Slightly Miffed

I'm kind of miffed. I say kind of because I've had a few hours to calm down. If I would have written this yesterday around 5 pm, I would have said that I'm highly miffed, but time has a way of soothing my anger.

All elementary schools, it seems, have an end of the year field day and yesterday was Conner's. I knew that this was happening, but in the rush of the morning I forgot to remind him to pack sun screen.

He's knows how easily he burns in the intensity of Florida's sun, so he asked the powers that be at his elementary school if he could have some sun-screen. Here's the kicker that really made me upset. The response of the school was..."it's against school district policy for us to give you any sun screen." So they made him go outside all day with no protection whatsoever. When he came home, he was red like a lobster, suffering from a horrific headache, and feeling like he was going to throw up.

Now, in my opinion, this is negligence to the highest degree. I believe that Tracy and I are 100% responsible for our children's well being, but I also believe that when we drop them off at school we should be able to do so with a degree of confidence knowing that they are concerned for my children's well being while under their care. I guess, however, that this is not the case, and the school board is more worried about a possible law suit than they are with the safety of my kids.

When a society or organization starts to allow insurance companies and legal paranoia to dictate their policies, they lose their effectiveness across the board. I've even heard of churches who have fallen prey to this and have put the brakes on in reaching out to their community or to individuals because insurance companies told them not to, or because their boards are afraid of getting sued. Perhaps I'm being incredibly naive, but I just don't think this should be.

Companies have to weigh their decisions, they would be downright foolish if they didn't. However, the weight of their decisions must be made against the integrity of their core-values, not against the paranoia of someone sitting in a corporate office. When we don't lead according to our values, the people for whom those values have been written are the ones who suffer.

The School Board of Manatee County may say they value children, but their actions yesterday prove otherwise.

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A Pure Heart Part 2

At this point in my journey i'm realizing the most important characteristic of a pure heart is a heart that is unassuming. In other words, the less I assume in life, the better off I am. The less I assume the less chance bitterness, anger, and unforgiveness will infiltrate, control, and ruin my life.

This is something that confronts my life on a daily basis. Every day I'm faced with what seems to be inequality, unfairness and simple stupidity that threatens my rights as a good human being. When i'm consumed with all things Steve (an assuming heart) then I see all these things as a direct assult on my happiness and well being. I then go to war, fight for my rights, and hurt everyone who I assumed hurt me first. At the end of the day, i'm standing in the middle of a bloody battlefield with my rights in tact, but my heart more bitter, angry and unforgiving then it was before, this in turn serves to motivate my fight for tomorrow and the next day.

An unassuming heart, however, is pure because it's a heart that isn't about me but about something much greater than me. It's an attitude that transcends self and lives for God and the betterment of humanity, which I believe is our true calling in life. An unassuming heart rejoices when others succeed, cries when they fail, and forgives when they hurt.

This pure heart is a heart that I desire to live with, but it is a heart that is truly hard to come by. An assuming and selfish heart is basic human nature...it comes naturally and at least for myself is easily cultivated. A pure heart on the other hand is much harder because it takes a conscious choice on a daily basis to cultivate. When the choice is made to live in purity, the flip side of things is so much better in the long run. Imagine a life lived without the baggage of bitterness, unforgivenesss and anger.

We often fall into the trap of thinking that this kind of life will come when people start treating us fairly and respectfully, but it won't...because they won't. I realized a long time ago that people are people and you can't control what they do, say or think. I can, however, control how I react to those things and when I react with a pure heart, I will always come out on top.

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