...a lot of recent events would never have happened.
No children fleeing Syria would be hungry, without parents, kept from education, or suffer from anxiety, insomnia, or nightmares.
No country would presume the right to take over another sovereign country just because.
No crazed gunman would attend a movie and then create mayhem.
No drugs would make their way into homes and school yards, street corners and alleys.
No children of five or six would be grabbed off the street and sold into slavery.
No loved ones would show up at an airport to welcome a family member only to be told the plane has vanished.
No child of promise would be told that money, race, religion, sexual preference, or parentage, kept them from educational or job opportunities.
No one would have to explain away yet another blackened eye or bruised jaw.
No one would every be told that their health care coverage did not cover a treatment that would save a loved one's life.
No child would have to wonder if they will have a place to sleep at night, or a home to return to after school.
No mother would have to muster the last of her energy to shoo flies away from her child's eyes, nose, mouth.
...and on and on and on.
BUT, that's not the reality of life on this spinning globe.
Unfortunately, these examples are the reality of OTHERS, not my reality. Because I am not directly effected by any of the above negative events, it is easy for me to flip the channel to a more positive story, put down the newspaper or turn to the comics, and keep my iPhone showing Angry Birds and not the global news apps. In my world, a simple switch can keep me from seeing the world as it really is. What this does, I have come to believe, is that it makes those dire events of my own life not only front and center, but huge and overwhelming.
Like...
...another week of below zero temperatures.
...a clothes dryer that has stopped emitting heat.
...a swimming pool in the backyard that needs repair.
...a dirty car or empty gas tank.
...a friend's slight.
...a day when allergies flare up.
...an evening with two more robo-calls letting Shawn know that he can delay paying his student loans with no penalties.
We can choose to see the BIG picture which at the very least should make us a little less bitchy about our own little problems, or we can continue to see the big picture in our own little worlds, thus isolating ourselves from the larger human community.
The question each must answer is how to acknowledge the realities of life without becoming overwhelmed, frozen with inactivity, or a cloistered nun.
IDK!
Friday, March 14, 2014
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Janitor with a Gun
Last week a local middle school needed some work done on some system or another and called in a specialty repair/cleaning crew.
While working on the system in the area of the custodians' office they had reason to move out the computer keyboard. Behind the keyboard they found a handgun.
They immediately reported the find to their supervisor who advised the school authorities who called the higher-ups at the school corporate offices who immediately met with the custodian.
The janitor told the administrators that he had inadvertently driven to work with the gun in his truck. When he realized that he had the gun, he brought it into the school and hid it for the day intending to remove it and take it back home that evening. He is fully licensed to carry the weapon and was certified in gun safety.
This is where the story gets very interesting....
The custodian immediately resigned his position saying he knows that parents and school officials will have a hard time trusting him in the future to be around students.
Read that last sentence again.
Instead of trying to justify his actions, instead of claiming that he did nothing wrong, instead of insisting he is a victim of vindictive school personnel,instead of suing the school system for harassment or unlawful termination, he resigned.
Just like that.
Regardless of what you believe about gun-control laws, or how you feel about a person who has a weapon yet apparently doesn't keep track of it all that well, I think the message here is one we should all learn.
When you make a mistake, own up to it.
When you make a mistake, think about the impact that mistake will have on others.
When you make a mistake, quickly make every effort to 'make it right.'
I like this guy. And in a world made up of millions of folks with no moral compass, I applaud him.
And that's what I think about it.
While working on the system in the area of the custodians' office they had reason to move out the computer keyboard. Behind the keyboard they found a handgun.
They immediately reported the find to their supervisor who advised the school authorities who called the higher-ups at the school corporate offices who immediately met with the custodian.
The janitor told the administrators that he had inadvertently driven to work with the gun in his truck. When he realized that he had the gun, he brought it into the school and hid it for the day intending to remove it and take it back home that evening. He is fully licensed to carry the weapon and was certified in gun safety.
This is where the story gets very interesting....
The custodian immediately resigned his position saying he knows that parents and school officials will have a hard time trusting him in the future to be around students.
Read that last sentence again.
Instead of trying to justify his actions, instead of claiming that he did nothing wrong, instead of insisting he is a victim of vindictive school personnel,instead of suing the school system for harassment or unlawful termination, he resigned.
Just like that.
Regardless of what you believe about gun-control laws, or how you feel about a person who has a weapon yet apparently doesn't keep track of it all that well, I think the message here is one we should all learn.
When you make a mistake, own up to it.
When you make a mistake, think about the impact that mistake will have on others.
When you make a mistake, quickly make every effort to 'make it right.'
I like this guy. And in a world made up of millions of folks with no moral compass, I applaud him.
And that's what I think about it.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Randomness - Bits and Pieces of Life
"Move to Indiana," the kids said. "We have mild winters," they said. The weekend we moved the area got hit with 19 inches of snow...with only three road scrapers in the county. That was ten years ago. Last week the temperatures dipped to -7 degrees, with a windchill of -14. Granted it was cold all over the country but it did bring back memories of their words that lured us to southern Indiana.
The lure was the family but I like to 'awful-ize.'
------------------------
Kat Karson now knows four tricks. He can High Five, Lay Down, Jump Up, and Get His Own Treat from the can of treats on command. Jim has promised that if I can teach him to roll over he (Jim) will reward me with a trip around the world. I am working hard on this ultimate goal.
-------------------------
The grandchildren have scattered. It wasn't that long ago that they were a gaggle of little girls, dressed alike with huge hair bows who linked arms and hands and went everywhere together. The oldest has a college degree, a job, and apartment, and a boyfriend. The next has has a college degree, a job, an apartment, and a husband. The next is starting her second semester at Indiana University. Her twin has an job, an apartment, a boyfriend, and a new course of study in Indianapolis. Their grandmother has a photo prominently displayed of four little girls in white dresses with pink sashes and huge hair bows sitting touching shoulders, smiling at the camera, oblivious of the grand adventure that awaited them in life.
--------------------------
I am wondering how it will appear to people if Jim and I return this year to London for the express purpose of touring Highclare (setting of Downton Abbey)? I am further wondering why I care how it appears to other people.
---------------------------
One evening Jim was at a meeting, there was nothing on TV worth watching and I decided to organize my scarves. By color and by season, and with time on my hand, I began counting and stopped at 150. Is this considered hoarding?
--------------------------
And that's what I think about it.
The lure was the family but I like to 'awful-ize.'
------------------------
Kat Karson now knows four tricks. He can High Five, Lay Down, Jump Up, and Get His Own Treat from the can of treats on command. Jim has promised that if I can teach him to roll over he (Jim) will reward me with a trip around the world. I am working hard on this ultimate goal.
-------------------------
The grandchildren have scattered. It wasn't that long ago that they were a gaggle of little girls, dressed alike with huge hair bows who linked arms and hands and went everywhere together. The oldest has a college degree, a job, and apartment, and a boyfriend. The next has has a college degree, a job, an apartment, and a husband. The next is starting her second semester at Indiana University. Her twin has an job, an apartment, a boyfriend, and a new course of study in Indianapolis. Their grandmother has a photo prominently displayed of four little girls in white dresses with pink sashes and huge hair bows sitting touching shoulders, smiling at the camera, oblivious of the grand adventure that awaited them in life.
--------------------------
I am wondering how it will appear to people if Jim and I return this year to London for the express purpose of touring Highclare (setting of Downton Abbey)? I am further wondering why I care how it appears to other people.
---------------------------
One evening Jim was at a meeting, there was nothing on TV worth watching and I decided to organize my scarves. By color and by season, and with time on my hand, I began counting and stopped at 150. Is this considered hoarding?
--------------------------
And that's what I think about it.
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Memories of Christmas Past
Many, if not most, parents think back over their years of raising children and can pin-point those exact moments and events that would make Dr. Spock and James Dobson call the authorities...or at least add a chapter to their next parenting book titled "Don't Parent This Way".
Memories of these poor examples of parenting continue to romp through adult minds unbidden creating moms and dads who wish for the Do-Over genie to appear and wipe away words and actions that were momentary but which live in infamy in the heart of the parent.
Things said, actions taken, over-reactions, the list could continue. One wonders whether the child remembers and was influenced by these events with as much strength as the parent. A parent wonders just what a child remembers of their childhood.
And so it was with a small tear and a great deal of gratefulness for forgetting and grace that my daughter posted the following on Facebook.
"When Lola and I were little we lived with our mom in a small apartment. Every year at Christmas time she would create a fireplace on the wall; brick patterned corrugated cardboard, cotton for snow, tissue paper for fire, and hang our stockings from it. Thank you for giving us Christmas magic, mom:)"
Merry Christmas to all who read this. May your memories be filled with joyous moments and your present be blanketed with grace and forgiveness. That is is message of Christmas...to all people....always.
Memories of these poor examples of parenting continue to romp through adult minds unbidden creating moms and dads who wish for the Do-Over genie to appear and wipe away words and actions that were momentary but which live in infamy in the heart of the parent.
Things said, actions taken, over-reactions, the list could continue. One wonders whether the child remembers and was influenced by these events with as much strength as the parent. A parent wonders just what a child remembers of their childhood.
And so it was with a small tear and a great deal of gratefulness for forgetting and grace that my daughter posted the following on Facebook.
"When Lola and I were little we lived with our mom in a small apartment. Every year at Christmas time she would create a fireplace on the wall; brick patterned corrugated cardboard, cotton for snow, tissue paper for fire, and hang our stockings from it. Thank you for giving us Christmas magic, mom:)"
Merry Christmas to all who read this. May your memories be filled with joyous moments and your present be blanketed with grace and forgiveness. That is is message of Christmas...to all people....always.
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