There is a teenage boy who woke me up many years ago and asked if I had slept with his mother.
It was an innocent question born of having grown accustomed to finding both of his parents asleep in the really big bed and was the definition of innocence.
At the time he had no idea or understanding about how dad had pulled an all nighter trying to finish a project for work and that this is why he found him drooling upon the keyboard.
Dear old dad smiled at his son and tried not to freak about how exhaustion had forced his eyes shut and robbed him of precious work time.
Many years later the situation would be reversed and dear old dad would suggest sleeping in bed as opposed to upon the computer.
“A pillow would be more comfortable.”
The next day dad would have an argument with another parent about what constitutes excessive homework and demand proof that the assignments led to an improvement in critical reasoning and logical thought.
Fallout From A Nasty Election
I have a bad taste in my mouth from this election and it is refusing to leave not because I think Trump is dumber than a broken clock but because of other people.
Because the fallout from a nasty election has led to a loss of compassion and decorum among certain people who used to exhibit it and the lack of civility saddens me.
I am someone who likes and appreciates a good debate and discussion but that seems harder to find.
We have more disputes and disagreements than conversation and that is too bad. More friendships have been killed because of this and more seem to be on the way out.
There seems to be a refusal to listen and or share reasons why we have done as we have chosen to do.
That makes me sad too.
I might vehemently disagree with your choice but sometimes we could find common ground through discussion.
Sometimes we could come to a place where we could civilly agree to disagree feeling that we both made our choices for reasons we could respect.
But respect doesn’t get to play as bigger role and that saddens me too.
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I remember when the other parent told me I was crippling our children by saying they had too much homework and how he was angry when I questioned him.
“There is a point at which repetition is not longer instructive and just becomes busy work. I am not interested in busy work, I want my children to be thinkers.
Fake News
That is another piece of the pre and post election fallout.
If you don’t like the news and believe it shows your side in a bad light you call it fake and expect everyone to nod their head.
It is a way to dismiss discussion and demean those who present information you disagree with.
Without a doubt some news is fake, but not all and we shouldn’t be so quick to label what we dislike, but then again we shouldn’t just like everything either.
Smart people spend time being careful consumers of information.
Time To Go
Got more to say and little time to do it, especially since I am tired enough to fear falling asleep at the computer and this time there is no one to wake me.
That is a temporary situation but the kink in my neck and sore body that would come with falling asleep aren’t so I’ll say good night and see you a little later.
I have to say the title of this post made me a cringe – what? Much more innocent than it seemed at first glance.
I agree with you regarding fallout. It’s time to move forward and hope for the best. People are starting off determined to be angry and dissatisfied. We have to see how things pan out. That doesn’t mean you have to agree and you are certainly entitled to protest if you disagree. Too much tension.
I am not surprised to hear the title made you uncomfortable. Since I knew the story it didn’t initially occur to me that people might wonder about it.
“…careful consumers of information.” Loved this because it’s so true. I just left a household of constant political debate and discussion. Eventually we were beating a dead horse. It was so exhausting. Of course the rain followed me back to Chicago.
That dead horse has a lot of dead relatives all over the place. Kind of sad.
“Dumber than a broken clock.” I love that and it will find its way into a status update or something. I agree. This election has cost me a few friends. Meh. If they didn’t care to have a real discussion about issues, how great of friends were we in the first place? Discussion leads to understanding, and understanding can lead to compromise. Great post as usual.
If we can’t talk about our differences there is no way to bridge the gaps that may exist.