I don’t mean to avoid the issue but…I hope you don’t mind me saying that I find your posts very wise and I think lots of homeschoolers would benefit from reading them. I was wondering whether you would like to add a link to your blog on the new homeschool networking website that our small homeschooling community based in the UK has just started? All you need to do is register (free and only takes 1 minute) add a link pointing to your blog from your public page. Other features include groups, messaging, forums, articles and resources. If this is something you are interested in, have a look at http://www.networkhomeschool.com.

If you like our site, we would be grateful if you could add it to your “links” list.

Our Website: http://www.networkhomeschool.com

Blessings,

Maria

The trick is to sort out the word respect.

Respect for individuals and respect for their ideas are quite different and must be separated.

People are inherently deserving of respect as human beings, and no one can be faulted for shutting you out if you declare disrespect for their very personhood. Ideas are another matter. I feel too much respect for the word “respect” to grant it automatically to all ideas.

Even if I disagree with it, I can respect an opinion if it is founded on something meaningful, like rational argument or careful, repeatable observation. The other person may have interpreted the information differently, but I can still respect the way she’s going about it.

Suppose on the other hand that someone says Elvis and JFK are working at a laundromat in Fargo and offers a dream or tea leaves or a palm reading as evidence. It would render the word “respect” meaningless to say I respect that opinion. I both disagree with it and withhold my respect for it. And that’s okay. No need to degrade the other person. I know all sorts of lovely, respectable people who hold a silly belief or two—including myself, no doubt—and wouldn’t think of judging them, or me, less worthy of respect as human beings.

Ideas are another thing entirely. It’s not only wrong to grant respect to all ideas, it can be downright dangerous. So I teach my kids to work toward a better, saner world by challenging all ideas AND inviting the same challenge of their own, explicitly, out loud, no matter what worldview they adopt.

That’s engaged coexistence. We recognize that we’re going to be sharing this apartment for the long haul and work together to keep each other’s feet off the furniture.

Like the phrase “special education” I guess the answer depends on which understandings and meanings are in play. Bully Pulpit from wikipedia:

“Roosevelt famously used the word bully as an adjective meaning “superb” or “wonderful” (a more common expression in his time than it is today); the term has no relationship to the noun bully, i.e. a harasser or someone who intimidates.

Due to the archaic nature of the adjective ‘bully’ and the religious symbolism of the word pulpit (the elevated platform used by a preacher), this phrase is often misunderstood as a pejorative. This misinterpretation implies intimidation and, possibly, an abuse of authority.”

Is it possible you’re focusing on what you feel like you can directly do something about, that’s within your personal, individual power? For people who aren’t playing political games or the most vile bigots, that’s “overwhelmed” psychology is whatI’m seeing a lot.