Alright, I don't normally pass on e-mail forwards but I read this one and got irritated as hell. So I'm getting the comments ready. Here we go.

Dear God:

Why didn't you save the school children at . . .

Moses Lake, Washington 2/2/96

Bethel, Alaska 2/19/97

Pearl, Mississippi 10/1/97

West Paducah, Kentucky 12/1/97

Stamps, Arkansas 12/15/97

Jonesboro, Arkansas 3/24/98

Edinboro, Pennsylvania 4/24/98

Fayetteville, Tennessee 5/19/98

Springfield, Oregon 5/21/98

Richmond, Virginia 6/15/98

Littleton, Colorado 4/20/99

Taber, Alberta, Canada 5/28/99

Conyers, Georgia 5/20/99

Deming, New Mexico 11/19/99

Fort Gibson, Oklahoma 12/6/99

Santee, California 3/5/01 and

El Cajon, California 3/22/01 ?

Sincerely,
Concerned Student

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Reply:

Dear Concerned Student:

I am not allowed in schools.

Sincerely,
God

First, whomever wrote this is trying to make a point. And failed right off. Not allowed in schools? You mean God, the Almighty is going to be stopped by a mere human convention such as law? But wait, there's more.

How did this get started....

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Let's see, I think it started when Madeline Murray O'Hare complained she didn't want any prayer in our schools.
And we said, OK...

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Then, someone said you better not read the Bible in school, the Bible that says "Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbors as yourself,"
And we said, OK...

First off, it's not illegal to have a Bible in a school. Freedom of Religion still stands even if some religious people would have you believe they are being martyred. All the stories I've ever heard about Bibles being kept out of school have all been ancecdotal and have no backing to them.

Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem.And we said, an expert should know what he's talking about so we won't spank them anymore...

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Then someone said teachers and principals better not discipline our children when they misbehave. And the school administrators said no faculty member in this school better touch a student when they misbehave because we don't want any bad publicity, and we surely don't want to be sued.
And we accepted their reasoning...

Alright, here we go. First off, more then Dr. Spock have told people that it's wrong to spank children. And even those experts disagree. What Dr. Spock (and others) was addressing was the "spare the rod, spoil the child" attitude that you had to smack the crap out of kids on a regular basis to make them behave. As to the self-esteem, I know more people with messed up psyches because of parents who were intolerant and overly religious then those who had permissive parents.

Then someone said, let's let our daughters have abortions if they want, and they won't even have to tell their parents. And we said, that's a grand idea...

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Then some wise school board member said, since boys will be boys and they're going to do it anyway, let's give our sons all the condoms they want, so they can have all the fun they desire, and we won't have to tell their parents they got them at school.
And we said, that's another great idea...

Alright, screeching contradiction here. Yes, in an ideal world, kids wouldn't have sex until they were ready and could be responsible. But you know what? Crap happens. I'd prefer my child to get condoms and be smart then go ahead and do it anyway without them. Because while pregnancy is bad for children, disease is even worse. As to abortions, I'm pro-choice (which the writer of this missive would consider evil). I don't support abortion and would counsel against it. But it's not my place to say what you do. It is ultimately your choice. And most states laws have the age set higher then most think when it comes to getting an abortion without consent of your guardian.

Then some of our top elected officials said it doesn't matter what we do in private as long as we do our jobs. And we said, it doesn't matter what anybody, including the President, does in private as long as we have jobs and the economy is good...

And why is it your business what they do in private? This is of course referring to Clinton. I am of the opinion that yes, your private life does have an impact on what you do in public.

But not to the point that the whole Clinton scandal took it. Besides, the man's crime was not getting a blowjob from an intern, which ultimately would have been between him and his wife. It was lying about it before a grand jury which then made it perjury. Besides, as became obvious as that whole mess went on, his own accusers weren't that clean themselves but they still seemed to manage to do their jobs.

And someone else took that appreciation a step further and published pictures of nude children and then stepped further still by making them available on the Internet.
And we said, everyone's entitled to free speech...

Now this is just blatant FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt). Who the hell has said that child porn is protected speech? Answer: No one except maybe the pornographers doing it. This is using the blatant tactic "Will someone please think about the children!" to try and make their point. It's also a stab at the internet by trying to make it seem as if it's rife with child porn.

And the entertainment industry said, let's make TV shows and movies that promote profanity, violence and illicit sex... And let's record music that encourages rape, drugs, murder, suicide, and satanic themes...
And we said, it's just entertainment and it has no adverse effect and nobody takes it seriously anyway, so go right ahead...

Next! Ok, first off, the entertainment industry is a slave to the consumer, not the other way around. If the consumer doesn't buy it, the entertainment industry doesn't make it. And what is the entertainment industry? This makes it sound like one big group, like the Legion of Doom or something.

As to the feeling that it has no adverse effect, well I can agree with them on this to a point. Some of this does have an effect on you. But a stable person realizes this and can deal with it. I might be a little pumped up from seeing something like Kill Bill or Pirates of the Caribbean but that doesn't mean I'm going to go on a killing spree or highjack a boat. It means my wife is going to be annoyed a little as I bounce around a bit and then deal with it and calm down.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, classmates or even themselves.

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Undoubtedly, if we thought about it long and hard enough, we could figure it out. I'm sure it has a great deal to do with...
"WE REAP WHAT WE SOW,"

First, my child has a conscience, knows right from wrong and doesn't kill others. As to themselves, suicide isn't the direct result of music, lack of prayer in schools, free condoms or easy abortions. It's the lack of self-esteem, lack of love for one's self, crushing depression and inner turmoil that the person doesn't feel like they can deal with. Maybe you should trying talking with them instead of grabbing that rod when they have questions.

Pass it on if you think it has merit! If not then just discard it...but if you discard this thought process, then don't you dare sit back and complain about what bad shape this world is in...

First, yes I do have the right to bitch about the shape the world is in if I don't agree with you. Refuting your ideas and philopshy does not negate mine. I'd make the comment about grains in eyes and logs in others but I have my own logs that I must deal with first.