A Veteran's Day Grammar Lesson

Of all the things I need to teach my students, one of the most difficult is clear pronoun-antecedent agreement. For those of you who don't speak 'grammarian', that's the connection between the thing you just talked about and the he, she, or it that replaces that thing later on. When my students write, they are forever rattling off a list of men like Bob, Charles, Tom, and Alex. Then they begin the next sentence with 'he.' I've lost count of the number of times I've written, "which guy?," in the margins of  student essays.

A few days ago, one of my classes was discussing a writing assignment. The thread of conversation carried us around to the topic of homeless veterans, which might have seemed illogical, but you've got to remember that I'm teaching a herd of fifteen-year-olds. One girls said, "That's messed up. They shouldn't let that happen." Her friend chimed in, "Yeah, They need to do something about that."

Of course, my first instinct was to snap back, "And who are they exactly?" I didn't say it though because my next thought was, "Out of the mouths of babes!"

Sometimes my student use an unclear pronoun reference innocently. In their little brains, they think something like, "I know what I mean, so this sentence totally makes sense." However, in this case, I think the situation was a little bit different. When those two young women used 'they,' they were talking about the same ubiquitous 'They' out there who say you shouldn't swim right after you eat or that black cats are bad luck. You know; the Oh What a Shame BUT That Isn't My Problem "They."

Remember -- my students didn't say, "We shouldn't let that happen," or "We need to do something about that." The girls were sitting there genuinely recognizing the injustice in the fact that people who were willing to fight for every American's freedom are now homeless, but they didn't feel empowered to do anything about it.

How have we come to this place? We no longer own our problems in a personal way. We've become a society of victims waiting around for 'them' to fix everything for us. In all fairness, I know that many people are out there every day working for better lives and situations for themselves and others. I'm just concerned about the all-pervasive idea that the only answer to anything is new legislation or a charitable outreach that "someone else" will organize. I feel myself getting sucked into that way of thinking too often.

Thankfully  my church family holds me accountable for other people. I pray for the sick, help provide for the hungry, and encouraged the broken-hearted. Let me be clear -- my one, single, wimpy contribution doesn't really change much, but when what I have to offer gets combined with what others have to give, real change happens.

I believe that God lifts up whatever we offer and multiplies it by combining it with the things others give. I also believe that when this life is over, I won't take anything with me but the relationships I've built. The money I use, the house I live in, and the car I drive will stay here, but the love I've received and given will travel with me to the other side.



Matt Maher's song "Hold Us Together" captures the essence of how I'm feeling today. Love will hold us together.  Paul told the Philippians, "Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others." The really amazing this is that when we all look out for each other, all of us are cared for. That's the abundant life. "They" don't have anything to offer, but we do.