My Biggest Failure

I do a lot of things right as a mom. I'm usually quite patient, I read aloud to my family, and - yes - I make tiny little homemade apple pies for my children. 

Here's how I fail miserably: I don't expose my kids to the political process. You see, I'm so busy running away from all the animosity in our country and I feel so hopeless about the future, that I never turned on either one of the national conventions. That's not how I was raised. Politics were part and parcel of my life growing up. My mother yelled at the opposing party's convention just as loudly as she yelled at her alma mater's football team every fall weekend. I remember appreciating the inspirational speeches and having long discussions at the family table about social issues. 

My mom, however, is made of stouter stuff than I when it comes to handling the judgment and ridicule of others. In our culture today, if you speak your mind politically - you will be ridiculed and possibly condemned. 

I hate fighting. I mean...I really, really hate fighting. I care about a lot of people in this world. Some of them think the way I think and some of them don't. 

Running away from it all doesn't help me and it certainly doesn't prepare my children to be useful citizens in the world. Don't get me wrong...my kids know where I stand. More or less...

But I can't get away from the nagging feeling that what they're really learning from me is to run away when it gets uncomfortable and avoid all confrontation. That's not the legacy I want to leave in their lives.