The Parable of the Sower and the Seed is a basic lesson in key survival skills for the 21st century: Roots, Rituals, Relationships, Realities.

In the so-called 'good old days' wherever and whenever those were public schools used to boast that they taught the '3-Rs' 'reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic all to the tune of a hickory stick.'

In the West Virginia holler from whence my family hails, there were '4-R's' taught reading, 'riting, 'rithmetic and the road to Roanoke (That is the fastest way out of West Virginia!). Apparently, this was the local version of the maxim that a good education can take you anywhere you want to go.

There are another '4-R's' that will get you even further than Roanoke. These 4-R's are the key survival skills of the 21st century: roots, rituals, relationships an…