Have you ever been in charge of keeping 30 squirrelly hormone driven High School Students safe, organized and entertained on either a missions trip or retreat for a whole week? Caring for a group of this size will take seven years off of your life. I have been on more than 10 of these weeks, so that means I need to add an additional 70 years to my current 50 years of age. So, you could say, I am an 120 year old man. No wonder I can barely get out of bed in the morning? Each time I spent a week with a group like this it was inevitable that there were a few students that constantly wanted my undivided attention throughout the week. They were the students who always wanted know what we were doing at all times; they often would try to sit next to me on each trip, and then talk the whole time. Quite honestly, they thought the trip was planned exclusively for them. And when you tried to explain to them that you had 29 other teens you needed to spend time with, the needy student would usually pout feeling like you didn’t really care about their wants and needs. If you were not careful, one singular selfish teen could make your whole trip miserable, especially if they kept demanding you meet their needs. I call this the “Tyranny of the One.” One person who feels hurt, misunderstood, or insecure could quite literally ruin a whole trip for everyone else. I will never forget on one trip to Las Vegas where we almost lost a student because they felt unwanted and started walking the streets alone, while the whole rest of the group had to go out on the streets to look for them. I bring this up because as a country many of our current new laws and policies are being held hostage by the “Tyranny of the One.” Yesterday I read a report by the group Public Advocate, a pro-family and traditional marriage non-profit group, which made this argument: “On May 13, 2016, the Department of Education (“DOE”) and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued what they called a “guidance letter” to every one of the nation’s public schools. . . either schools let students use whatever bathroom and locker room they wish, according to how they feel about their “gender” on a given day, or the schools will lose their federal funding. “On their official blogs, the DOE and DOJ alleged that the reason for this change was because of requests received from “a growing chorus of educators, parents, and students around the country about the need for guidance on how schools can successfully support transgender students and non-transgender students in compliance with federal civil rights laws. “On September 12, 2016, DOE sent the Public Advocate 424 pages of documents in response to our FOIA request. And that’s when things got interesting. “We read through the documents and found that there was no “growing chorus” of Americans asking DOE for transgender bathroom desegregation. In fact, if there was any “growing chorus” to be found, it was on the other side of the issue — those asking DOE not to allow bathroom “flexibility”… the DOE received only six letters from individuals who requested transgendered bathrooms. Meanwhile, DOE received 42 letters from individuals specifically asking DOE not to give in to transgender bathroom demands…In addition to individual letters, DOE received 27 pre-written “form letters” in favor of bathroom desegregation, but it received at least 4,101 petitions asking DOE not to desegregate school bathrooms! That’s 157 times more people opposed to the idea than in favor of it!...Additionally, DOE received a handful of letters from pro-homosexual/transgender lobbying groups — all special interest groups — much different from the individual “educators, parents, and students,” as DOE had claimed.” Do you see how the “Tyranny of the One” works? If a small group feels offended or not taken care of, the government will use that small minority to jump in as the “Hero of the Oppressed” in order to gain more control over the majority. Are they really being oppressed or is it another tactic used by lobbying groups to dictate their demands to the majority of Americans? The “Tyranny of the One” is slowly eroding what was meant to be the “government of the people, by the people, for the people." Even Cleveland's favorite Chief Wahoo is being used as bait by “Tyranny of the One.” One article writes, “Hundreds of Native American activists staged their protest as the game was played out on Tuesday at the Progressive Field baseball park - the first of seven matches between the rivals and the first World Series game for the Cleveland Indians in two decades.” Hundreds was really about 25 people holding up signs for media attention, while thousands of regular fans filed past to cheer on their beloved Cleveland Indians play. I always wondered why the word “Indians” is a seen as a slam when fans choose a mascot to rally around and cheer on? I thought a mascot was meant to be a compliment and not an insult? Unless of course if you are a lion living in the jungles, I would demand reparations from the city of Detroit for how much they tarnished the poor animal's reputation! The irony of “Tyranny of the One” is that it has the potential to ruin all of us. If just one person is offended, everyone must be held hostage. I think that is why I quit leading youth trips - - someone was always upset with me. But not anymore! I am the pastor of big people's church and you don't ever have to deal with adults wanting special treatment, do you? (And if you believe that last statement I have cheap real estate to sell you!)
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