Kevin

“I think it is the symbol story of the human soul. I’m feeling my way now—don’t jump on me if I’m not clear. The greatest terror a child can have is that he is not loved, and rejection is the hell he fears. I think everyone in the world to a large or small extent has felt rejection. And with rejection comes anger, and with anger some kind of crime in revenge for the rejection, and with the crime guilt—and there is the story of mankind. I think that if rejection could be amputated, the human would not be what he is. Maybe there would be fewer crazy people. I am sure in myself there would not be many jails.”
― John Steinbeck, East of Eden

“This kind of thing is why more and more Christian parents are concluding that they cannot afford to keep their children in public schools. Some tell themselves that their children need to remain there to be “salt and light” to the other kids. As popular culture continues its downward slide, however, this rationale begins to sound like a rationalization. It brings to mind a father who tosses his child into a whitewater river in hopes that she’ll save another drowning child.”
― Rod Dreher, The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation

“Nationalism is tribalistic, triumphalist, idolatrous, exclusivist and violates justice. But patriotism is an expression of devotion to country that is defined by justice. In other words, patriotism is love expressed to the national community, but it is love properly measured and applied. Patriotism acknowledges a proper place for devotion, loyalty, gratitude and sacrifice for one’s country. But patriotic expressions do not exclude others by necessity. They only do so if those exclusions are just—necessary for the protection of the whole. Koyzis wrote, “We are here referring to that community of citizens created by political power but deepened in the development of a shared commitment to, and love of that community. . . . Such loyalty is not idolatrous worship of a nation; rather, it is a limited affection for a community of fellow citizens.”
― John D. Wilsey, American Exceptionalism and Civil Religion: Reassessing the History of an Idea

“A NEW COUNTRY seems to follow a pattern. First come the openers, strong and brave and rather childlike. They can take care of themselves in a wilderness, but they are naïve and helpless against men, and perhaps that is why they went out in the first place. When the rough edges are worn off the new land, businessmen and lawyers come in to help with the development—to solve problems of ownership, usually by removing the temptations to themselves. And finally comes culture, which is entertainment, relaxation, transport out of the pain of living. And culture can be on any level, and is.”
― John Steinbeck, East of Eden