Open minds are important in the development not of the net generation but of our own. The question arises when is it not possible to have open discussions about certain events in history. Teachers, not just in Texas, now put in precarious positions about having two sides to every story or event in history, heard a director of curriculum state that teachers should stock books with opposing views on the Holocaust.
Although the school district superintendent issued a quick apology when the news broke, it makes us ask what are other issues that require two sides? Slavery? In the South, it seems so. But it does raise the question of how we as a society address the issues that affect us as a Nation.
We cannot close our minds to vibrant discussions because we are afraid that our remarks will bring sometimes disastrous consequences. The Holocaust was terrible beyond description or imagination, but discussion of what led up to the collapse of the Weimar Republic in Germany is still disputed. History must be approached with a scalpel, not a machete.
Prayer for the Day
Fearful that people will misunderstand our meaning,
We often shirk from raising uncomfortable questions;
Concerned that the areas of discourse are being narrowed,
We fret that we cannot say what we think.
Bestow on us, O God, the ability to listen to others
And to enter into constructive discussion with them.
In the name of the One who listens to everyone,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
The paradox of tolerance: Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.
Karl Popper, from The Open society and its Enemies (1902-1994)
Tolerance of intolerance is cowardice.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Somali born Dutch-American activist, writer
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother,
My soul is like the weaned child that is with me. – Psalm 131: 1-2