The good Lord’s blessed me with fine, intelligent children. Each is becoming an adult in his or her own way, struggling as each must, in their individual paths towards becoming self-sufficient. It’s not easy watching each make mistakes, and as a parent I cringe when I see one go down a path he or she’s been warned against, knowing that each must feel the burn sometimes to learn the danger of an open flame.
It’s not “sink or swim” however – part of the balancing act of being a parent is knowing when to toss out the life saver and when to let the stubborn one tread water and make his or her own way back to shore or boat deck.
And it’s not always a struggle – and many times I see the blessing that comes with their “life education”. Such a blessing came today during a drive through the countryside.
We’d spent a good part of the weekend watching kung-fu movies and discussing gaming strategy, and then came a conversation that brought chills to my spine.
“Dad”, said my child, in a matter-of-fact way, “wouldn’t it be more intimidating for a country to invade 50 separate states instead of one big country? I mean, if each one were able to break off and defend itself, wouldn’t that make an invader work harder to find the central command?”
“Yes”, I replied, “it would. We’d have to make sure they and we know we are still under a united government though. We’d not want separate states to feel isolated and try to negotiate treaties with the invaders to keep the peace. But yep, facing multiple entities with a common cause is a LOT harder to defeat than one big one.
Think about it – if DC were to go today, and with it the Fed gov’t, which states would be able to hold their own? Which would be helpless to defend themselves and would go into a panic?”
We then discussed the wisdom of the founders of the US Constitution, where they came up with the same basic idea my child had a long time ago by not making one big piece of land ruled by a central government, but sections of land with distinct leadership, that agreed to bind together under a common cause.
Being both gamers, we didn’t have to say what both of us were thinking – defeat the boss, defeat the level, and eventually, the game. One big boss, one big loss. Many bosses, more difficult to defeat. Especially if the many bosses came at their common adversary simultaneously.
Then came the follow-up questions and general ideas of how the “winning” strategies would take place, and this is where the chills began to flow.
This was because it wasn’t my child listening to me sharing ideas about strategy; it was me listening to the strategies my child was developing to protect that which we both hold dear.
The chills weren’t chills of fear, uncertainty, or despair. These were chills of hope.
As and when political winds change and new allies & enemies of our type of government flourish, we will have people like my child who will have listened to the elders, seen the wisdom of time, and are actively thinking about how to make things work properly again.
I pray they unite under a common cause to protect – or re-create – a union we originally designed not too long ago.