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Waiting For Superman

My Journal

2/15/14


Today I don't want to be introspective. I want to just be superficial, which is kind of different for me, not in an arrogant way, just in a factual way. I thought it was interesting when I read an article about a guy who decided to follow Ben Franklin's schedule for a day. Ben left time for study and to deal with spiritual things. The author said he almost never did that, and it was an interesting thing for him to do. Thinking about big things like God and purpose and why we are here and doing research into those questions is something I grew up doing and something I do all the time. How can you not wonder about that? How can you just go through life and just go to work, come home, be with your someone, party sometimes and that is it. That is satisfying? Really? Don't you wonder about things as a whole? Don't you wonder why we are here or how, or do you just take science's or God's word for it and leave it at that. I guess in a way you could have more of your emotional energy available to fritter away on personal drama. That might be interesting. I know it is kind of a weight on me to wonder about my, and our purpose, to wonder what or who else is out there, and it is a huge itch I am just dying to scratch to see everything as it really is. I used to think I would just go to heaven and God would explain it all to me and I could live with that. Now I am not so sure I will ever know, and ugh, that is annoying.

But to live without that burden, to me is to live in a closet. To live in the small world of what I see now. I just need to get out into the air and breath and wonder, and make wild guesses and hope. So with that comes the burden of what I don't know, of making choices and just not knowing if they are the right ones because I can't have all the information. I can't see past death or into the new millennium, so I have to make some of my best guesses blind.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Market Day

This post is so late as to be rather irrelevant chronologically, yet the idea behind it was so good I am determined to post it. In December, before Christmas, one of the homeschool groups we belong to hosted a day they call Market Day. The idea for this activity is to allow the kids to sell, trade or buy items. It gives the kids a chance to acquire things for themselves or for others for Christmas. Well, in November, Nina learned how to hand knit and I was faced with the prospect of long noodles of hand knitting accumulating all over the house. I suggested that Nina make necklaces and bracelets to sell at Market Day. Evan was nearby during this conversation and when he heard someone talking about earning money he perked up and had the idea to sell origami ninja stars. Arin rarely feels crafty, but he wanted to jump on the moneybag bandwagon so I suggested he collect small toys I really wanted to get rid of that were around the house and sell them. We all spent weeks stockpiling wares, talking about pricing, quality, supply and demand, and presentation. Basically we learned capitalism in a simple, age-appropriate nutshell. On Market day I dug out a festive table cloth, and brought a bean bag target so that 1. kids would have something to do with their ninja stars other than pelt each other, and 2. if people wanted to play the game they would have to buy a ninja star. The day was a success. All of the kids earned money: not enough to finance their college education, but not a bad haul for sales in the average kid market.

Posted by Charlyn at 5:42 PM  

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