Is it ever \u201cokay\u201d to hit a small child?<\/p>\n
Or to hit anyone,<\/em> for that matter?<\/p>\n In the small rural community of Ocala, Florida, as reported by www.Ocala.com, \u201cNewly elected School Board member Carol Ely wants to bring corporal punishment back to Marion County schools, two years after the controversial punishment was banned.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 And she is receiving support to reinstate this primitive method of discipline, one which involves an adult school official swinging forcefully a large wooden or fiberglass paddle with the intention of striking the tender buttocks of a young child.<\/p>\n Another Marion County board member, Angie Boynton, said while she \u201cdoes not personally believe in paddling, she would support it as long as parents give permission.\u201d<\/p>\n I am only left to imagine the significantly diminished level comfort and security that<\/em> public declaration offers to a young child whose home life may be painfully lacking in boundaries, a young child whose own parents\u2019 preferred form of communication is physical force, behavior born out of an \u201cOld Cultural Story\u201d way of thinking where \u201cspanking is a matter of tradition and good old-fashioned discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n If, as Ms. Boynton said, she does not \u201cpersonally believe in paddling\u201d but will \u201csupport it as long as the parents give permission,\u201d why is she not standing in the light of her own truth, what she has publicly professed as her \u201cpersonal belief\u201d?\u00a0 By the way, the percentage of parents who gave permission to school officials to paddle their children during the years this \u201ccode of conduct\u201d was in place and being utilized was reported by Ely to be 95%.<\/p>\n In a recent article reported on FoxNews, in Springtown, Texas, \u201cWhen Taylor Santos, 15, allegedly let a classmate copy her homework, Vice Principal Kirt Shaw disciplined the girl with a large wooden paddle, which he swung with a violent, upward motion, according to the girl’s mom, Anna Jorgensen,\u201d leaving her teenage<\/em> daughter feeling numb and burned and humiliated.<\/p>\n As disturbing as these stories are to me, what really caught my attention is not so much the observation of what is happening<\/em>, but the observation of what is missing\u2026<\/em><\/strong>the absence of which pointed me, <\/em><\/strong>once again, to one of the critical questions posed to us in \u201cThe Storm Before the Calm\u201d:<\/p>\n \u201cIs it possible that there is something<\/em>\u00a0we don’t<\/em>\u00a0fully<\/em>\u00a0understand <\/em>about God and<\/em>\u00a0life<\/em>, the<\/em>\u00a0understanding of which would change everything<\/em>?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The answer is undoubtedly yes<\/em>.<\/p>\n Stories like the two I\u2019ve illustrated invite us to consider the importance of and the possibilities held within having a conversation around questions like this.\u00a0 But are the limitations and restrictions placed upon our children in relation to what they are allowed to hear about and talk about in school blocking their opportunities to see the infinite number of possibilities, all leading to the experience of knowing more fully who they really are?\u00a0 And is it possible that, likewise, that the teachers, administrators, and school board members are also being prevented that same opportunity to experience life at a higher level?\u00a0 Thus being the reason why the only or best choice they are being allowed (or choosing<\/em>) to see is the one based in fear and not the one based in love?<\/p>\n If every child had the opportunity to learn about the God of their choosing, to explore their own spirituality freely and openly, to appreciate the diversity of their fellow classmates, and to understand a new definition of \u201crelationship\u201d within a new context, a new perspective, a Soul Perspective<\/em><\/strong>, could we not potentially eliminate a \u201cneed\u201d for most, if not all, of what we perceive to be, for lack of a better word, \u201cbad\u201d behaviors?<\/p>\n What if, in our children\u2019s most formative and delicate years, instead of paddling<\/em> them, we gifted<\/em> them with the wisdom to create the life of their dreams by utilizing a process of asking and answering the Four Fundamental Questions of Life:<\/p>\n 1. \u00a0Who am I?<\/p>\n 2. \u00a0Where am I?<\/p>\n 3. \u00a0Why am I where I am?<\/p>\n 4. \u00a0And what do I intend to do about that?<\/p>\n Perhaps if we incorporated larger explorations of Oneness and Beingness into our children\u2019s current curriculum of history and mathematics and government, we would (maybe even in our lifetime<\/em>) truly witness the birth of a new world, where politics would inspire and unite, instead of dividing and separating; where world countries would co-exist in peace and celebrate each other\u2019s diversity, instead of condemning and engaging in war; and where our children would grow up entering into purposeful and meaningful life partnerships and experiencing relationships without conditions, relationships which nurture Self-expression and provide for the ultimate demonstration of each individual\u2019s Highest Self.<\/p>\n Life is inviting us.<\/em><\/p>\n How will the pages of our New Cultural Story read?<\/p>\n Is there, as \u201cConversations with God\u201d says, another way\u2026.<\/em>a path without a paddle<\/em>?<\/p>\n (Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation.\u00a0 She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at <\/em>www.ChangingChange.net<\/em><\/a>, a website offering emotional and spiritual support . \u00a0\u00a0To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com<\/span><\/a><\/span>.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Is it ever \u201cokay\u201d to hit a small child? Or to hit anyone, for that matter? In the small rural community of Ocala, Florida, as reported by www.Ocala.com, \u201cNewly elected School Board member Carol Ely wants to bring corporal punishment back to Marion County schools, two years after the controversial punishment was banned.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 And she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[157],"tags":[305,310,304,308,307,302,303,309,306],"class_list":["post-1802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-romance-and-relationships","tag-children","tag-corporal-punishment","tag-four-fundamental-questions-of-life","tag-marion-county","tag-ocala","tag-paddle","tag-paddling","tag-principal","tag-schools"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1802"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1805,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1802\/revisions\/1805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}