Sometimes I Write

My friend Zack showed me this video today. He was looking at it in the context of the health-care system here in America, which fits and is a good discussion for another day. But my first thought was that it was a good visual example of who we are and need to be as parents, friends, and a community of believers. The video is of a group of water buffalo who engage in a battle with lions and a crocodile to rescue a young waterbuffalo that has become prey. It is titled “Battle at Kruger”.

What a picture of life. There are lessons we can learn from this video. For example, we don’t have to go looking for trouble, it can easily find us on it’s own. I also thought how well this illustrated Bible passages like 1 Peter 5:8 which says, “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”

Thinking about how this applies to my family and my life, I have a picture of all of the things out there that are a threat to my children. I have gone through periods of life where the threat wasn’t real even though I perceived it as such (imagine cardboard lions instead of the real ones), and I’ve lived the opposite where the threat didn’t seem as great as it actually was. In those situations, underestimation can kill you. There have also been times that I walked into threatening situations with my kids in tow, maybe not realizing the dangers that awaited me (not only were there lions, but a hungry croc as well). So what’s an anxious momma waterbuffalo to do? She went and got back-up. Along comes the whole herd to help her rescue her baby. “It takes a village” and “Safety in numbers” worked in her favor this time and the result was one hurt but alive baby and lions being tossed in the air and chased off by the mob. Calling in reinforcements saved that baby buffalo’s life – as far as we know.

It’s a good plan. It’s what I feel some of my friends were trying to do for me when they sent the warning email about The Golden Compass movie. (I received another email about it today.) What I hope I conveyed with my post on that subject is that sometimes the mob mentality backfires and causes more damage than needed. Sometimes the mob thinks it is protecting the young and attacking the enemy when in actuality there might not be a real threat. But what if there is – like in this video? Shouldn’t we be ready for it and willing to fight it? But what if what I perceive as a threat, you find harmless? What then?

We have a responsibility to protect our children. We are the filters for what they watch and learn while they’re young. It is through our guidance and direction that they learn what is appropriate and acceptable and what is not. We raise our children reflecting our own values and morals. And there in lies the problem. While there is certainly a standard moral code (ie. don’t bring harm to others), beyond that morals and values vary from family to family. For example, our family highly values stories about superheroes, our kids all have their own capes and I don’t limit where they can wear them – other than while they’re in bed for safety reasons. We talk about what makes the characters super, their powers and their frailties, and how they deal with both. We even have a superhero family name – The Fantastic Five. We loved watching “Who Wants To Be A Superhero?” on T.V. Then there is my friend *Kathy. That’s not her real name – I’m covering my butt. Her family does not watch superhero shows, she doesn’t like superhero costumes, she thinks that kids can pick up some pretty bad habits from watching superhero stuff, and basically finds all of the hoopla annoying. They are a wonderful Christian family without the superhero influence. We are Christian family with it. Is either of us “wrong”? I don’t think so. It’s a matter of us both training up our kids the best way we know how with our own values in mind. Which brings me to my next point…

Though our love for all things superhero runs deep, there are things in that genre that are not appropriate for our kids at their current ages. We don’t let them have access to certain superhero movies and shows, and won’t until we think they can handle it mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Kids can’t handle the same things adults can. You’ve heard me rant on this topic before when I witnessed frightened children with their careless parents at the theater watching PG-13 and R-rated movies.

Marketing companies hack me off by spending millions of dollars selling teen or adult movie merchandise to small children. It makes me a bit crazy. We drew the line with the superhero movies like Superman Returns, the Spiderman trilogy, Elektra, X-men, etc.  Those movies are not intended for a young audience, but were entertaining for older teens and adults. All of the buzz surrounding The Golden Compass may be a case of just that. From where I’m at in the book, I would not read it to my children until they’re older. At 8, 5, and 3 they aren’t ready for the mature situations I’m reading about. I understand the caution being taken by concerned parents. I may have friends that choose differently than I do. I’ll still love them and be their friend if they do.

So back to the video…I thought that baby was done for. When I saw the herd of buffalo arrive for the showdown, I thought at the very least they would run again and at the most they would recover a dead calf. The lady on the video kept saying, “They’re too late, they’re too late”. It was amazing to see the calf stand up and try to get away – which it did. We can be like that herd of buffalo and come to the aid of our fellow buffalo. It’s necessary to know what the danger is ahead of time and have a plan. They ran the lions off one at a time – not as a group. There was no need to run the crocodile off because he wasn’t a real threat. We need to know who we’re fighting and what we’re fighting for.

We need to take responsibility for our kids and be proactive not by boycotting, but by talking it out and walking our walk and setting the example yet letting others have the freedom to choose their own actions.  We need to know when to call for reinforcements and when to avoid the watering hole all together.  We also need to rally with the herd to rescue the kiddos in our community when they’re in danger.  That could be the start of another post about our ministry…;)