to be taken away from us.
Jell-O was recently banned from some schools because it can contain pork products and
might be offensive to some Muslim students. Do Muslim people not teach their children to
avoid it? Why must millions of children be deprived of what has been a time-honored, tasty,
relatively healthy treat, because some children are not supposed to have it? It's not like it's
on the nutrition pyramid ... it's optional, so make it optional.
There are children out there that cannot have milk or ice cream because of allergies. Have
these items been stricken from school menus? What about sugar for diabetic children? Do
we see schools systematically removing everything with sugar from their menus because
there are diabetic children attending?
Santa Claus has become a criminal, Halloween a thing of the past, Thanksgiving a joke,
and having an Easter egg hunt is done nowadays only at our own risk. I am sick and tired
of making concessions ... I can easily live side by side with anyone, with any religion and
any lifestyle as long as they don't try to force me to convert. Why can't others do this? Why
must my children and my children's children, be forced to make these adjustments to
compensate for the choices or "needs" of others?
Americans are getting a bad rap for the war in Iraq.
“Iraqi's don't want to live your lifestyle! We want our own traditions and values!”
Fine. But the war on freedom has been going on since long before the first soldier set foot
in Iraq. The war on freedom is being fought on American soil every day and started with
the first time a child was reprimanded in a public school lunchroom for praying before
eating.
American children can no longer draw pictures of Christmas trees, or Jack-O-Lanterns in
school. They can no longer have Halloween parades or dress up in costumes or even trick-
or-treat without someone looking down their nose at them. They're not allowed to pray in
school. I don't pray, but I'll defend anyone's right to do so when and where they please.
So why are schools across the country banning everything from striped candy canes to paper
angels? The answer seems very clear to me ... certain people do not want certain children
exposed to certain traditions, rituals or festivities that they don't personally agree with --
especially en masse. Can it possibly be because they might be concerned that their child
might choose a path other than the one that they have predisposed them to?
Well, welcome to America, where we try to raise our children with certain values and ideals,
knowing every minute of every day that they might slip off the track and choose something
so far off what we had in mind for them that it literally leaves us gasping.
As American parents we have learned that we can pay for the best education in the best
college and diligently employ the 4 S's; Scrimping, Saving Sacrificing and Suffering, to
pay for several years of law school only to have the student decide the day before graduation
that he would rather move to Uganda and explore the mating habits of the white rhino,
than practice law. This is the price we pay for the freedom that our ancestors fought for.
This is America where these choices are available. That's why everyone comes here ... to be
able to live their lives as they see fit and be free from persecution. So what's happening?
These very freedoms are being compromised at every turn to compensate for someone else's
freedoms. Before you know it we'll have some many "freedoms" that nobody will be able to
do anything.
I'm a traditionalist. I get upset when I see a flag other than Old Glory flying in this country.
I still love the magic and wonder of a commercial Christmas and get a big kick out of kids
coming to my door and demanding candy one night of the year. I still color eggs every
Easter even though my grown kids roll their eyes, and I'll still be making Jell-O, even
Jigglers, God forbid, whenever I get danged good and ready.
They say America is the great melting pot, the land of opportunity and freedom. But it
seems to me that lately the only ones who do not enjoy that freedom ... are Americans.
