Fast-food nations

McDonald’s ranking in customer satisfaction in the US is slipping but that hasn’t stopped the fast-food giant from expanding its reach globally. Meanwhile Starbucks continues its lead with 3 new stores opening daily around the world.

Personally, I’m not a coffee person although I’m not averse to an occasional cuppa. McDonald’s? Well, I’ve seen Supersize Me and I know all about artery-clogging meat patties and trans fat and french fries. But when you need a quick bite and you’re not picky, McD’s all right. Besides, when you have kids it’s practically impossible to give it a wide berth.

Check out this map to see how Starbucks and McD’s stack up globally in the new world order.

Cease-fire

Confidential communiqué from Kofi Annan to Ehud Olmert detailing terms of Israeli-Hizbullah cease-fire. This made me laugh:

Immediately notify the U.N. if it has been fired upon, in as precise detail as possible, refraining from responding except where clearly required in immediate self-defense. The U.N. undertakes to bring, in an impartial manner, such incidents to the attention to the security council as quickly as possible.

Read the rest here.

Meanwhile, down under...

How about this - in Austrailia too:

Two Australian pastors in the province of Victoria will go to jail if they do not apologize for publicly comparing Christianity with Islam according to their beliefs. One organization attempting to come to their rescue is The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a Washington-based international non- profit law firm renowned for protecting the free expression of all religious traditions.

Arguments are being presented today in the Appeals Court of Australia. A team of Australian lawyers is seeking to have overturned the 2004 ruling of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal which found that public expression of the pastors’ beliefs incited hatred against Muslims in violation of Victoria’s Racial and Religious Tolerance Act because the pastors’ beliefs were deemed “offensive” and “unreasonable” interpretations of Christian and Islamic teachings. The Becket Fund is a member of that team, counseling the pastors regarding their rights under international law dealing with religious freedoms. [More]

The Victoria state Islamic Council took offense at statements raised during a seminar led by the two pastors that "the Koran promotes violence and killing; that Muslims lie; and that Muslims intend to take over Australia and delclare it an Islamic State."[Crosswalk]

A simple show of hands will probably reveal few Christians who disagree with that, forgetting that history records similar christian impulses and ambitions and their tragic consequences. If anything, the incident illustrates the need to exercise restraint and care when dealing with other faiths. Christians tend to be careless and I must confess that I too have a tendency to generalise or speak too hastily - whether it is about Islam, Buddhism, or Hinduism. As someone who's living in Muslim-majority Malaysia I know too well the inherent dangers of hurting Islamic 'sensitivities.'

The study of comparative religions is tricky, but absolutely critical in a multicultural nation such as ours if you want to have a clearer understanding of spirituality in all its complementary and divergent shades. The question is, how do you do that in cynical times like this?

>The Becket Fund link to this story

Homeschool bumps

On being told that our two boys were homeschooled, a Pastor caught me off-guard with a strongly worded reply: “I would never approve of homeschool in my church. We live in Malaysia and Christian children cannot afford to miss being a witness in a multicultural society.”

What do you say to elders and pastors who adopt an adversarial position on alternative education? To think that once upon a time, the issues bugging us as new homeschoolers were curricula, socialisation, and <gasp!> entry into local universities!

Here are a few more bumps on the road to homeschool bliss to watch out for.

The all-purpose playmate
Some people have the strangest notion that homeschool is equivalent to no-school. It explains why we get requests to baby-sit kids whose parents do not know how to handle nor amuse - usually when conventional school terms wind down, or after their exams are over. "Can you drop Ethan and Elliot over at our place at 2 p.m.? Or would the boys prefer Jimmy to come by your place?"

Unfortunately, our kids have school even if the rest of the nation is enjoying one of its frequent breaks. Holidays are too plain boring for the ordinary school kids. You see, they have long forgotten what to do with themselves after being conditioned, examined, instructed, drilled, grilled and school-belled into submission. So, can our boys come over?

The resident comic relief
Sure we’re all part of Christ’s body, but to his peers in Sunday School, the homeschooler is funnybone and resident comic relief. Expect put-downs like “You homeschoolers so innocent-one, don’t know what’s a lesbian!” to spiteful name-calling like, “Dummy, never go to school don’t know anything.”

Though all parties involved usually plead innocent to any malice, it does get a bit grating. Depending on how armour-plated your homeschool child is, learning not to return tit-for-tat is an important lesson in character formation in your home curriculum if it isn’t already there. If nothing else, all this teasing makes for a message on verbal abuse: “That’s God telling you how your brother feels when you call him names!”

The kid who wasn't there
Beware the conscientious Sunday School teacher or youth leader. He/She is likely to belabour the importance of passing exams, studying hard to get a good job, etc, besides the constant diversions into fervent prayers for jittery students whose exams hang like the sword of Damocles over their future careers. The homeschooler, alas, is supposed to take all this in his stride since it’s not the class’ fault that he’s different. Who wants to know if a homeschooler has any educational need?

The lone stranger
After awhile, a homeschooler begins to really, really feel like Nemo. Not that he likes being a clownfish to begin with, but he realises that there’s not many people he can have a mutually satisfying friendship with.

Thanks to Mom and Dad, the home educated kid is alternately too mature for his age (so stand-offish!) or too kiddish for his church peers (what, still playing RISK?). Besides who wants to know about the books he’s reading, the Latin he’s learning, the number of times he has to mop the floor per week, the community work he’s doing, the Homeschool Support Group field trip he’s back from, or the scary SAT test that’s looming ahead?

The expedient substitute
The number of school tests, holidays, extra-curricular activities or tuition plays havoc with the church worship roster. “Elliot, can replace me or not this Sunday? Got test next week.”

In case you think it’s the lot of homeschoolers to be the convenient stand-in (since they do not go to school), their Mom doesn’t have it any easier too. The homeschool Mom (since she doesn’t ‘work’) is thought to have lots of time to spare, so can she help with this chore, or that errand please?

The unintentional rebel
Well, not exactly, but a homeschooler has his off days too. Like the human being that he is, a kid is as lazy as he dares to be. He knows, oh he knows what the whole homeschool scene is about, but can’t he just take it easy - for a while?

On the other hand, what’s the big deal about studying at home anyway? The other kids do cool things in regular schools – uniform brigades, parades, interschool competitions, football, meet interesting friends, etc.

Hmm, a homeschooler who wants to go back to the grind that is conventional school! It’s not as unusual as you think, but it’s enough to make any parent fast and pray for a solution. Do not underestimate the memory of meat, fish and cucumbers in Egypt, particularly if your homeschooler was pulled out of the neighbourhood school late in life (and who still can’t understand why he has to do this for his parents’ sake).

The black sheep of the flock
Temperature in church takes a slight dip - suddenly mothers don’t know what to talk about when they’re with you. Your Cell Group members try to be polite, but they are truly and deeply concerned that your son isn’t in school. “Are you sure you can do it, this homeschool thing?” Your CG leader is incredulous, convinced you’ve been misinformed by an overzealous homeschool advocate. He knows you’ve never been to college, and may not have considered the obvious limitation of your grey matter. “Sammor, you have 4 children and one more on the way? How your financial?”

Of course no one has officially broken fellowship with you, but brace yourself: here comes Mrs Chinniah whose three super-achieving children have had a sterling record in Sekolah Menengah St Michael’s, and two are on their way to their Masters, sans homeschool!

Meanwhile back on the road...
In the world out there and in the community we call Church, the lessons all of us have to learn are the same: how to count others better than ourselves, and how to act justly and love mercy (Micah 6:8). Let me end by mixing my metaphors and refer to a title of Warren Wiersbe’s many books: The Bumps Are What We Climb On. That, homeschoolers, is the stuff of real life.

[Originally posted on the HOMEFRONTIER newsgroup]