empower the good

This week I've read two blog posts in particular that have really resonated with me: you can find them here and here. It's so easy to find degenerate media--it's everywhere and it's in your face. It touts lies as truth and seeks to damage our bodies and spirits. It's real and we need to fight it--we just need to do it in the right way. I especially liked from this thought from the Five blog:

"Because no matter how disgusted you are, sharing dirt just makes things dirty."

Sometimes I feel overwhelmed thinking about all the forces working against me and what I teach my family. How can I possibly win in a world that begets more and more filth? But here's the thing: the good exists. It's there, and actually, there's a lot of it. The good doesn't shove itself up in your face because it wants to be chosen not forced. So if we look for it, we'll find it. And when we find it we need to share it. Let's not waste our efforts on supporting the degenerate forces in our world; rather, let's take our precious time and energy and empower the good. 

We need to teach our children about who they are, because the surest way to a virtuous life is rooted in an understood knowledge of your divine identity. The knowledge that you're a child of God changes everything. Expose your children to strong and moral characters in the media. I want my children to look up to Anne Shirley, Skeeter Phelan, Abilene Clark, and Minny Jackson, Ebenezer Scrooge, Ron Weasley, Mr. Darcy, and Jack Elliot. Yes, the world is full of bad things, but it's also full of good things, and in the end I have to believe that the good will win out because the good is inherently more powerful.

I'll leave you with a few links to some of the good that I've found online:

:: How to Talk to Little Girls

:: How to Talk to Little Boys

:: True Confidence

:: A Secure Anchor

:: O, Alma Mater

:: Good Things to Come

When you flood your world with good, that good will emanate and expand. Empower the good in this world, because it's there and it's waiting.