I have two granddaughters and decided to showcase them today.
Katherine, aka My Girlfriend, will be 18 in September. She was my first grandchild. When Kat was born, her dad was preparing to ship off for Iraq with his National Guard unit. He was still in the States a few hours away but not present for the birth. Luckily, he was granted a few days to come home to meet her, then was off on duty for her first year and a half. I was present for her birth and got to “cut the cord”. She’s the ‘little one’ in my logo and on my site. Her parents-my daughter and son-in-law- are excellent parents. Their girls are into softball, band, and camping/homesteading. My youngest granddaughter, Evelyn, aka Boobles, came 7 years after Kat. Her dad was home for her birth. We are an extremely close family who see each other almost every day and camp together in the summer. Kat just went to a senior prom with her boyfriend who’ll be heading into basic training for the Air Force in July. Evelyn and I see each other every day when I get her aboard and take her off of the school bus. She and I have been writing a children’s book together. I homeschooled both girls during “the pandemic” and will have Evelyn full-time for homeschool in the near future when her teachers no longer are trustworthy ones according to her parents’ assessment. I’m blessed beyond words.
Katherine a couple of years ago.Evelyn at camp last summer.Their family this Spring at camp.My girls and me on Christmas Eve 2022.
When I was a kid, the saying “Sticks and stones will break my bones but names can never hurt me.” was the ‘law’ of Natural Selection. It didn’t matter “why” someone said cruel things, it was our individual choice not to listen to them. That saying served as a powerful response to what is now considered “bullying”. Let’s face it, people sometimes have bad days and have their own problems that they sometimes try to impose on the rest of us. But we aren’t supposed to be required to allow them to.
Young women experience wild mood swings once their hormones start flooding their bloodstreams. It was impressed upon me (and since to my granddaughters) that those feelings are our own to handle. To just release a whirlwind on the world, was/is NOT how we should handle it. That philosophy applies to our entire character. A familiar saying at my house is “deal with it”.
But there’s a strange turnabout in the “individual responsibility” genre these days. We are supposed to ‘guess’ why someone acts out, and after that, we’re supposed to respect, even support, the other person as if their emotional state has priority to your own. First, when did we all become mind readers? Secondly, why are we supposed to take responsibility for everyone else’s ‘feelings’ before our own? Compassion doesn’t require an active response. We can ‘care’ without needing to ‘take care’ of others. By not getting ‘all up’ in their business we likely return them to their own empowerment. If they’re filled with self-pity, it doesn’t seem generous to feed that ‘beast’. There’s a BIG difference between offering a smile, hug, or ‘helping hand’ to someone who’s struggling and bowing to (or enabling) someone else’s destructive behavior. Aren’t we supposed to (allowed to) distinguish between someone in ‘real’ trouble and someone who is ‘playing the victim’? Sorry but IMHO those two kinds of people are not equally deserving of our concern. But somehow, the term ‘hater’ is thrown around when we don’t comply with, or reward, every single complaint.
Seems the patients have taken over the asylum, folks.
Our society is throwing individual responsibility and freedom overboard and replacing it with “group think” and “the collective”. Hope you know that those changes are a direct step toward Marxism. Not good for you and not at all healthy for America.
The ‘adults’ who are left are the ones courageously just saying, “NO”.
Yes, I am angry. I am also disgusted. I’d mind my own business but there’s a concerted effort to ‘infect’ our children with bad ideas. My granddaughters are going to be exposed to them too. They simply can’t go unchallenged any longer. If I hear about “equity” anymore, I may explode. LOL Below is a picture meant to express the ‘marvelous nature’ of “equity”. Let’s examine the messages.
Well, there are three children of different races and sexes in this diagram and an imaginary dotted line. What’s the line mean? I would guess it has something to do with reaching ‘success’. Everything presented in this diagram has a purpose. The white male child is the tallest, the female child is shorter, and the black child is too short to reach the ‘success’ line in the first picture. Oh, I see diplomas in the hands of the “successful”. Could it be the getting of a diploma is a perfect goal? Seems odd that the taller boy can more easily reach the goal when more women are graduating with college degrees these days. Seems repulsively racist that the diagram depicts the black child as needing help to achieve the same goal. I hope they aren’t suggesting black children are not as smart as white kids! Somebody ought to tell Dr. Ben Carson or Barrack Obama about that a.s.a.p. The black child not only seems to need ‘help’, but he’s also depicted as needing the most help. That’s a sorry message, I hope it was not intentional. [wink] So, when it comes to “equality” it seems giving everyone a fair “equal” chance isn’t enough but giving ‘selected people’ according to their ‘appearance’ better unequaled advantages is shown as a ‘good’ thing. Don’t forget…that ‘good’ thing is a diploma. They don’t regard (in this diagram) success as being achievable any other way. That’s okay. They can’t cram all the possible ways we achieve in only one diagram because we know they are endless, right?
Now, let’s look at the heading. “Apply Equity to Women’s Advancement”. I’ve established many reasons that “equity” is condescending and unfair. How might the application of it advance women? What possible measurement does the artist use for “advancement”? I already said more women are getting degrees than men. I can tell you, the women I know without degrees are advancing in there “life goals” nicely too. All motivated people strive to advance themselves toward goals. I surely hope being a devoted mother and/or caregiver or an excellent free-lance writer meets that undefined (but subliminally suggestive) advancement criteria.
I could go on… But I’ll just ask, “What in the world is going on?” WHO are polluting our children’s minds and WHY are they doing this?
Depicting white males as already ‘advanced’ when I’ve seen so many work tirelessly to achieve their goals. Depicting women and blacks as “less-than”. Wow! That’s a stupid and racist message. Depicting ‘advancement’ narrowly as the “buying of a degree” (That’s all it amounts to in most cases.) Depicting that our needs for assistance should be measured by our immutable traits not by our individual situations.
Why don’t we think for a change? Let’s consider who benefits from such messages. Not white males… they’re ‘privileged’, so “you’re on your own guys”. We’ll even let people cut in line before you for jobs. Not females…if they embrace the nonsense in the diagram, they may resent men especially ‘white men’ for having some made-up advantages. Oh yes, and ‘educated’ women resoundingly consider black people as so disadvantaged without them, that they are empowered to “tell them just what they need” because they know better. How condescendingly ‘kind’ are those ‘educated women? Not black children… they’re harmed the most. They can’t (and told they shouldn’t) believe in their own potential when it’s clear they’re going to need a lot of help. Some may not even try with those ‘oppressive’ odds.
The only people who benefit are those who want to expand government and control outcomes. They don’t even use their own money but thinking up ‘equity’ programs while using taxpayer funds (and hiring family members) is their favorite pastime. It makes people appreciate the NEED for them, you know. They (government bureaucrats and Marxist activists) purposefully disrupt our constitutional order of an “equal chance” to “pursue happiness” and sell a divisive message ending with “You need our help. We’re here to help.” because we’re the ‘nice’ guys.
That’s the best description of “authoritarian” control I’ve ever heard. Please “wake-up”. We’re not each other’s adversaries but those suggesting we are, aren’t looking out for you. Beware of the term “equity”, it’s a trick.
I took the image and suggested prompt below and turned it on its head. As my blog’s primary purpose is to offer my views to my granddaughters, my interest is in their futures as truly strong women who believe in themselves. I would fail them if I suggested a vantage point, that I completely disagree with that suggests they should feel aggrieved or behave like entitled ‘victims’ of imaginary forces SO some may be offended. Hey… so be it.
The picture above seeks to capture your heart, On terms now used more often to split us apart. Women are special in their own beautiful design. Their different abilities from men work just fine. Equity tells us we need the same results, It’s our diversity and efforts that term truly insults. Our sizes and shapes don’t need to conform. In Nature uneven potential’s the norm. If you lift up a frog, it won’t learn to fly Because all his value is swimming, that’s why. Our potential is honored by being treated the same, Not by deciding who gets a boost in the game. Equality tries to promote sunny days For everyone hoping to shine their own ways But well-meaning people take an odd pride, Thinking working achievements require a ‘ride’. When fudging one’s gifts or in granting a perk, Equity values no claim to your own work. You’re not entitled to be all the same height. It’s your equalchance to grow that’s your right. The big no-brainer is we aren’t all the same. Embrace your own talents for winning your game. Equity enforces shortcuts chosen for some they enhance. Equality promises you’ll all get a fair chance.
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The most memorable songs that I learned in grade school were about Autumn. I’ve taught my favorite ones to my granddaughters and just this last weekend, a cool breeze accompanied by the sound of migrating geese made us break into song. “Autumn leaves falling and Autumn birds calling. Nippy cool weather for flying South together. Leaves of warm orange and leaves of golden yellow, cover the hillsides with colors soft and mellow.” I cannot find this 1960s children’s song anywhere on the internet. How delightful that I was able to pass it along!
Beyond September Nature will hearten seedlings Topped by tattered leaves
————- As an afterthought, I looked for an old video of my oldest granddaughter singing our song. I found it! She was four in the video… just this month she just turned 17. Follow my Facebook link to hear it. https://www.facebook.com/susan.st.pierre.50/videos/177162813827
The first song that came to mind in line with today’s theme was I Think I Love You by The Partridge Family. Then, when I looked for it, I saw another song that they did that I liked even more. It fit our prompt, so my choice for today is, You Are Always on My Mind by The Partridge Family. (Incidentally, “I Think I Love You” became a far bigger hit.) I really like the chorus in this song. I know that songs mean different things through associations we make with special times or moments but sometimes a song’s notes and chords are personally appealing the first time we hear them. That’s a marvel, just like the taste of food, to each individual.
The Partridge Family was a TV show that ran from 1970 to 1974 which were my own exact high school years. The combining of a TV show with a band producing quality songs made it a hit. I enjoyed it. David Cassidy was a ‘teen heartthrob’ in those years. Another popular singer, Bobby Sherman, was making hits at the same time. Just like Coke or Pepsi, David or Bobby was a ‘thing’. Even though I wasn’t a flaky kind of groupie girl, I let my friends know that I chose ‘team David’ when asked. [As a note for my granddaughters one day, my heart had already been stolen by Guy Williams as Zorro years before.]
Bobby Sherman and David Cassidy
Created by Bernard Slade, the TV series was inspired by and loosely based on The Cowsills, a real singing family in the late sixties. In fact, in its early development the Cowsill children were approached to be featured on the show, though that idea was quickly discarded (The Cowsills rejected the offer when producers wanted to replace their real-life mother Barbara in the cast).
The Cowsills
The show starred Shirley Jones as Mother Shirley Partridge and David Cassidy (Jones’ real-life stepson) as her son Keith. The remaining Partridge children were played by Susan Dey as Laurie, Danny Bonaduce as Danny, Jeremy Gelbwaks (replaced after one year by Brian Forster) as Chris, and Suzanne Crough as Tracy Partridge. Dave Madden played Reuben Kincaid, who was their manager and family friend.
“You Are Always On My Mind”
Wake up in the mornin’ feelin’ all right till I recall You’re gone from my life and I stare like a dummy against the wall Since you’ve been away, oh, yes, I am uptight It’s a fact of my life I guess I’ll try to fight I could be so good for you if I had that right If I had that right
You are always on my mind Have I gotta go through this old life Day after day and find You there on my mind
You are always on my mind Have I gotta go through this old life Day after day and find You there on my mind
I don’t understand you at all but I don’t care Still a lot of good love in our lives for us to share You might think it’s sad, but I’m together now, yeah, you laugh, huh I know it’s true I’m much better now You ought to come on by and see for yourself just how I’m much better now
You are always on my mind Have I gotta go through this old life Day after day and find You there on my mind
You are always on my mind Have I gotta go through this old life Day after day and find You there on my mind [repeat and fade]
Since so many other online writers have blogs dedicated to their writings, I’ve decided to jump onto the bandwagon. All posts published here will be either fiction or poetry, some new, and some previously published on various places on the Internet. Some of my works are conventional, and some are quirky. All fiction posted here, except for fan fiction, will include the letters "rose" somewhere, as a tribute to my Baba.