As kids, we all get advice from parents and teachers that seems strange, even confusing. This was crystallized one night for a young Clint Smith, who was playing with water guns in a dark parking...
========== Growing up, I didn't always understand why my parents made me
follow the rules that they did. Like, why did I really
have to mow the lawn? Why was homework really that important? Why couldn't I put jelly beans
in my oatmeal? My childhood was abound
with questions like this. Normal things about being a kid
and realizing that sometimes, it was best to listen to my parents
even when I didn't exactly understand why. And it's not that they didn't want
me to think critically. Their parenting always sought
to reconcile the tension between having my siblings and I
understand the realities of the world, while ensuring that we never accepted
the status quo as inevitable. I came to realize that this,
in and of itself, was a very purpose...