The book is terrific. I have recommended it often and continue to turn it ‘jacket out’ on every bookstore shelf I see.
I went to a dinner party at a friend’s house recently. It was in an offending suburb; I won’t give the name but the initials are Hinsdale. The women seated across the table from me (assigned seats) asked how my wife and I “GIVE our kids perspective.” She went on to say that they spent so much time trying to make their lives in Hinsdale that they didn’t leave town very often. My first thought was that I don’t rival Dr. Spock for giving child care advice. My second thought was how sad that she believed that even perspective was something a parent should engineer. Ministry and service seem to have been co-opted by the need to “give back”. To me that smacks of, “I’m better than …. so I will gain grace by going to a black tie.” When we remove the hierarchy we can just ‘live’ amongst each other and ‘be’ with each other. We can allow that to take place in Hinsdale as well as other places and the perspective of being connected to one another regardless of (blank) is all the perspective we need, I think.’