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PHIL'S PHILOSOPHY By; D.P Kinkade Contributions By; Taylor & Drake Kinkade

HAVE NO IDEAL

I am by no means a member of the “language police,” for I have been known to be less than formal in my own spoken engagements. I have used ain't in conversation, I say ant for aunt and on more than one occasion have been guilty of using several more countrified colloquialisms and I still struggle with knowing when, whom should be used instead of, who. I do admire eloquent speakers though and especially believe writers should strive to use proper grammar but I will forgive them if they fall short upon occasion just like I forgive myself when I read something published of mine and realize I did not correct some obvious mistakes.

There are some uses of grammar and switching of similar words, which drive me absolutely nuts though. One of them is using the word – your- in place of you're. It is something such as-"you are going back to school?" so, you apostrophe re, is correct but not your. I can not believe how many times I have seen to used in place of too and vice versa. Most people know that two is used for the number but the other versions are not interchangeable. Just this morning I saw a post that said "the reason we get along so well is you're crazy to." I was left wondering where the rest of the sentence was, crazy to, do-what-? Then I realized they meant crazy also, just like them, thus the word too should have ended the sentence. Exactly when did they add an “r” to the word- wash? Nobody warshes anything, quit saying it. Their, there and they're are not interchangeable either. I also saw a post of a mother, proud of her second grader for the proper use of -their. The exact sentence was “Their going to play at the park today.” The lady remarked how she was so proud because she knew several adults who did not know when to use the correct version; geez. I can forgive the second grader but come on, ragging on other adults when you don't know the right version yourself. What about the word ain't? Some dictionaries have began to include it but I am old school and consider it a non-word.

The number one irritating misuse of words though, for me personally, is to not know the difference between -idea and -ideal. When you do not have a clue about how to proceed with a situation or don't know the answer to a particular problem then you have no -idea. Ideal is a totally different animal. If you have no idea then you simply are ignorant about a particular subject or you do not know how to proceed in finding answers to your questions but if you have no ideal it is analogous to having; no hope.

The definition of Ideal is- A conception of something in its absolute perfection or a noble aim or goal. The difference between idea and ideal is much like the difference between Word and Logos. Word simply means an utterance but Logos encapsulates the Creative Wisdom of thought, becoming material. All of us should have a vision of what the ideal would be in several different areas of our lives and have a vision of what an ideal world would actually look like, in our hearts. This is the secret to actually having purpose and hope, instead of despair; to actually work toward achieving that kind of world in your family, in your community, in your corner of the world, and in as broad an influence as you can possibly muster.

I will give just a brief overview of what my ideal world would look like and my circle of influence may not be very wide but still, I am doing my best to spread the vision. In my ideal world the crushing burden of poverty would not exist. Now, I am not talking about all of us leading cookie cutter lives, nearly identical in form and function, that would almost be a nightmare it would be so boring and neither am I talking about the kind of poverty where you're just not able to have as new a vehicle as you would like or as big as home as is common for celebrities and C.E.Os but the kind of poverty where hunger exists or homelessness looms or even the strain of constant worry, where there is never enough to go around and tears are shed because your children are being denied enough for even dignity.

I have an ideal where we live in a world where it is alright, even admired and respected, to embrace a life of faith, without demeaning or even distrusting others who follow a different path. I have an ideal where true justice is sought for all our brothers and sisters and greed loses its prominence in our lives.

I have an ideal of education being about inspiring curiosity and control is regulated to the waste bin, an ideal where all learning styles are incorporated, constructivist projects take the place of homework, age segregation is abandoned and open “learning labs,” which are entered and exited at will, take the place of the static classroom.

I have an ideal of ALL segregation being eliminated. Bigotry and prejudice unknown; equality taken for granted, no matter the color of your skin, your gender, the amount of titles before your name or anything else.

I have an Ideal where health care is considered a God-given birthright and no one lies sick or dying all because of the size of their bank account. These are just a fraction of the ideals I have for the world.

Your Ideal may look a lot like mine or be completely different, it does not matter. They say you should not talk about religion or politics in polite conversation. I disagree, I sit next to some folks, on a regular basis, whom see just about everything in a different light than I do but I consider them good friends.

If we work together to improve our corner of the world and gradually expand that vision to include the whole world, together we might achieve an ideal much better than any one among us dared dream.

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