Americans are allowing our country 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.
published in the River City
Daily Tribune,
Marble Falls, Texas .
We applaud your position.
Thank you for expressing
our continuing dismay of
what is being given up to
assuage the “feelings” of
everyone else in the world.
It must stop. Now.
Best regards and continue
the delightful columns.
Cliff & Malinda Galley
Burnet, Texas
First of all, I want to say
thank you. THANK YOU for
saying in print what I have
wanted to say for so long.
The state of America is
appalling to me now. No
more Christmas? No
more Halloween? No
more freaking Jello, for
God's sake? And heaven
forbid I say God's name
aloud without checking to
see who I am standing by
first. I totally agree with
your rant and wish that
more people felt the same
way. I am in no way shape
or form a racist or
prejudiced against what
others believe, but if you
expect me to tolerate your
customs, why do you think
I would expect any less
from you? Ah, I could go
on and on but I won't. Just
wanted to say thanks for
standing up for us regular
American folk. It is nice to
have a voice that isn't
afraid to be heard.
Shelley Buckner
