You've got to be taught...

There is quite a bit of conversation going on in many of the online circles I hang out in about the current Family Guy/Sarah Palin/R-Word/Andrea Friedman/Rahm Emanuel debates.

I have a lot I could say about it - and I may in another post at some point. But all around, I keep coming back to a simple song that applies to almost everyone in all of these debates...



Carfully Taught

You've got to be taught to hate and fear;
You've got to be taught from year to year;
It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear.
You've got to be carefully taught!

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a different shade.
You've got to be carefully taught!

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate.
You've got to be carefully taught!
You've got to be carefully taught!
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As parents of children with different abilities, our challenge, I believe is to figure out how to teach the truth...and help our peers teach their children the truth, and their children's children the same truth.

That truth being that our children may have "eyes that are oddly made" but they are more like other people than they are different. Not people to be pitied, not people to be feared, or ridiculed or ignored. Just people. Not any more "God's Children" than any one else is. Just children.

At least that's how I see it.