Jump to content

Menu

Lang Syne Boardie

Registered
  • Posts

    7,323
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    16

Everything posted by Lang Syne Boardie

  1. Look up the lyrics to Firing Squad by Lifehouse.
  2. For those of us who have lived through spiritual abuse, there are common markers. That's why everyone is saying the exact same thing: *You have got your answer. Wishy-washy non-answers are answers, when they come from people who don't want to take the responsibility to spell something out. *There will be no formal statement of support. *There will be no backup when people don't like it. *When conflict arises, you will be treated as the source of it, and heavy religious terminology will be thrown in your direction -- as a manipulation tactic to make you question your own motives and stand down out of confusion and hurt. *All of this, mostly because the Pastor does not want to make overt statements or displease anyone -- that is, anyone but you, if necessary. If there's a fork in the road where he has to choose between angry congregants and the one with the different stance, he is practically screaming at you to PLEASE read the flashing neon signs: In that moment, it won't be you that he defends. You will be under the bus SO fast. You wouldn't see this unanimity in responses if we hadn't all been through something like it, although none of us have been through it in a life or death pandemic (because we haven't HAD one in 100 years). But only the issues and the names have changed. We know. Please also note from this likeminded response that we also believe your child would not be in the best hands, in this religious environment, if sent to church on her own. We've BTDT with that, too.
  3. I think your husband is right. I think if pastor agrees with you, then he should be the one where "the buck stops." I understand why he doesn't want to be. He is trying to please everyone, probably for the usual reasons: Lack of confidence in his assessment of what should be done; hoping to minimize drama in his church by placating the most divisive, controlling and powerful members (instead of championing the minority opinion that actually holds the moral high ground); desiring to keep his job and not disrupt his family's life; to keep his job and not endanger his future in his denominational milieu. Unfortunately, NONE of those reasons would nullify his responsibility to lead from the front, instead of allowing a Sunday school teacher to get out front and take the brunt of the fallout. For me, if I felt that the pastor was walking all these lines and probably dealing with a lot of angry people, there are two things I would not do: 1. Make this all harder for him by being the sticky wicket that he's probably afraid to support, or 2. Allow him to leave it to me. In other words, I can sympathize with his problem of having to be the pastor in this era and climate, in a church where too many are against the state's public health directives. But his entrenchment in toxicity does not have to be mine. I can't save him or make this easier for him. I can't lead the church from a Sunday school class, when the pastor privately agrees with me but placates anti-science and dangerous opinions in public. People. Could. Die. Including children. People of all ages could die, and people could also face long-term health problems, job loss, financial disaster from hospital bills and job loss. This is not your typical church conflict. This is about life and death. In the absence of clear, sane, loving, responsible, and law-abiding leadership, I see zero obligation to attempt to engage in church politics of any kind.
  4. While I agree 100% that what they are doing is very, very wrong, I think you are in the wrong, to plan to blindside the families and the church leadership. Surprising them all with an additional requirement just for your classroom will cause an awful lot of drama and be taken very, very badly. If you are going to enforce a stricter environment in your classroom, you should inform the pastor and the head of the Sunday school -- in time for them to decide whether they'll allow you to do that, and if so, in time to inform the families so they can make their choice. You can really only control your family. For me, this would mean leaving, and informing them via email today. It is never the end of the world if children don't have a Sunday school class to go to, on any random Sunday - if there's classroom space, someone else (perhaps even one of their parents) could take them for that hour. If that's unacceptable to the pastor or the head of the Sunday school, then they have a week to solve the problem. I don't mind some inconvenience for them, if they are complicit in endangering human lives. But a hill to die on is a hill where you've got a foothold, and in that church and Sunday school class, you really do not. Your authority in that space is not greater than the pastor's church-wide leadership into anarchy and destruction. The hills you can and should claim are your conscience and the protection and care of your own family -- just get out of there.
  5. I don't understand why her followers and consumers are not alarmed by this combination of incompetence and grandiose thinking. I'm not kidding. She's putting out a product that is rife with error and that demonstrates her lack of education. And now she's going to add "all the math for K-12 in the form of 12 workbooks." Her sales went down to nothing, and her takeaway was, "Cool cool cool God is working." Someone without a God complex might have thought, "OK, obviously, a lot of people have looked at my work, chose not to come back for more, and chose not to recommend me to their friends. I need to look at this again, and get some trusted opinions about what I might be missing." Tom Nichols wrote a book called, "The Death of Expertise." It's possible that people need reminded that choosing to follow ignorance is a choice. It's entirely optional. We could also choose to read and learn from people who know what they're talking about, expand our own knowledge and wisdom, and learn to make better choices. We could actually choose to learn how NOT to be attracted to poor teachers. https://www.amazon.com/Death-Expertise-Campaign-Established-Knowledge/dp/0190865970/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1AO4OXI8MZLLB&dchild=1&keywords=tom+nichols+death+of+expertise&qid=1586103754&sprefix=tom+nichols+the+d%2Caps%2C215&sr=8-2
  6. Yes. Trying to take it one day at a time. We are hoping to somehow keep DS#3 in school, since he's begun. DS#4 is talking as if he assumes he won't be able to go, and we're reassuring him, but nobody knows anything for sure...
  7. Thank you. My son is a plumber who is helping to build a new ICU in a children's hospital, so we are sure he will stay at work. They are screening and temperature taking, at least. My husband is an electrician working in an automotive plant that has yet to shut down when the others did -- but it's one that might be commandeered for ventilator building, in which case they'll need electricians to help get that set up. His boss and the union are attempting to protect them while keeping as many at work as possible. I keep having fear creep up and get me, but then I get a handle on it again. We have high risk people at home but I know we are not the only "essential worker" family in that situation.
  8. I am sorry. Would you mind sharing your state or at least your region, if you're in the US? People are wondering when manufacturing and non-medical related construction are going to have the privilege of #StayHome, all over the country.
  9. Garga posted upthread that her state closed all non-life sustaining businesses. That may be the future. If it gets to that point, I hope they'll also move retail to pickup only, to protect workers.
  10. Along the anxiety line -- we have adults who are required to work in crowded situations (whether retail, construction, warehouse, or factory) with no precautions being taken. It came to my attention that some of them are actually very afraid, while they've continued to go to work anyway. They're washing hands and doing all they can, but obviously their entire workplace could easily be infected, AND they are afraid they will bring it home to those of us who are high risk. So because of that reality, and to honor courage in the face of fear, I placed a moratorium on the constant talk of the pandemic. I'm doing all the protocols to keep home as safe as possible, and I make sure everyone knows the current recommendations. Beyond that, I am giving these workers peace at home.
  11. That is one of the many things wrong with this country. Appalling! To take joy or to snark at someone else's troubles and hardships in a pandemic is absolutely appalling.
  12. Yes, absolutely. We need the nutrition. I do prepare fresh produce to be as safe as possible -- I wash everything washable, peel outer layers of cabbages, store the unwashable-but-cookable (like potatoes) away from the washed produce that is meant to be eaten fresh (which I would anyway). I am not using fresh leafy lettuces although that's a personal preference and *nobody's* advice. For now, I am using head lettuces and cabbages and frozen greens. I'll be growing lettuces all summer and making cold frames and a greenhouse for winter. I went to my local store last night and found no meat, no cheese, a bit of eggs and butter and milk, no bread....I came home with a cart full of produce! They didn't have potatoes but I still have a lot. I was concerned about the virus' ability to survive 24 hours on cardboard, so I took the eggs out of the flimsy cardboard cartons, washed them with soap, and put them in the refrigerator. I disposed of the cartons.
  13. @Arcadia, yes, the states are doing all they can and I'm sure we are all grateful. Unemployment isn't enough to pay the bills, for most families, and it doesn't fix the problems of being at home with children when a family is accustomed to jobs and schools, but again, it's something to be thankful for while waiting for Congress to pass relief aid.
  14. I think some pity toward people whose entire way of life has been disrupted would be warranted. Their jobs are important to them, and they're anxious if they are laid off or are working from home with kids at home. The children's schools are important to the parents AND to the children. Isolation with kids at home is a scary and frequently unhealthy thing that they'll have to work through. To me, these concerns are apart from the question of whether homework packets and storytime should be called homeschooling -- these are very real issues and it would go better for the nation if we don't look down on people whose challenges are different from ours.
  15. GF alternatives for complex carbohydrates -- I'm sure you know, as a diagnosed celiac, but I thought I'd take the moment to post in case anyone needs this: Potatoes, all varieties Most but not all corn tortillas - we heat in a pan and use for bread, in a pinch Some but not all cornmeal Buckwheat flour (dedicated mill only) - might be able to order online Winter squash and pumpkins Quinoa Millet Tapioca starch can be made into tortillas, see The Gluten Free on a Shoestring blog Remember also, foods like custard pies can be made as puddings without crust. Peanut butter cookies can be made with just egg, sugar, and peanut butter. Check into celiac or gluten free forums and FB groups for no-specific-ingredient recipes and ideas.
  16. Thanks to all -- I'd forgotten about the exponential spread; obviously, it couldn't have been here that long ago. I'm definitely trying to keep from getting it. We are down to one worker going to a reasonably controlled job and being careful, and otherwise the family is hunkering down. I will ask about pneumonia vaccines.
  17. I have a question, if anybody knows: What is the absolute earliest date that Covid19 might have been in the USA? I have heard of November to January, as far as anecdotal accounts of severe flu-that-wasn't-the-flu and took a long time to shake. The reason I ask is because in April/May, I had all the symptoms. Fever, dry cough, and regular cold symptoms including stuffy/runny nose but that part ended in less than two weeks and was mild. In the second week, the illness progressed to a bad lower respiratory infection that didn't show as bronchitis or anything specific, I never got a chest x-ray but three kinds of antibiotics didn't touch it, and it took me over two months to shake it. I wasn't hospitalized because while I was short of breath, I could breathe and even get some sleep if I was propped up. But it was absolutely ghastly and I missed three of my kids' high school and college graduation ceremonies, with an illness that I'd contracted two months before. And then I had diminished lung function for about six months -- couldn't sing, and got winded sometimes when walking. Is there any chance this has been here that long?
  18. Did you all know that tall people are reading? Thanks a lot. I'm nearly six feet tall, my husband and two sons are six feet tall, and two sons are over 6'4. Three of the boys have preexisting health conditions so we were already concerned about Covid19. So thank you VERY much for adding to a worry list about risks when there's absolutely nothing anyone can do about being tall.
  19. Well, I live in a red state in the Bible belt...it's a limited view of "everybody," I'll agree.
  20. Well, something being funny is definitely subjective. Everybody knows what Babylon Bee is; it's not un-funny to some of us just out of ignorance of the context. 🙂
  21. I don't think it's funny. It's probably the dumbest, most outdated attempt at homeschool humor that I've heard since the 1980s. It's insulting and ignorant.
  22. About the schools -- I have been hearing stories locally, for several years, about students not being allowed soap in the bathrooms, or time to wash their hands before they eat. Reasons given are costs and the fact that the children make messes. In the mid-century modern era, our teachers supervised us in the proper use of soap. I'm sorry life is different now but I'm not sure "I" could focus on standardized test practice while knowing that my little students don't even know how to wash their hands, and won't be doing so before lunch. While I'm doing the "back in my day," here's a story: When I was in the fourth grade, our school was renovated and expanded. There was some sort of problem with the timeline, so it was decided that the children would eat lunch in their classrooms for about three months, while the cafeteria was being completed. Before we were walked in straight lines down to pick up our box lunches, to bring back to the classroom, we cleaned our classroom. We helped our teacher wash all the desktops, and she also wiped the doorknobs and backs of chairs and other heavily-touched surfaces. Then we covered our desks with a clean portion of contact paper, to have a clean, disposable surface for lunch that would also protect the desk from spills. THEN, on our way down to pick up our lunches, we stopped at the bathrooms and our teacher supervised handwashing. Got our lunches, went back to our room and ate, tidied up (and the teacher vacuumed obvious crumbs), and then went outdoors for a proper recess. Sigh.
  23. I do!! I meant to say adverb, not adjective. And its doubling every 5 to 6 days. I'm in four conversations at once, while listening to a tape of today's congressional hearing. LOL
×
×
  • Create New...