The Street Sweeper

With Laura Lee and Russ out of the house and in college, Benjamin is the only child at home now.  Things certainly are different.  Our routines are all out of sync and the house is much quieter than usual.  To add to the changes, this year we've begun homeschooling Benjamin.  I say "we," but Tricia is the primary teacher. She went to a big conference in Houston to learn the ins and outs of Homeschooling.  We have a set curriculum that we use and after about a month into the deal, we're pretty pleased with how it is going and so is Benjamin.

A couple of things that we've discovered is that we can cover more material faster than could be covered in a traditional school setting.  The individualized instruction is very beneficial.  One of the things that I was concerned about was isolating Benjamin due to not being around a plethora of other students, so to rectify that we've made a conscious effort to get him involved in 4-H (there is a very active home school 4-H group), sporting events, field trips, and other outings that keep him plugged in socially.  To be honest, I think he has a more active social life now than he did when he was in a traditional school setting.

One final observation is that we've been able to really incorporate some real life lessons with tying current events to the curriculum and transfer "textbook" learning to active life examples.  I think the primary thing I've come away with is that we're primarily focusing on building Character.  Academics are very, very important and we are ensuring that we definitely provide that, but character building is what we're really trying to instill and virtually all of the literature he's reading conveys this message.  Character is of utmost importance.  In fact many of our prisons are filled with very intelligent people, but intelligence with no moral character is not beneficial to the individual or society.

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In one of our talks around the supper table last month, we were talking about current events.  It happened to be on August 28th, which marked the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's, "I have a Dream" speech.  That was a fantastic speech, but wasn't his best in my opinion.  His best was given on April 9, 1967 at New Covenant Baptist Church in Chicago, Illinois.  I read it to Benjamin and we discussed it and what it means to us.  I'd like to share a snippet or two from that speech courtesy of the following website: The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life

Dr. King said,

"When I was in Montgomery, Alabama, I went to a shoe shop quite often, known as the Gordon Shoe Shop. And there was a fellow in there that used to shine my shoes, and it was just an experience to witness this fellow shining my shoes. He would get that rag, you know, and he could bring music out of it. And I said to myself, "This fellow has a Ph.D. in shoe shining." (That’s right)

What I’m saying to you this morning, my friends, even if it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, go on out and sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures; sweep streets like Handel and Beethoven composed music; sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry; (Go ahead) sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, "Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well."

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If you can’t be a pine on the top of a hill
Be a scrub in the valley—but be
The best little scrub on the side of the hill,
Be a bush if you can’t be a tree.
If you can’t be a highway just be a trail
If you can’t be the sun be a star;
It isn’t by size that you win or fail—
Be the best of whatever you are.

And when you do this, when you do this, you’ve mastered the length of life." (Yes)

Great words, to be sure, and we used them to underscore the fact that Benjamin (heck, all of us) should do whatever we are doing to the very best of our ability.  In fact, Colossians 3:23 tells us "Whatever you, do your work heartily, as for the LORD rather than for men.

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But if we stop there, we can be deceived into thinking that We are in total control of our destiny.  Self-actualization is defined as determining what you want out of life and then doing whatever is necessary to get it.  This, on its own, is very prideful, self-serving and "me-first" thinking that is missing the primary point.

Dr. King cleared this up later in the speech by stating:

And I’m here to tell you today that we need God. (Yes) Modern man may know a great deal, but his knowledge does not eliminate God. (Right) 

As parents we want to do our best to ensure that we've helped Benjamin put some tools in his tool box that helps him to be a Master "Street Sweeper," but over and above that, that he is a Street Sweeper that acknowledges God in all that he does and becomes a man of great character and integrity.