Lightbulb Moments

I love homeschooling my kids, especially at times when I see a flash of something like sun's dazzling rays slicing through the clouds. These times are never pre-planned. They just happen in the course of a discussion.

This morning we were reading in Leviticus the law against priests touching dead bodies. I cross-referenced it to the New Testament parable of the Good Samaritan. And we began discussing why the priest avoided the wounded man--he was merely trying to follow God's rules. It seemed like a reasonable thing to do, but why do we come down hard on him, or should we? Here, Chee-Chee, my dyslexic child, made an awesome observation. He said, "Rules are made for people, not the other way around." I was floored by his understanding. This is the key point of what Jesus tried to convey to the Pharisees (e.g., "Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath.) Here, a nine-year-old got what Jesus tried to say, but the Pharisees totally missed the point.

Chee-Chee often surprises me like that. Just last night, as I read the Iliad to him, he commented that the Greeks must have been pretty sad because their view of afterlife was so grim. I agreed that for the Greeks, the living, the here and now, was where the bright spot existed, there was nothing to look forward to after death. He continued, "Then why did the Spartans choose to live their spartan ways? Wouldn't it be better to enjoy life while you have it?" I was so impressed by his deduction it took me a while to come up with an answer. Inside, I was thinking, "Oh my, I've got a thoughtful child here!" He may have trouble spelling or writing out his alphabets, but he certainly can think!

Poly took our morning discussion to a whole different level. What if the priest had something more pressing and important to do, and by helping the wounded man, he would delay--or worse, jeopardize his task? What if the task he was about to perform involved the welfare of a whole lot more people?

By now, we had drifted very far from our initial task, which was to read a chapter of the Bible and conclude by praying. However, I sensed an important discovery coming on. Is it okay to overlook the need of one man for the sake of the masses? Can we justify, for the sake of argument, killing one innocent life to bring about world peace? Can the ends really justify the means? Can we really attach importance to number when it comes to human lives? Should we kill one thousand in order to save one million? Does math really work when it comes to determining ethics? Our conclusion was a unanimous "No".

It felt like a big moment. Something big was happening in our living room. At times like these, I feel so priviledged to be homeschooling my children, to be their guide as they sort through life's big and small problems. Sure, we still have to slog through our arthmetic and spelling after half-an-hour's "digression". Even so, I'm willing to take on weeks of slogging for five minutes of clarity, understanding, and discovery--our lightbulb moments. It makes everything worthwhile.