No, I haven't given up on writing. Actually I was getting some wonderful feedback and spent a good amount of time answering the various email I was getting from readers who dared to peer inside my mind. 2004 has just plain blown me three sheets to the wind. I have no idea what that means. I went to teach for a week at a private school south of Austin, which is heavy on my heart.
See, these kids at this high end boarding school come from successful parents, most dripping with an obscene amount of wealth. Their parents live in other countries or, in some cases, just up the highway. Do they come to visit? Sure, on the weekends or when they can. And lest the idea enter your mind that these 'kids' are mature and independant high schoolers, this is not so! The juvenilles in question are 6th grade and up. BOARDING OUT A MIDDLE SCHOOLER!!! For the love of George Herbert Walker. What in the %$&# gives these parents the right to consider themselves successful? The tuition at these places costs more than my annual salary so you're not exactly spending time in the express lane of Albertsons with a cart load of peanut butter and government cheese and swiping your WIC card here.
Now look. I know the story of Samuel and how he was devoted to God by his mother at a tender age but this is a far cry from that remarkable set of circumstances. Consider the term 'spoiled'. I had some cheese that spoiled. The residual effect of the mold was the antithesis of aromatherapy. I left a pan of chicken out by the grill once. (Ate the moist beef, left the dry chicken) In no time it turned into a science experement. I don't see how spoiling a child could smell any better. Mix that with a healthy sense of abandonment and you have the inevitable sequel to the Clinton whitehouse. So here's the deal. If you're rich, great. But what profit do you have if you gain the whole world and lose your own soul? I suggest that a man's son or daughter is as dear to him as his own soul. As he neglects one, so he neglects the other. Think your future CEO uniformed boarder is well off right where he is? I spent a week with them, and somethings rotten in Denmark. I have no idea what that means either.