Freedom...

Sam's homework for the week included the task of writing a paragraph about what the American flag means to him. Then on Friday, they would turn in their paragraph and wear red, white and blue in remembrance of the Sept. 11th tragedy. As I sat with him to work on the project, I listened to what he said about the flag:

-the 13 stripes stand for the original 13 colonies --- Correct
-the 50 stars stand for the 50 states --- Correct
-it's the symbol for our country --- Correct

All of this was correct, but it's not what I wanted to hear him say. Those were all facts, and I'm impressed that he remembered them, but to me; there is so much more to the meaning of the flag. So, I told him what the flag means to me... freedom to worship our God, freedom to express our feelings, freedom to have an education, freedom to travel, to love, to get active in our communities or, if you choose, to just do nothing. But the common thread is FREEDOM!

How do you teach this to a 7 year old? As I went off on my rant, he just kinda looked at me like I was crazy. I told him about how other countries don't have these freedoms. How, in some countries, children can't play outside because of bombs going off and tanks driving down their street. I told him some children can't go to school and can't say their prayers at night. I still got the crazy stare.

So, I will continue to talk with him about this and hopefully help him in understanding how lucky we are to live in the USA! And today we made sure we took advantage of our freedoms....

*I thanked God for the rain that we have received.
*I prayed for peace for the families of those who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks.
*Sam went to school and learned how to spell works such as : meadow, spoiled, copied.
*Lily Clare played outside without the fear of anything!
*I spoke out about my dislike for Obama.
*I drove to Wal-Mart and had the option to buy absolutely anything I wanted ... but I stuck to my list!

Feeling privileged~
Laurie