I am pleased to say that I had a very exciting (to me, at least) experience tonight. Today in my email I received my usual weekly set of coupons for Border's Books.
I decided to make the trip over to Border's and browse around. I actually bought two books... one each from either end of the conservative-liberal spectrum. The first one was Joel Osteen's Become A Better You. As you may know, Joel Osteen is the pastor of the 25,000 seat Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. I read Joel's first book, Your Best Life Now, and really enjoyed it... and found some meaningful things in it.
The second book I purchased was The Two Marys by Sylvia Browne. The sub-title of the book is "The Hidden History of Mary the Mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene, the "companion" of Jesus." I am not sure if I could have bought two books further apart from each other on the conservatie-liberal theological spectrum than those two. I am sure I will enjoy reading them both... and perhaps even do a short book report on them in a week or two.
But... this is only the lead-in for my little story. I was browsing through the aisles at Borders when I noticed a group of people over in the corner of the store. It looked like perhaps it was a lecture by some book author doing a book-signing.
I was curious, and walked over to see. What I saw just filled me with so much hope for the future. It was a group of tenth graders from the local Colleyville Heritage High School. It was an AP (advanced placement) high school class on a field-trip or outing of sorts. They were actually having a class, discussing government, governing philosophies, and politics in general. I think they meet there on a regular basis. It was also about 8:00 pm on a Wednesday night.
I was hooked. Wow, I thought... I need to listen and see what these "kids" have to say.
I must say I came away truly amazed. There were about thirty kids... they looked like tenth-graders. I listened... and heard just an amazing discussion, great give-and-take, some truly original and very thought-provoking ideas... all from this incredibly well-read group of fifteen-year-olds.
Their political and governmental views covered a wide spectrum of thought. Now, this is Texas, remember. Bush Country. And once I discovered this was a government/politics/civics type of class... I expected only total conservatism.
What an extreme pleasure it was to hear these articulate fifteen year-olds intelligently and calmly, even though they spoke their opinions with honest emotion... discussing their views. It was NOTHING like any of the usually rude spectacles usually shown on Fox News or MSNBC. Honest opinions, genuinely stated... with an emotional fervor... yet low-key, and respectful of each other's views. I heard more common sense from this group of teenagers than from just about any of the current group of "presidential hopefuls"... either Republicans or Democrats.
Tonight... I Feel So Much Better About The Future Of This Country. If only these kids were running this country right now ! Honestly and Truly... I was Impressed. Congratulations Colleyville Heritage High School in Colleyville, Texas.
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You may visit Karen Anne Stone's website at www.NewHomeHuntersOfTarrantCounty.com . Karen Anne may be reached at (817) 929-3400. Her email is KarenAnneStone@gmail.com .
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