I overheard a self-proclaimed progressive declare they were going to give up their US citizenship because we put an American flag on the moon.
They said it was a sign of an American hegemony they couldn’t support.
I heard that and thought about pieces of modern art I have seen and how some people spent time telling others what the piece meant.
“It is a sign of neoliberal classical monstrosities as presented in the classical sense. It has so much depth I can’t take it. It is simply stunning.”
That is intentionally garbled and confusing. I don’t think half of those self-proclaimed experts have  a clue what they are talking about or whether the artist carved the stone in half intentionally or by mistake.
Maybe I am wrong, won’t be the first or last time.
What I am certain of is that we are living during one of the most intolerant times I can think of.
Doesn’t matter what position you take, someone is going to say you are wrong and a bunch of people will declare you the epitome of whatever epithet they think fits that particular moment.
Makes me think I ought to start a career in professional outrage. I’ll get paid to lead marches, coin terms and come up with examples of how society is against the men and women who make balloon animals.
Outraged Parent Bloggers Discover They Have No Power
I stumbled across the words another parent blogger wrote about how they gave up blogging because people don’t do it for the right reasons and rolled my eyes again.
Not just because he is a pompous windbag who needs a double colonoscopy to pull the stick and crap out of his butt but because he flat out lied.
When you quit blogging because you don’t like what you see and don’t need validation you don’t hire a marching band and skywriters to help get attention.
You just hang up your keyboard and walk away.
Relatively few of us actually do that and it almost doesn’t matter because there are legions of bloggers out there who will fill the space you used to occupy.
Many of your readers will move on to other places and spaces and life will go on as if you had never been there.
Kind of disheartening to look at it that way, but that has been what I have seen and if truth is based solely upon individual experiences well…
The joy of having children in middle and high school comes with a price, or several of them I should say.
The financial one can be stiff because that teenage metabolism allows them to eat ridiculous amounts of food in one sitting and then be hungry again.
Not to mention the whole grow out of the clothes/shoes you bought last week thing.
But that is nothing compared to the social crap that comes with it all, you know that pressure to fit in and be a part of it all.
The I Don’t Care Mentality
Had a long conversation this weekend with my daughter about the importance of adopting the I don’t care what other people say or think mentality.
I believe wholeheartedly  in that Lao Tzu quote and shared it with her because I thought it would be useful.
We have been lucky and haven’t had too many run-ins with the mean girls, but we have had a few.
Last week my daughter had the pleasure of bumping into one of the mean girls from the past and discovered she is still…a bitch.
Her mom is too, no surprise there because the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Mom still doesn’t like me, but that is because I called her out in front of all of the parents in school.
Happened a good five years ago, but I don’t put up with bullying and I don’t care if you are the room mom.
That doesn’t really do a good job of giving you all of the details but you don’t really need them and I am not going to waste time trying to explain the who, what, where, when and why of it.
It is done and over and the fact that this lady made a comment to someone about me made me smile. She is still carrying a grudge from all those years ago, that is proof that I won.
The Value Of This Post
Sometimes people ask me to help them determine the value of a post.
Ask me how much this one is worth and I’ll say I don’t know. If you learned or got something important from it you could say it is worth quite a bit.
And if you got nothing from it, well it is not worth all that much is it.
But for me it was worth a lot, it was part of my practice set and is helping me become a better writer.
And it was fun to write, can’t ever discount or put a real value on the importance of having fun while blogging.
That is the key to everything in this business…having fun.
Life is too short to take so damn seriously, now if only I can convince myself to believe that with the with the same intensity as I say it with…
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Kristen Hewitt June 8, 2016 at 3:51 am
I loved this post and that quote is SO TRUE. “What I am certain of is that we are living during one of the most intolerant times I can think of.”
Nowadays we are moving backwards. We have rapists going free, and racists running for the White House. It is a scary time in our country’s history.
Jack Steiner June 8, 2016 at 12:55 pm
It is kind of a scary time, but I figure it is one of many the country has gone through. That is not meant to minimize things, but I do like to try and remember we have been through rough spots before.
Larry June 6, 2016 at 8:06 pm
I say a variation of this often – “Maybe I am wrong, won’t be the first or last time.”
The ending did have elements of holier than thou in it and was a bit hypocritical. Agreed.
Jack Steiner June 6, 2016 at 9:25 pm
Great minds think alike and for what it is worth, the blogger I am referring to quit a number of years ago. As far as I know he doesn’t write any more, but he shows up at the ‘popular spots’ cuz he wants to be one of the cool kids.
Kenya G. Johnson June 6, 2016 at 1:41 pm
Love your last line! People definitely take stuff too seriously when there are some many people who could care less. Like the blogger quitting because he doesn’t like what he sees. Whatever – he was ready to quit anyway. Love the Lao Tzu quote, I’ll have to share it’s significance with my son who is going into middle school. Caring or not to care – it’s about to get real.
Jack Steiner June 6, 2016 at 9:26 pm
Middle school is a whole new world and just when you think you have it, boom they graduate and you get the joy of high school. Good times, most of the time that is. 🙂