Where should the balance be with regard to cultural tolerance

An Iraqi man living in Arizona runs over his daughter in a parking lot because she has become too “Westernized.” There are places in this world where “honor killings” are still acceptable. Fortunately, the daughter survived. The man allegedly believes the action in justified because the daughter was “going against” the customs and traditions of his household. In Dallas, police ticketed 39 people in 3 years for not answering officers’ questions in English. Police Chief David Kunkle has said that there is no such charge, and that reimbursements and fixes will be made. To New Mexico…a hotel owner decides that his Hispanic employees could not speak Spanish in front of him. Interesting…but the situation got stickier when he demanded that Hispanic employees modify (Anglicize) their names while working at the hotel. Marcos would need to be Mark.

I remember studying about The Great American Melting Pot. My great-grandfather’s name was Otto Svenson. My grandfather’s name is Larry Swanson after the last name was “Anglicized” upon arrival to the United States. The battles between personal freedoms versus societal rules continue. The Michigan Supreme Court has ruled that judges can require Muslim women to remove their veils in court, and the Florida Court of Appeals upheld the ruling that women must remove their veils for their driver's license photos.

I could be wrong, but it seems to me that “back in the day” assimilation was not aggressively questioned. In some cases it was strongly endorsed. This is 2009.

Where should the balance be with regard to cultural tolerance?

For links to all of the stories, please go to www.invitingconversations.com.

Is the "Balloon Boy" stunt Society's Doing?

There have been so many news stories this past week which could lead to very interesting conversations. I would like to focus this morning on the Colorado “balloon boy stunt.” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33341233/ns/today-today_people/

Was the Colorado balloon boy event a hoax? That question will be debated in the news and in circles for months to come. That isn’t my question here. I guess I am confused why the family called the press prior to calling the police when their child was taken into flight. Is it possible that the family in Colorado is using the media to its advantage? Have we as a Society become so needy for “reality-based” drama that we create the need for people to do things like this?

I look forward to your comments.

Should a Cub Scout be suspended for wanting to use his camping kit to each lunch at school?

He was so excited about recently joining the Cub Scouts that he wanted to use it (a camping utensil that can serve as a knife, fork and spoon) at lunch. School officials concluded that he had violated their zero-tolerance policy on weapons, and Zachary was suspended and now faces 45 days in the district’s reform school.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/education/12discipline.html?no_interstitial


The Newark, Delaware school district has a zero-tolerance policy for weapons. Is the school district “in the right” to take this action? Has the school district gone “overboard”? Do you support the district’s move?

This week’s Inviting Conversation:

If given the opportunity, what would you say to the Superintendent at the suspension appeal hearing?

Montana Woman fined for 12-year-old daughter driving siblings to day care

A Montana woman has been fined nearly $1000 for letting her 12-year-old daughter drive three siblings to day care. According to the Associated Press (http://news.bostonherald.com/news/national/midwest/view.bg?articleid=1201831&srvc=next_article#), the mother agreed to plead “no contest” because the 12-year-old did not wish to testify against her mother. The mother had indicated that she let her daughter drive because she was “too sick and medicated to drive.” After just a few conversations, a host of questions come from this. What are the driving laws in Montana? What was the urgency which prompted the mother to feel the need to absolutely get the kids to day care? What is meant by “medicated”? These are all valid questions, however I would like to take a completely different angle.

I recognize that I am not “old” per se, being 45 years old. I grew up in a “middle class” neighborhood, albeit the “middle class” is disappearing. I also grew up in a “neighborhood.” I have never been to Great Falls, Montana, and so I can not say anything bad about the area, and certainly believe that this could have happened nearly anywhere. But I have been reading a good bit about our loss of the “neighborhood,” people being too busy to be in community with one another, being “there” for one another. Have we become so busy with our own lives, with trying to survive, that we do not even know our neighbors, let alone be willing to help them with their needs? People of Great Falls, Montana, are you telling me that there was no one this woman could have called for help?

Is it not “our” responsibility? Have we as society lost our sense of “community”? Is it really not our concern?