Eclectic Parent

I recently got talked into joining Facebook. I had thought it was the realm of teenagers and drunken college students, but within minutes I had found people I knew, some of whom I hadn’t spoken to in years. FB allows people to not only chat with each other but to see what others say they are doing at the moment, groups they join and links they’ve posted. It only took a few days for me to realize how diverse the group of people I know really is. I know people who believe in not harming any living thing and people who hunt. I know people who are straight, gay, bi and try anything. People who are Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Witches (their term of choice), athiest and agnostic; anyone Muslim out there? Just realized I have an important gap. I know people who unschool, homeschool, send their kids to public school, private school and even boarding school. People who listen to rock, county, rap, jazz and classical. Urban dwellers and country folk. People riding subways and bikes, driving SUVs and Priuses. I’ve gone to church camp with some of them to see if God moved me; I’ve gone to documentary screening about gay and lesbian rights with one of them; I’ve worked toward passing breastfeeding legislation with others.

Why does any of this matter? With every divergent viewpoint, my mind opens a little bit further. My understanding of the universe expands, or at least my understanding of other people is enlarged. By exposing ourselves and our children to so many thoughts, opinions, beliefs and ideas, we increase our opportunities to find ideas we like, beliefs we’ll agree with,  or viewpoints and opinions that, through contradiction, help shape our own. I have my own opinions and beliefs but I am willing to listen, to think, to expand, to grow. I can appreciate the variances of the word without being open to all of the possibilities. Do I agree with the wide variety of people I know about everything? Certainly not. My biggest difficulties lie in beliefs people hold that would limit my or others choices and possibilities.

Recently driving home we saw numerous political signs. When we began discussing them and what they meant, the kids were horrified. Specifically on one of the propositions. Almost everyone in our neighborhood has a sign for it in their yard. The boys immediate response was that how could so many of our neighbors be bad.  And I’m OK with that being the response from two young children; but not when it is the response of adults who should be able to see beyond black and white, us and them. So we talked about how they aren’t bad just because they have ideas we don’t agree with. We discussed some of the reasons people have different beliefs, faiths, ideas.

Hopefully all of our children can stick to who they are and still begin to see shades of gray. We hope they will be able to form their own opinions and still be open to new ideas. Now you see why this blog is called eclectic . . .