Titles

Last week in church our "Pastor Ray" gave the sermon with his theme focused on the " negative titles" that we often give people such as when he was a young boy he was labeled as a "poor reader". I found the sermon interesting given its personal nature and Pastor Ray's personal accomplishment in overcoming - by realizing he was simply a "visual learner" not a poor reader -- this stigma that hurt him academically.

I didn't give his sermon much thought again until two nights ago when I was getting dressed at my gym when I heard a father tell his very young son -- "here let me do that since you suck at it.......... -- referring to tying his swimming suit waist string. Well, so much for the power of positive thinking!! No wonder we have underachieving students in the USA given parents like this father.

Personally, I think it is fair to say that there was a national feeling that the late, former President Gerald Ford was a "father figure" to most of the nation based on the funeral coverage I heard on television. I was reminded of President Ford's character tonight after reading an op-ed by Cliff Kincaid at Accuracy in Media entitled, "Gerald Ford: A Boy Scout President" , in which Kincaid noted that Ford was the only US President to have attained the highest rank the Boy Scouts of America offers -- Eagle Scout.

Kincaid goes on to cite the example of a "negative title" given in Tom Clancy's book, A Clear and Present Danger, where a dishonest White House aide chides the book's CIA official, Jack Ryan's honesty (played by Harrison Ford), by saying, "You're such a Boy Scout", in a very contemptuous tone. As an Eagle Scout myself I am even prouder of President Ford's term in office now that I know he was our only Eagle Scout President. Pastor Ray's message is a good one -- a message that I need to work on daily so I don't attach negative titles to the people around me.

May your glass be half full,

Todd