Home-Made Gifts

Journal Entry: 12-14-2011 In today's Star & Tribune there was a variety section article on the Crandall family whose members make homemade gifts for each other for no more than two dollars spent. A side effect of this long tradition is that many family members took arts and crafts classes that resulted in at least five family members becoming artists. That caught my eye. I have long espoused that each person is positively loaded with talent and creativity, on tap to be unleashed, worked and perfected into some gorgeous, startling final product. Like the many young boys from the Dominican Republic that end up as professional baseball players, where youth are taught that they can succeed at something, and the community supports the honing of such skills, thereat a high percentage of "gifted" individuals are discovered and make it to the big leagues. In actuality, anyone can flourish, if they community supports its emphasized goal, and works to make it happen. Returning to the Crandall family example, suppose that the conservative, nuclear family of tomorrow commences raising its children by Judeo-Christian family values, to which is added a homemade tradition where kids are pushed, nudged, encouraged, praised and rewarded to learn to make, paint and invent things for themselves. They should be introduced to gaining skill at all types of arts and crafts, all the handyman trades, computer and electronic skills, the classical great books education, yard care, gardening, home economic skills, etc. This training should apply to both boys and girls. We should be educating children on how to go outdoors and play, invent games and become skilled woodsman like the Seals, the Boy Scouts and survivalists: hunting, fishing, proficiency with fire arms, camping, hiking, sailing, birding, etc. Couple this education with a strong family bond and working together. Give kids almost full access to modern electronic equipment. Children are to be loved and taught moral values. They are to be brought up immersed in the psychology, ethics and religion of individuation.