Three Grandchildren on the Canadian Prairie
Just back home after enjoying four wonderful days with our daughter Suzanne. She lives in a religious community that owns various properties around the world; she currently lives on Little Mountain Farm just outside Winnipeg with her husband and three children. By the way, this is the prairie folks – the only mountain there is an eight foot pile of dirt that the kids roll down in the summer and slide down in the winter!
We enjoyed awesome hospitality, quality home cooking, beautiful grandkids, and the quiet good manners of the folk who live in the community. The “Community” is not without controversy, typically over its home schooling and child training; however, we accept it as a reasonable alternative to the somewhat-out-of control lifestyle of most other folks.
The community life of the “Community” does raise an interesting paradox: The group strongly defends the idea of religious liberty for all people. They believe that everyone (thinking of themselves, of course) should be free to live out their beliefs in a way that they choose. This is not unlike other small communities; the Amish, for example. On the other hand, once you join the group, you give up your liberty to believe anything differently than what the group believes. They publish their own schoolbooks for their children which of course explain the world from their point of view. Is that different from many public school classrooms with PC-style texts that teach a single viewpoint? Not so many public schools teach critical thinking anymore; history in our public schools is back to the narrative instead of multiple sources. Testing is the driving force for many schools. So liberty is hard to find. In any case, the “Community” follows a regular schedule. But it does find time to include families like ours.
We enjoyed our visit and we our proud of our daughter, her hard working and kind-hearted husband, and their three awesome children!
Your Blogger with his Three Grandchildren
