I am a teacher in this incredibly woke system. I have been thinking about taking an early retirement, but my other voice says to stay. So I close my door, and teach the way I feel is best, and ignore all the pronouns and rainbows. I use terms like “boys and girls”, and refuse to put a pronoun behind my name on emails. I believe I’m making a difference, so I’ll stay. Thank you for your magical words, Tara! They help keep my ship pointed to the truth.
Their mission is to take God out of the world and the sea captain is Satan.
I got to visit with a friend yesterday who I haven’t seen in months. I was aware before that our ideals and paths are very different but was made even more aware of it yesterday. If I can’t talk about Botox, lip fillers, giving myself a shot in the belly to loose weight or the new b12 b-skinny injection then I don’t have much worth talking about. No one wants to talk about milk goats, cleaning the greenhouse to start seeds or UFOs. (Had to add the last one) lol
The last time I was with my twin sister the conversations were the same. I leave filling deflated and confused. They have bought the lie, and they still aren’t happy. Nose job, not happy, lips filled, not happy, gotta be heroine chic, not happy. It’s a bottomless pit of lies that leaves you empty! There is a God sized hole in all of us and it won’t be filled with anything but Him!!!
On a happier note, love the book rec’ we have that one, so we will read it soon. I just finished reading the Endurance to my son. Wow talk about having nothing to complain about for the rest of your life. That story will make you feel like a wimp!!! We also read Treasures in the Snow, so wonderful!!! Highly recommend!! Homeschooling has given us years of wonderful books to read through that most kids won’t find in their school library!!! We read Ben Hur two years ago when my son was 8 and people mocked me because “he’s too young for that”, he loved it and why do we have to dumb down children’s minds? They are so smart and inquisitive! We are about to start the Corrie Ten Boom story and be studying the World Wars. Which book did you mention Tara, about World War 1?
Love hearing from you Tara, another soul who likes to color outside the lines!! ❤️
Thank you Tara. So often you articulate what I'm thinking and feeling so well. I needed this paragraph this morning... "The power you have is in controlling what you can control in your life. And those things? They’re a lot. If you think otherwise, really dig into that perspective. Is it yours or is it one you’ve adopted somewhere along the line? Is it truth or is it serving you in some other way? Is “easy” getting the better of you? What you can control may seem, when held up against the illusion of the machine, trivial. But you, good human, are not redundant. God does not create for entertainment. Each of us, every single one, is here for a purpose."
Your last paragraphs and injunctions bring to mind Galatians 6:9: “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
It has been a bewildering and upsetting journey to watch friends with whom I so deeply aligned (and still do in many ways) buy directly into the lies being sold about diversity/equity/inclusion, victimhood nonsense and feminism (one of the most pernicious lies of our time, I think).
I’m actually spending this weekend with my three best friends from college, 2 of whom have gone that way. And it’s extremely difficult to get decide how to spend this time. Do I bring up those conversations s about matters in which we will inevitable disagree? And perhaps lose one another over?
I’ve opted to lean into the richness of our lives beyond just the ideologies- children, books we are reading, new herbal and dietary things we are learning. But I’m troubled with the knowledge in the back of my mind at the baseline ideologies they hold.
I too really enjoy children’s books. “Wind in the Willows” by Graham Greene is a particular favorite as is the Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald.
I’m so appreciative every week of your work, how you “bring it”! Love it. Your use of the voyage / ship metaphor here is so perfect.
What you share about your reading adventures reminds me of the Little House series we used to read to our girls. They are 19 and 22 now... we still talk about the books and remember certain passages and happenings. Talk about having no choice but to live in reality!
Other thoughts brought on by this wonderful piece:
None of this DEI stuff actually calls to any of us... it can’t. That’s not who we are, it’s not what “being” is about. I remember reading Mere Christianity when I was in college... I love CS Lewis , and others will remember better than I will , but he describes in that book a sense of “longing” that is part of the human experience. We don’t long for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion... we long for the fulfillment of what is unique in each of us. For me it manifest in a deep sadness and, yes, longing as I would walk or drive through or look out the window upon the beauty and wonder of the natural world from my “job” indoors or my commute to and from... nothing short of the fulfillment of my soul pulled me to where I am now and what I’m doing. We all need to listen and follow that pull, but first we must learn to hear.
Steadfast.
What a word. What a world view. So much there... it’s more than perseverance or “getting through”... it implies a foundation, a rock on which your feet are placed.
I accepted as true a long time ago an idea that I try to remember and hold on to everyday. While I did not initially accept it, over time I came to see its truth and the power it contains. It’s the idea that everything present in your life was brought there by you. Good or bad, healthy or detrimental, positive or negative... it’s all on you, always. One way or another. It is simply not possible to ever last long in a mindset of victim or helpless pawn of forces outside your control coming from this place.
I still struggle.. we all do. There are still things I want to change and relationships that are not where I want them... but I’m grateful to know that’s all on me. There is peace in that, peace and agency.
Last thought: who you surround yourself with also matters so much. What you see, hear, read, and experience every day. None of us are “there yet”. That’s one of the things I love so much about this community. A bunch of strivers up in here! So thanks again Tara... you are practicing what you “preach” in a big way and that’s another thing missing as we all look around these days, integrity.
Not to mention giving me, personally, this week a sense of the wonder and joy of snuggling to sleep a child born to one of my own children. ❤️
So beautifully written Tara. Thank you. I wholeheartedly agree. Thanks also for the book recommendation. Another excellent read for kids as well as adults is My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George about a boy who runs away from his family in NY City to move to the Catskills and live in the wild on his own. I read it to my son when he was 8 or 9 and we both loved it.
We too have noticed how the new group think issues are in every new movie we watch. So tired of it and you have to be blind not to see it. Or in agreement with it. Our list of things we can stand to watch is getting smaller and smaller
This was powerful and so well written! We jumped ship years ago and try to live on our own terms, but I hear the call that it’s time to contribute or offer more when we can. It became easier to just avoid the old system as long as we were left alone, but now we need to get involved in our new system. I support local, as in within 100km, as much as possible and that’s pretty important. I also make my own herbal remedies and have begun sharing that with others if asked.
The other message I had this week is to stand more in my truth and stop hiding what I’m feeling or thinking in order to make others comfortable. This comes from the conditioning we all just went through over the past years about holding certain unacceptable views. It’s time to return to having some of these conversations again as things are now much different.
I like the idea that this is a place where we can discuss ideas on how to get started in an alternative way of life as there are many younger people who want it, but are shut out due to real estate being too expensive or needing that steady pay cheque now.
It often amazes me that the very thing you are writing about is a current conversation Nicolas and I have been having.. We have just arrived home from a 3 day small organic farming conference in our state where we left feeling more like outsiders in this world of organic farmers, than included... and my husband has been at this 30+ years now. It used to be in years past that we would leave feeling connected, energized and with a renewed sense of community. However, this year there was more focus on right and wrong political 'correctness' at this conference than farming. The masked farmers glared at the unmasked amongst us while pronoun stickers were encouraged for your badges upon arrival. Our 2 farm employees attended a 'farmhand' breakout session where twenty something year old farm employees yelled that they all should unionize and another demanded that the sharing go in a counterclockwise circle because that's the way the indigenous people of that land would have wanted it. Our farmhands left the session a bit bewildered to say the least. When did the small organic farming community change? What happened here?
All of this to say, thank you for sharing and capturing our feelings so well in this essay...it answered some of these questions for me. Your words and this group help us feel so much more connected given the current state of this world. We are grateful.
It's interesting because I was raised in a counter-culture fashion - homeschooled, no TV, vegetarian for several years (followed by gardening & raising our own meat animals for many years) - which received a ton of flack from extended family. I have striven to continue going against the grain, joined by my husband who thankfully LOVES resisting the 'normal' life that everyone around us wants to shove down our throats. I have a brother who, even though he was raised the exact same way, has fled to Europe as a Socialist who believes he can no longer live in America because America is not liberal enough for him. (In an interesting twist he now lives mostly in Croatia, which culturally seems to be conservative/traditional with a heavy emphasis on family...but I digress) Trying to have a conversation with him requires stepping on eggshells. He and my sister in law expect to be able to express all of their opinions, no matter how zany, but others are not allowed to disagree under threat of their anger/tears. They claim to be happy with their life choices, and yet are angry and easily triggered. I can't confirm 100%, but I know a lot of this started in college - they both attended a 'Christian' college, which nevertheless taught the typical fare found in most liberal US schools - and my SIL has since become not only non-religious, she is diametrically opposed to any kind of religious based morality. I feel sorry for their children who are being dragged around Europe under the claim of finding freedom from the dastardly American way, but which seems to be doing more harm than good.
For me, the jumping off hasn't been so difficult (thankfully because I was set up for success by parents who jumped first) - it's the knowledge that people close to me are still in the deadly cycle, fooled into a false sense of freedom that won't last. I hope they will wake up, whether by my influence or someone else - only time will tell.
It's funny you should mention Sterling North - I read 'The Wolfling' last year. Such a lovely little book. I've read excerpts from 'Rascal' but now I suppose I should find and read the whole thing. I don't have any children but I like to collect classic children's books and keep them on hand for nieces/nephews/future children, while also reading them myself. I believe it was CS Lewis who said something like "when I was ten I read fairy stories in secret, because I was ashamed. Now at fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the desire to be very grown up." I aspire to be as 'childish' as Lewis.
I'm printing this out to share with my children in the future. It so eloquently exemplifies this moment in time. A beautiful work of inspiration that not only captures the stark acts of darkness taking form, but highlights... promise. We can live a beautiful and inspired life right this very minute. And that the real gamble for comfort and ease is with our soul. Thank you for sharing your gifts, Tara, of narrating a story rich with complexity and truth. I'm so thankful for you and this group of "strivers" and "seekers"💛
You write so powerfully and beautifully. Thank you. I wish I didn’t have to read your words on this infernal screen. But I’m thankful for them nevertheless.
I am a teacher in this incredibly woke system. I have been thinking about taking an early retirement, but my other voice says to stay. So I close my door, and teach the way I feel is best, and ignore all the pronouns and rainbows. I use terms like “boys and girls”, and refuse to put a pronoun behind my name on emails. I believe I’m making a difference, so I’ll stay. Thank you for your magical words, Tara! They help keep my ship pointed to the truth.
Their mission is to take God out of the world and the sea captain is Satan.
I got to visit with a friend yesterday who I haven’t seen in months. I was aware before that our ideals and paths are very different but was made even more aware of it yesterday. If I can’t talk about Botox, lip fillers, giving myself a shot in the belly to loose weight or the new b12 b-skinny injection then I don’t have much worth talking about. No one wants to talk about milk goats, cleaning the greenhouse to start seeds or UFOs. (Had to add the last one) lol
The last time I was with my twin sister the conversations were the same. I leave filling deflated and confused. They have bought the lie, and they still aren’t happy. Nose job, not happy, lips filled, not happy, gotta be heroine chic, not happy. It’s a bottomless pit of lies that leaves you empty! There is a God sized hole in all of us and it won’t be filled with anything but Him!!!
On a happier note, love the book rec’ we have that one, so we will read it soon. I just finished reading the Endurance to my son. Wow talk about having nothing to complain about for the rest of your life. That story will make you feel like a wimp!!! We also read Treasures in the Snow, so wonderful!!! Highly recommend!! Homeschooling has given us years of wonderful books to read through that most kids won’t find in their school library!!! We read Ben Hur two years ago when my son was 8 and people mocked me because “he’s too young for that”, he loved it and why do we have to dumb down children’s minds? They are so smart and inquisitive! We are about to start the Corrie Ten Boom story and be studying the World Wars. Which book did you mention Tara, about World War 1?
Love hearing from you Tara, another soul who likes to color outside the lines!! ❤️
Thank you Tara. So often you articulate what I'm thinking and feeling so well. I needed this paragraph this morning... "The power you have is in controlling what you can control in your life. And those things? They’re a lot. If you think otherwise, really dig into that perspective. Is it yours or is it one you’ve adopted somewhere along the line? Is it truth or is it serving you in some other way? Is “easy” getting the better of you? What you can control may seem, when held up against the illusion of the machine, trivial. But you, good human, are not redundant. God does not create for entertainment. Each of us, every single one, is here for a purpose."
Your last paragraphs and injunctions bring to mind Galatians 6:9: “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
It has been a bewildering and upsetting journey to watch friends with whom I so deeply aligned (and still do in many ways) buy directly into the lies being sold about diversity/equity/inclusion, victimhood nonsense and feminism (one of the most pernicious lies of our time, I think).
I’m actually spending this weekend with my three best friends from college, 2 of whom have gone that way. And it’s extremely difficult to get decide how to spend this time. Do I bring up those conversations s about matters in which we will inevitable disagree? And perhaps lose one another over?
I’ve opted to lean into the richness of our lives beyond just the ideologies- children, books we are reading, new herbal and dietary things we are learning. But I’m troubled with the knowledge in the back of my mind at the baseline ideologies they hold.
I too really enjoy children’s books. “Wind in the Willows” by Graham Greene is a particular favorite as is the Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald.
I’m so appreciative every week of your work, how you “bring it”! Love it. Your use of the voyage / ship metaphor here is so perfect.
What you share about your reading adventures reminds me of the Little House series we used to read to our girls. They are 19 and 22 now... we still talk about the books and remember certain passages and happenings. Talk about having no choice but to live in reality!
Other thoughts brought on by this wonderful piece:
None of this DEI stuff actually calls to any of us... it can’t. That’s not who we are, it’s not what “being” is about. I remember reading Mere Christianity when I was in college... I love CS Lewis , and others will remember better than I will , but he describes in that book a sense of “longing” that is part of the human experience. We don’t long for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion... we long for the fulfillment of what is unique in each of us. For me it manifest in a deep sadness and, yes, longing as I would walk or drive through or look out the window upon the beauty and wonder of the natural world from my “job” indoors or my commute to and from... nothing short of the fulfillment of my soul pulled me to where I am now and what I’m doing. We all need to listen and follow that pull, but first we must learn to hear.
Steadfast.
What a word. What a world view. So much there... it’s more than perseverance or “getting through”... it implies a foundation, a rock on which your feet are placed.
I accepted as true a long time ago an idea that I try to remember and hold on to everyday. While I did not initially accept it, over time I came to see its truth and the power it contains. It’s the idea that everything present in your life was brought there by you. Good or bad, healthy or detrimental, positive or negative... it’s all on you, always. One way or another. It is simply not possible to ever last long in a mindset of victim or helpless pawn of forces outside your control coming from this place.
I still struggle.. we all do. There are still things I want to change and relationships that are not where I want them... but I’m grateful to know that’s all on me. There is peace in that, peace and agency.
Last thought: who you surround yourself with also matters so much. What you see, hear, read, and experience every day. None of us are “there yet”. That’s one of the things I love so much about this community. A bunch of strivers up in here! So thanks again Tara... you are practicing what you “preach” in a big way and that’s another thing missing as we all look around these days, integrity.
Not to mention giving me, personally, this week a sense of the wonder and joy of snuggling to sleep a child born to one of my own children. ❤️
I CANT WAIT!!!!!
So beautifully written Tara. Thank you. I wholeheartedly agree. Thanks also for the book recommendation. Another excellent read for kids as well as adults is My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George about a boy who runs away from his family in NY City to move to the Catskills and live in the wild on his own. I read it to my son when he was 8 or 9 and we both loved it.
We too have noticed how the new group think issues are in every new movie we watch. So tired of it and you have to be blind not to see it. Or in agreement with it. Our list of things we can stand to watch is getting smaller and smaller
This was powerful and so well written! We jumped ship years ago and try to live on our own terms, but I hear the call that it’s time to contribute or offer more when we can. It became easier to just avoid the old system as long as we were left alone, but now we need to get involved in our new system. I support local, as in within 100km, as much as possible and that’s pretty important. I also make my own herbal remedies and have begun sharing that with others if asked.
The other message I had this week is to stand more in my truth and stop hiding what I’m feeling or thinking in order to make others comfortable. This comes from the conditioning we all just went through over the past years about holding certain unacceptable views. It’s time to return to having some of these conversations again as things are now much different.
I like the idea that this is a place where we can discuss ideas on how to get started in an alternative way of life as there are many younger people who want it, but are shut out due to real estate being too expensive or needing that steady pay cheque now.
It often amazes me that the very thing you are writing about is a current conversation Nicolas and I have been having.. We have just arrived home from a 3 day small organic farming conference in our state where we left feeling more like outsiders in this world of organic farmers, than included... and my husband has been at this 30+ years now. It used to be in years past that we would leave feeling connected, energized and with a renewed sense of community. However, this year there was more focus on right and wrong political 'correctness' at this conference than farming. The masked farmers glared at the unmasked amongst us while pronoun stickers were encouraged for your badges upon arrival. Our 2 farm employees attended a 'farmhand' breakout session where twenty something year old farm employees yelled that they all should unionize and another demanded that the sharing go in a counterclockwise circle because that's the way the indigenous people of that land would have wanted it. Our farmhands left the session a bit bewildered to say the least. When did the small organic farming community change? What happened here?
All of this to say, thank you for sharing and capturing our feelings so well in this essay...it answered some of these questions for me. Your words and this group help us feel so much more connected given the current state of this world. We are grateful.
It's interesting because I was raised in a counter-culture fashion - homeschooled, no TV, vegetarian for several years (followed by gardening & raising our own meat animals for many years) - which received a ton of flack from extended family. I have striven to continue going against the grain, joined by my husband who thankfully LOVES resisting the 'normal' life that everyone around us wants to shove down our throats. I have a brother who, even though he was raised the exact same way, has fled to Europe as a Socialist who believes he can no longer live in America because America is not liberal enough for him. (In an interesting twist he now lives mostly in Croatia, which culturally seems to be conservative/traditional with a heavy emphasis on family...but I digress) Trying to have a conversation with him requires stepping on eggshells. He and my sister in law expect to be able to express all of their opinions, no matter how zany, but others are not allowed to disagree under threat of their anger/tears. They claim to be happy with their life choices, and yet are angry and easily triggered. I can't confirm 100%, but I know a lot of this started in college - they both attended a 'Christian' college, which nevertheless taught the typical fare found in most liberal US schools - and my SIL has since become not only non-religious, she is diametrically opposed to any kind of religious based morality. I feel sorry for their children who are being dragged around Europe under the claim of finding freedom from the dastardly American way, but which seems to be doing more harm than good.
For me, the jumping off hasn't been so difficult (thankfully because I was set up for success by parents who jumped first) - it's the knowledge that people close to me are still in the deadly cycle, fooled into a false sense of freedom that won't last. I hope they will wake up, whether by my influence or someone else - only time will tell.
It's funny you should mention Sterling North - I read 'The Wolfling' last year. Such a lovely little book. I've read excerpts from 'Rascal' but now I suppose I should find and read the whole thing. I don't have any children but I like to collect classic children's books and keep them on hand for nieces/nephews/future children, while also reading them myself. I believe it was CS Lewis who said something like "when I was ten I read fairy stories in secret, because I was ashamed. Now at fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the desire to be very grown up." I aspire to be as 'childish' as Lewis.
I'm printing this out to share with my children in the future. It so eloquently exemplifies this moment in time. A beautiful work of inspiration that not only captures the stark acts of darkness taking form, but highlights... promise. We can live a beautiful and inspired life right this very minute. And that the real gamble for comfort and ease is with our soul. Thank you for sharing your gifts, Tara, of narrating a story rich with complexity and truth. I'm so thankful for you and this group of "strivers" and "seekers"💛
You write so powerfully and beautifully. Thank you. I wish I didn’t have to read your words on this infernal screen. But I’m thankful for them nevertheless.
Thank you Tara for the beautiful message.
You are certainly gifted or your hand is guided (or both!)
There’s an old saying ‘a good man has more power in his actions than in his words’
Your life substantiate your words! Wonderful!
Thank you for sharing this CS Lewis quote Molly. I love it! Words to live by.
Thank you for this Tara.
Thank you.