Observations©

By Donald S. Conkey

Date: April 29, 2010 – 1018 - Title: Master teachers plant seeds of liberty (4091)

Joan and I had just returned from our square foot garden, with a spring onion in hand, when I noticed Tribune reporter Kristal Dixon’s inspiring story about Jean Jackson’s Carmel Corners classes. Kristal’s story brought back fond memories of my father who taught in a way that excited his students as much as Jean Jackson excites her students today. Master teachers excite their students. And they plant seeds that inspire their students to excel in life by teaching them correct principles to govern their lives.  

Dad’s “teaching tool” was his squad system. His squad was made up of seven students, each expert in a different discipline. Dad would give he squad an assignment and they would work together to complete the assignment, each inputting with their own expertise. Their grade was based on their cooperative input. Dad often told of watching his students measuring the height of a living tree using the geometry skills of the math expert. Dad helped each student learn the basics of several disciplines by teaching one another. Dad’s influence, like the influence of Jean Jackson, lives on in the lives of the students. 

While sitting in the sun, watching our garden grow, we watched the seeds push up through the soil. The birth of these few seeds was fascinating to watch and it caused me think of just how similar the birth of America was to the birth of my garden seeds.

As we watched these natural seed laws in action I pondered the Lord’s parable of the sower. I firmly believe the Lord’s sower was sowing seeds of freedom and liberty. The seeds he sowed where tyranny reigned, along the by-way and among the rocks and thorns spouted but quickly died or was choked out by the oppressors of freedom – the kings and dictators of the world. But when the Lord sowed his seeds of freedom in good soil, in the hearts of America’s Founding Fathers, they sprouted and brought forth the intended fruits of freedom and liberty – political independence, economic freedom and the free use of personal agency. These seeds, planted in good soil and warmed and nourished by the “Son” caused the seeds to sprout and to send down roots deep into the hearts of the Colonists. As the roots nourished the seeds they were able to push its stem up amongst the thorns of tyranny the Founders were then living under.

The first leaf to appear on America’s newly planted seed of freedom was America’s Declaration of Independence. It appeared in 1776. This first leaf, now being nourished by the “Son,” provided the energy necessary to let the seed’s second leaf to come forth in 1787: America’s Constitution. As this small tree of freedom continued to grow three Founders felt this little tree (the Constitution) of freedom was lacking something; the written guarantees of God’s statutes of liberty they had found in their Bibles.  With the help of other Founders they then grafted tree with the written guarantees they felt were needed. And they did. In 1791 these written guarantees were grafted to the tree as ten amendments - America’s Bill of Rights. Since 1791 seventeen additional grafts have been grafted onto this now beautiful tree of liberty.

As this tree of freedom in America’s Garden of Liberty continued to grow its branches began to spread and soon America’s tree of freedom was providing the cooling rays of freedom for the world’s enslaved for people of all nationalities and cultures around the world. Then the tree began to blossom, with the blossoms of freedom seldom ever seen by mankind, they were pollinated by the spirit of freedom in the hearts of the Colonists and the fruits of freedom: political independence, economic freedom and the use of personal initiative soon brought hope to the worlds enslaved.  

These fruits of freedoms could not be hidden from the world. Soon those in bondage wanted to taste of these fruits and America began to grow. Under the branches of this freedom tree many of the world’s ills began to be healed with the soothing balm of freedom and with only five percent of the world’s population America had created a standard of living envied by the world.  

But like all gardens America’s Garden of Liberty must be continuously weeded or the thorns of Progressive tyranny will take over and sap the energy from America’s tree of freedom. This little seed of freedom sowed in 1776 grew into a beautiful tree and became ‘the shining light on the hill.’ And the Founders literally became America’s master teachers by ‘declaring liberty throughout the land’ - since 1791.