Lift off!!

Some of you are aware that my younger son faces certain learning disabilities. It's been a tough road, at times. BUT things are getting better. He started at our local community college last week, and he seems to like it. When we got his schedule, I was really excited because one of his instructors is also a favorite columnist of mine at the Hartford Courant. I had no idea that she taught, but she and I have emailed back and forth on occasion.

Susan Campbell is a really funny journalist. I love her style. She's a feminist. She is also a Christian Fundamentalist (like Jimmy Carter, NOT like Bushies). So, I've always been okay with her Christian side. She knew she wanted to write since the age of 9 (as Brian tells it). Her parents bought her a typewriter. She began rewriting the bible to include more on the women's side of Christianity (I so want to tell her about Miriam Therese Winter -- a Catholic nun/author who has been published for the very same pursuits -- but that's another story).

But Brian loved his first class with Susan today. I'm pretty sure she doesn't know Brian is my son or anything. Brian said that Susan showed his class the propoganda of the toppling of Saddam's statue -- way back when. He asked me, "Did you know that was fake." "Of course I did," I said. He just couldn't believe it!

I reminded Brian that he was so frustrated with me for being angry about the BS being spread over the media. But I also told him that it wasn't the right time to try to tell him about spin and lies and all of that. He just wasn't ready.

NOW, he proclaims (I wish I could spell Halleluah!! -- whatever, but I don't feel like grabbing the dictionary) that college is teaching him to question things. He gets that stories are NOT objective -- at least, in the world of politics. I told him that he should never take things at face value. I also told him that a GOOD college education will always encourage him to seek the truth rather than to take what they say as gospel (not sure if that pun is intended or not).

But he gets it, folks. It is from a journalistic perspective. An ETHICAL journalistic perspective. I told him he needs to keep asking questions about anything and everything that he reads. Thank goodness!

About the Saddam statue issue, I asked, "Do you see why I didn't get into it with you?" He takes (used to take) this stuff at face value. And he's not particularly interested in politics -- like his brother. But I do think he is very interested in the truth. And I told him that a good education is about entertaining his questions more than it is about entertaining his answers. I like where his education is going.