Today I received an interesting text message. It read:
"OMG (Oh my God for your other parents who were getting ready to Wikipedia or Google it :)... 90 people or so get the swine flu and everyone is wearing masks. Millions of people have AIDS but no one wears a condom!"

Of course, you know my stance on pre-marital exercise :), but I did think this was interesting enough to write about because it highlights a truth about our perceptions. First off, the statement is exaggerated because it says "no one" wears one, but I wondered to myself how many people would wear a mask and not protection.

I thought about myself. I am sure if you look inward, you will say the same. I know I am going to get 300 emails about this statement, but I believe smoking is terrible and that it kills people, but, I rarely turn down dessert if offered. People, this makes no sense!!! Our perceptions tend to be off in many cases, and have left many of us to make bad decisions in regards to our present and our future.

Follow up:

Now, all posts are about education, so I will transition. I find it interesting how many peers (won’t call names to preserve our friendship but I know you will write :)) I have that provide their children with $250,000 living establishments, name brand everything, every modern convenience known to mankind, expensive vacations, and the required club volleyball (most of us have girls)/basketball/baseball/soccer/swimming but won’t spend the extra money to get their child the educational support needed to improve and maximize their full potential. My friends, these trinkets are the flu, and the educational support is the condom (for this dialogue). How can we justify wearing the mask and not the protection?

I asked myself as I drove home, why is it that we consider these modern amenities providing our children life’s best, when the truth is these things are like a handful of sand on a beach. Now of course, this blog seems selfish in nature, but I am stating what I believe. My oldest two have a tutor and my youngest will start this summer, that with my wife due in September (prayerfully with twin boys…..and, yes I would love your prayers!!!!). I realize that the kingdom being built through all of us will require the heirs to be ahead of us just to maintain what we have amassed in our tenure on this side. Honestly, education is one of the most precious things we can provide our children who have their entire life ahead of them to enjoy life’s extras. I think grandma and grandpa had it right. A quarter here, and a quarter there, with a cake mixed in, a b-day present, and a Christmas present.

Let us adjust our perception. I saw some numbers that were eye opening. Look at this graph: Education/Earnings.

Let us band together now to help our children excel in education, knowing that it will present to them a very promising future.