat and sleep at the same time. I don't remember ever doing that, though I guess I must have done that as a baby.
Current Affairs Commentary
Education versus indoctrination: there's a very fine line dividing the two. Malcolm Forbes stated that "[e]ducation's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one." Unfortunately, I believe that many educators and policymakers think that education's purpose is to replace emptiness with with certain facts. Education versus indoctrination. True education shouldn't merely replace the void with junk piles of information. True education should provide a framework, promoting critical thought and wonder, that can order and store information and opinions for the rest of one's life. Education provides an important tool: openness. All too frequently, education provides an official, one-sided version of reality. Indoctrination is nothing but that. Indoctrination creates close-minded individuals that are not open to discussion, dialogue or change. Indoctrinated individuals throw about accepted, prominent ideas without having questioned them or made them their own. Instead of debating content with an ideological opponent, they call the opponent names to discredit this close-minded and shallow individual. Ad hominem attacks are often easier than arguments to discover the truth. Education has such an important role in society and particularly among the youth. Any searcher for the truth must recognize the validity of multiple view-points and allow students the use of their reason and will to arrive at the truth in their own time. The imposition of beliefs is never appropriate, despite the purported common sense and absolute nature of the belief.
Quick Thoughts on Today's Gospel
Readings Today -- I have been glorified in [those you have given me].
It's a mystery that God is glorified through his creatures. Obviously God doesn't need us to give himself importance, love, service, or glory. He was and would be completely satisfied and complete without creation. Nevertheless, after creation, he has been glorified by all of creation living out its purpose. God is glorified in plants and animals as they fulfill their role. God is particularly glorified in those who can use their reason and will to freely and consciously choose to serve him. A bird glorifies God by being a bird. Yet, a bird has no reason or will to do otherwise. God has given humans the option to reject or love him. How much our choice to love him must glorify him. He is aware of the temptations we face on a daily basis. He knows the cost and difficulties associated with loving him. For those who choose to serve him and love him, the reward itself is known that he is glorified through their belief and actions. May God be glorified today through us, our thoughts, our words, our actions.
