Innocence Lost
My heart is already broken as I write this first sentence. It’s a tale of two countries, really. One country gleefully decrees we are, at long last, enjoying a never-to-recede rising tide of woke social justice as it serves up set after set of tasty waves to surf on. The other sees this cultural, tectonic shift as a lethal, full-mooned superstorm that will not only crush those who try to ride the waves, the storm surge will ravage and permanently mangle a once beautiful and bountiful shore.
Like tidal patterns, political power in this country was intentionally designed to ebb and flow from one shore of the ideological scale to the other. Replete with levies, break walls and dunes, the system was brilliantly architected to allow the torrents to swell and chop while still protecting from potentially damaging mayhem. Tragically, we find ourselves precariously adrift in a swell where not only the constitutional checks and balances are rendered near impotent by a single-party governance; the press, media, big tech, corporate Human Resource departments and our education systems are breathing the same unified air. I would like to propose that if you turn off the theatrical lights and smoke machines for a moment, it’s really a tale of two kingdoms.
I have had a lot of readers tell me they don’t like when I use labels like Progressive, Leftist or Woke. Fair enough. I don’t like using them either. But tell me; precisely how shall we diagram today’s cultural landscape? While right of center conservatives essentially adhere to the same tenets they have for decades, the Left has entirely launched itself from the platform of Liberalism; so much so, as they frantically excavate westward through unexplored progressive bedrock, they not only leave Bill Maher behind looking as if he’s a conservative, they are about to break through the crust well east of Alt-right.
And at what price? As the woke auger dulls itself trying to rip through history, science and tradition in service to pander to a comparatively small, disparate scattering of our citizenry, it’s the majority populous who are left in its exhaust — and our children in the cross-hairs.
As I have often written, leading worship in prayer rooms is a passionate delight of mine these past years. A few weeks back, there was a focused time of prayer for the youth in our community and in attendance were some of the youth leaders as well as representative students from each age group. As this team of giants stood in the center of the room, my heart was wrecked at the presence of a diminutive, sheepishly poised Junior High girl. Though she stood still and was not asked to speak, my soul could hear the cries of her generation screaming out at me as they travail to make sense of their lives in the midst of pandemic, riots, lockdowns, isolation and — wokeness.
Imagine a Kindergarten class being led through a mock Gay Pride parade in their classroom. Yes, this is real. And no, I am not making a comment on how adults may freely live their lives. But these are five year olds. What Board of Education or Teachers Union could possibly think this is beneficial for the nascent, pre-pubescent lobes of the small child placed under their purveyance.
Next, imagine the detailing: While it’s fair enough to say these parades could be framed as a celebration of men who love men, and women who love women — there is no way to fitfully explain this distinction without also introducing the sexual component. In a stage of life where pre-adolescent minds should be taught to identify the letters of the alphabet, they are being asked to identify gender and sex orientations, and thereby injecting sexual content long before any scientifically evidentiary reason points to do so.
How about the Upper East Side, New York, private school that subjected its eight year old students to a three week symposium on transgenderism. Need I say again; this is not a statement on the life adults are free to live. But precisely what benefit is there to lecture a classroom of eight year olds about the benefits of changing gender unless your purpose is to coerce or confuse them? One parent said, “This was not an exploration of transgender understanding but rather, an invitation to consider transgenderism as a lifestyle.” So while adults have heated debates about biological men being allowed to use women’s bathrooms — it’s these eight year old girls who have to actually walk in, wondering who might be in there to greet them.
When I was growing up, some of my friends were Tomboys. These were girls who excelled in sport, chose rough and tumble over tea parties and wore overalls instead of dresses. Some simply grew out of the stage, others became lesbian but not a single one is transgender today. I’ve heard gay friends horrifyingly say that today’s Tomboys will have no chance to become gay or straight anymore because instead, they are rushed into the Trans E.R. where they learn about puberty blockers, hormonal treatment, surgical options and select their preferred pronoun on their way out.
I would propose these lackluster educators have yet to settle their own personal ethos on gender and sexuality, and instead of rigorously researching toward scientific certainty, they find it far easier to back up the garbage truck of their sloppy, woke non-intellectualism and dump its composting content into virgin minds.
Be very aware that while the media jumps up and down haranguing Mr. Potato Head as cisgender and the author of Horton Hears a Who as an ugly racist, it’s merely a smoke and lights show to distract from the fact our young children are being traumatized right under our noses by woke ideology.
Still think I’m off the rails? How about elementary schools implementing mandatory curricula on Whiteness. Under our newly enforced cultural assertions of anti-racism, imagine a Whiteness Spectrum being handed out to students where they are remanded to self-identify themselves on a scale plotted with coordinates which include; White Supremacist, White Voyeurism, White Confessional, White Traitor or White Abolitionist. While I can sit here typing my cheeky comments, imagine the terrified child required to raise their hand when their marker on the Wheel of Whiteness is called out so they can then confess to the classroom how they will try to become; less white. Can you see them?
Let us be very clear: When the noble aim to lift one group is brought about by the ignoble act of demeaning, punishing and shaming another group — welcome to Critical Race Theory.
At this point in the essay, I can hear myriads scurrying in every direction like roaches when the light is turned on. But this is not about us. In fact, I think it's safe to say that when we stop to consider what we really know about transgenderism, systemic racism and wokeness in general, few of us can claim mastery.
And herein lies my thesis: Instead of rigorously researching, debating and culminating our scientific and societal findings on these topics, Boards of Ed are shamefully thrusting these malformed, pre-embryonic assertions into elementary school classrooms hoping that in thirty years — they can explain it back to us.
“But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a huge millstone hung around his neck and be drowned in the open sea.” ~Jesus
At this point, I feel like a playground body guard that shields the weakling from the bully, steps in between and says, “Leave him alone. If you want a fight — you fight me.”
Speaking of playgrounds, just today I saw a children’s playground entirely marked as verboten with endless wrappings of police tape, cardboard panels and warning signs. Is the SARS-CoV-2 virus scientifically proven to pounce on innocent children at the local jungle gym? It’s not enough that these children have been deprived of the carefree socialization we all enjoyed at their age, but they are now faced with constant visual reminders in the form of police tape and masks that: Their world is not a safe place.
Imagine the families that raised children during the early settling of America, or during the Revolution or Civil War, or WWI, The Great Depression, WWII, or even the desk-ducking Cold War. With thankfulness to God, we do not live in such times. Nonetheless, the Woke PhD’s tell our children that this is the most dangerous and oppressive age they could have ever have been born into.
If you think this is the most oppressive and dangerous age in American history, I will cede that you have the right to feel that way. But I will not, by any means, affirm you are correct. And to that end, I welcome healthy debate on these topics — but for the Love of God, can we first agree to leave our kids out of this?
Back in Elementary School, I remember on career day I chose, Police Officer, and wrote a paper about how I would one day help and protect people — and drive really, really fast with the siren on. Today, if a child hints he or she would like to be a cop, they might as well say they want to be a serial killer. It is bad enough we have allowed such a toxic, divisive and politically-infused spirit to rule our day, but shame on us all for bullying our children into submission with these cultural demons. They have been subjected to believing Police are murderers, rioting and violence is sometime a worthwhile endeavor and it is perfectly warranted to demonize white, heteronormative conservative Christians because they deserve it. We have taught them: Their world is not a safe place.
Did you know we are on track to have 500,000 less children born in America this year? Original estimates hinted that pandemic lockdowns would create a baby boom — but the exact opposite has happened. Combine that with the 162,000 abortions so far this year, I can only wonder: Do children aptly detect the sense that their stock price is falling? In pursuit of the shrapnel and shackles of woke freedom, have we perhaps diminished the value of our children along the way? So much so — they feel it.
It is a tale of two kingdoms. It is no longer sufficient to plot coordinates on a Left / Right spectrum. In fact, I would contend today’s cultural landscape is far from linear. While the kingdoms of this world endlessly churn and reinvent themselves as the most current version of truth, it is the Kingdom of Heaven which presides over all and reveals the True state of affairs; both finite and infinite. And this is the Kingdom where every single, God-imaged person — and child — is valued, loved and sought after. Why anyone thinks any other kingdom is superior will forever baffle me.
