Culture War Report

I’m still trying to get over the death of my friend David. It was a shock, but it is getting easier to handle. Several of my friends called me over the past couple of days have called me to check in, hear a friendly voice, and commiserate over this event. I want to thank Ombra, Cliff, Holli, Steve and Chuck for calling me. I love you guys.

I wanted to share a little story from this afternoon. I had just gone to Ian’s day care center to pick him up and bring him home for the evening. I had the radio tuned in to our local talk station, and kinda listening to Bill O’Reilly. He was talking about the special OJ Simpson is shopping around where he talks about what might have happened “if” he had murdered Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman.

As O’Reilly went on and on, he began to talk about how this was part of the “culture war” that he (O’Reilly) was carrying the banner for. He went on about all the other influences that he was concerned about. As O’Reilly ratcheted up the rancor, I heard a voice coming from the seat behind me…

Ay, bee, tee, dee, ee aff, gee…

It was Ian, of course. Over the past couple of weeks, he has gotten into the habit of singing songs to himself. His current repertoire consists of “The Alphabet Song”, “Itsy Bitsy Spider”, “Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star”, and “Old Macdonald.” For the next few seconds there was a battle between Bill O’Reilly and Ian McGuire.

“…in the culture war…”

…ait, ay, day, kay…

“…polluting our children…”

…ell, em, en, oh, pee…

“…these torture movies…”

…cue, ar, ess…

“…violent hip-hop…”

…tee, you, vee…

In those few seconds, it finally hit me. Maybe our society isn’t perfect, and there are things I definitely don’t want to expose Ian to until he’s ready. However, I don’t need Bill O’Reilly to tell me what’s good or bad for my child, or to call me a “secular progressive” for looking to improve the things in our world that need improving.

The best thing I can do for my boy is to be there and to guide him in the way he should go. He’ll make mistakes, and he’ll probably get into some things that I don’t necessarily approve of. I just need to be there and be the best dad that I can be. I reached over and turned off the radio…

…dub’u, ex, why an’ dee
now I no my ay, dee, ee,
nets tie won you si’ wif mee”

Ian and I rode the rest of the way home with no radio, but with plenty of music. We sang “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, “Old Macdonald”, and another rousing rendition of “The Alphabet Song.” I’ll take that over another rehashing of the “Culture War” any day of the week.

This is no talking point, this is the real stuff.