Amazing article about Idealism

This woman was truly an idealist, someone who believed that freedom and standing up for something was worth dying for...idealism.  Once you have read "The Alliance," see if you see any similarities between the idealism in there and this article. 

You always have a choice.

Why Americans Should Get Smacked

August 21, 2013 by Stephen Palmer

Elena Bonner would have smacked Jane Boucher upside her head. And she’d undoubtedly give Americans an earful for our relatively petty complaints.
Forbes reported that “Some surveys have found that 87 percent of Americans don’t like their jobs.”
Author Jane Boucher commented on the situation, “Most of us can’t just quit our jobs.”
SMACK!
“Don’t whine to me about what you can and can’t do in America,” I imagine Elena Bonner saying in disgust.
Elena was a Soviet dissident and human rights activist who died just last year.
Knowing her awe-inspiring story, I imagine what she’d say to any American who feels “trapped” for any reason:

“In December of 1985 I was under house arrest in the USSR with my husband, physicist and activist Andrei Sakharov.
“Andrei and I had subjected ourselves to long and terrible hunger strikes to protest the Soviet regime. My physical health had deteriorated so badly that I desperately needed medical attention.
“Gorbachev allowed me to travel to the United States, where I spent six months getting surgery, writing a memoir, and spending time with my family members who had emigrated.
“After recovering, there I was, free and comfortable, with a choice to make: to stay in America or to return to my hideous oppression in the Soviet Union.
“Understand that the Communist Party under Stalin had murdered my father and uncle. They had enslaved my mother for eight years in a forced labor camp, and had exiled her for nine more years after that. They had also exiled my aunt.
“In addition to our several hunger strikes, Andrei and I had endured years of exile under the constant watch of the KGB. We had no access to a phone. We were never allowed to leave our tiny, dingy apartment unaccompanied by guards.
“We were accused of numerous crimes against the state. We were constantly accosted, intimidated, and harassed by authorities.
“I could have stayed in America as a defector — free forever from the Soviet nightmare, happy with my family, well-fed and comfortable, immersed in opportunity.
“But under those circumstances, knowing full well what I was going back to, I chose to return to my husband and to continue our struggle together.
“So you can understand why it’s ridiculous and offensive to me when free Americans complain about having no opportunity or choice.
“We always have a choice. Yes, there are risks and consequences attached to every choice — believe me, I know that more than anyone.
“But to even imply that one has no choice is an absurd, outrageous, and revolting self-imposed limitation. It is to spit in the face of anyone who has suffered under oppressive regimes, to ignore the blood spilled and awful sacrifices made by those who secured your freedom. It is to be imprisoned behind bars of your own making.
“In America you can choose to do what you love. Or you can choose to love what you do. But never can you say — without gross self-deception — that you just don’t have a choice in the matter.
“You are not a helpless child waiting for a master to tell you what to do. You are not trapped in your job.
“If you don’t like something, you can change it. If you see something that needs improving, you can fix it. If you want a better life, you can fight for it. If you want more money, you can produce and earn more.
“So stop whining about being trapped. Choose what you want to do and become. And don’t make me smack you upside your head.”

October CORE and Journeyman Inspirements

MEMORIZATION

Come ready to share what you have memorized for this week!!

 

7 HABITS DISCUSSION

 Habit 1 "Be Proactive!":led by our very own Miriam! :)  Read the chapter and write down your favorite quotes, and do at least one of the baby steps.

*Please consult your parents before reading the section on "Rising above Abuse," pg 58-59 to determine if you should read it.  Thanks!

 CORE

Gain Knowledge by doing all of the following:
1. Do a word study on a synonym of  "Idealism": hope, noble, nobility, etc.
2. Read the scripture and poem for the month.
3. Read "The Alliance" by Gerald Lund.
4. Read the scripture and poem again.

 Create Understanding by doing one or more of the following: (Please pray about which one you need to do for this, not just which looks the easiest, to truly take ownership of your education and do hard things! I promise it will be worth it!)
--Pick out two people that were "idealistic" in this book and write a paper comparing them.
--Do a complete graphic summary with title, summary, images, and moral
--Draw a picture of one of the characters in a situation where their idealism is being tested
--Make a poem about one of the characters that inspired you with their idealism.
--Memorized the whole poem (not just the bold part!) and do it for your family or in Vanguard, along with a little summary of how it could relate to the book.

Create Intelligence by:
--coming prepared to do a simulation in Vanguard!  Woohoo!

JOURNEYMAN

1. The Art of Argument!: assignment coming soon :)!
Everyone read chapter 1 ( page 31-51) Choose your favorite fallacy(s) from that chapter and bring 2-3 examples or make up your own to share in class.

      We will be starting a fallacy page where we put every fallacy we learn for the month and the definition so don't forget your tomes!

2. Civility In 60 Seconds or Less!: Pick one of the civility virtues and come prepared to teach it in 60 seconds or less!  (Try to make it memorable :)!)

3. Whatever Happened To Justice

Know: 

Do ALL of the following: 

·        1. Read Chapters 4,6,7,9, and 12.  (We already read chapter 4 but please read it again so that we can discuss what common law is.  For our activity we are going to go Station Park and ask people if they know what common law is and we want to be prepared.  Giotto’s after…yummm!)

·      

          2. Do a graphic summary of Chapter 4.  (This will help you understand and remember how common law came about.)

·         3. Write in your own words what common law is and why it is important.  Bring this to class so we can use it to role play in preparation for our outing.

      

      4. Read "The Most Dangerous Game"...think about what it has to do with "justice" :)... 
The Most Dangerous Game  (free online version...short story)

Understand:  

Choose one or more activities from the following or create your own activities to help you better understand what you studied about common law.  Come prepared to share your inspirements in class.

·       -In Chapter 4, Uncle Eric discusses the concept of precedents and case law.  Make a list of laws/rules that govern your family.  Ask your parents about the reasons why they established these laws.  Are they based upon precedents, case law, custom, or higher law?   Remember, God expects us to honor our parents.  Please be respectful and civil as you discuss your family rules with your parents.  

·        -In Chapter 6 we learned how early Common Law was enforced.  Read about some courtroom cases in the news or watch courtroom shows (with parental permission).  How are the guilty parties “punished” for their wrongdoings?  If they are sent to jail, is that really helping pay their debt to society?  Now imagine you are the judge under the common law system—how would you have “punished” the guilty party to make him/her pay restitution to his/her victims? 

·         -In Chapter 9 we learned about tacit contracts.  Make a list of tacit agreements or violations that occur in the home or in the community.  Share your list at Vanguard and teach us what you learned. 

·        -Make a list of ambient encroachments that are acceptable and another list of ambient encroachments that are unacceptable in your neighborhood/community.  Teach us what you learned.

·       -Following are examples of encroachment and contract.  Select three examples (or create your own) and explain how you would solve each of the situations.  Record your solutions and share in class.

o   A child is very noisy in a public place because the child wants something the parent is not willing or able to provide.

o   Children in a car become so loud the driver’s concentration is impaired.

o   A child is in his/her room playing music.  The music is so loud everyone else in the house is also hearing the music.

o   A child refused to share a toy.

·        -Answer the following questions and share in class. 

o   The common law tradition holds that there is no such thing as a lawless place.  Do you agree with this?  Why or why not?

o   Is common law scientifically provable?

Become:   

Outing to Station Park to interview (and maybe even teach) people about common law.   

3-5 Field trip to Harmon's Station and gelattos!

We're taking a poll!

OCT Theme and Memorization

Principle for the month: Idealism

Theme for the month: Freedom

How idealism can help preserve our freedom!

Scripture: James 1:25 - But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

Memorization:
Bury Me in a Free Land
By Frances W. E. Harper

Make me a grave where'er you will,

In a lowly plain, or a lofty hill;

Make it among earth's humblest graves,

But not in a land where men are slaves.

I could not rest if around my grave

I heard the steps of a trembling slave;

His shadow above my silent tomb

Would make it a place of fearful gloom.

I could not rest if I heard the tread

Of a coffle gang to the shambles led,

And the mother's shriek of wild despair

Rise like a curse on the trembling air.

I could not sleep if I saw the lash

Drinking her blood at each fearful gash,

And I saw her babes torn from her breast,

Like trembling doves from their parent nest.

I'd shudder and start if I heard the bay

Of bloodhounds seizing their human prey,

And I heard the captive plead in vain

As they bound afresh his galling chain.

If I saw young girls from their mother's arms

Bartered and sold for their youthful charms,

My eye would flash with a mournful flame,

My death-paled cheek grow red with shame.

I would sleep, dear friends, where bloated might

Can rob no man of his dearest right;

My rest shall be calm in any grave

Where none can call his brother a slave.

I ask no monument, proud and high,

To arrest the gaze of the passers-by;

All that my yearning spirit craves,

Is bury me not in a land of slaves