There are very few knowns in the Animal Kingdom. One of them is that animals breed. Humans are animals. Humans breed. I am always amazed at how many Americans have fallen into this weird trap of Child Worship. Like birthing a child is some kind a unique thing that only certain human females can do. It drives me nuts.
I a firm believer in too much of anything is bad for you. So when applied to this situation, even keel parenting is the best. If you are going to pop out a child, you better be financially and emotionally prepared to take care of it. Your life will not be about you anymore. But that does not mean that the world should stop for this thing you have (or your lady friend/surrogate has) pushed from her vagina.
The slippery slope to child worship is Facebook. Not all of these pet peeves leads to child worship, but some of these things could be classic signs. And they drive me nuts. So I have contemplated living my life on facebook like some of the parents. I sometimes like to label them on twitter with the hashtag #ParentsBehavingBadly. Here is a list of what I am thinking of doing:
1). Excessive Birthday Parties/Showers with outrageous gift registries. Have you seen this yet? A child is turning two. This snot nosed rug rat will not even remember this birthday and the parents are throwing not only lavish, thousands of dollars parties, but then they have a gift registry!!?? They seem annoyed if you decline and very upset if you don't bring a gift from the registry. The cheapest gifts are like $100!!! I don't have that kinda dough. It reminds me of the Sex in the City episode with the psycho mom friend where Carrie ends up having to marry herself to recoup her stolen shoes:
A Woman's Right to Shoes
I would of course only throw this kind of party once. And even though my registry would be hugely expensive, I never had any presents for my birthday growing up, so I must make up for lost time!Be prepared to open up your pocket books!
2). Belly Shots. Women who know me. Do you want to see photos of my large belly on facebook? Does the mention of this repulse you? That is how I feel when you show off your pregnant belly. It is the same thing. The world does not want to see your belly. Or your hand over your cooch and breats. I am at the end of my rope with belly shots. The next lady who is preggers who posts a belly shot, I am so tempted to take one of myself and post it on her wall. It won't be as fun when my Metabolic Syndrome is treated, but right now it will be epically awful.
3). The Stay at Home Mom "Boo Hoo It's Monday" ~ Stay at home mom's..don't get your panties in a bunch because my anger for your comments on facebook complaining it is Monday is out of this world; I almost can not handle it. I want to break the neck of every stay at home mom who whines about it being Monday. You have No Mondays. Since I have finally brought up the furry I feel about this subject, I will blog about it later, but everyday is a Wednesday for you. Everyday is a Friday for you. You have no boss you have to report to. And no, your child/children are not the boss. If you say they are, you are doing it all wrong and need to give your children up for adoption. I am not sure I have an equivalent facebook post to this. The only thing I can come up with is posting that I hate that it is Friday. Or maybe that I love Mondays because I get to be with children. hmmmm. I think I will do that as a comment under this ridiculous post.
4). Sick/mangled friends. Why has there been a rash of parents posting photos and stories of their friends' kids who have been in horrific car accidents and look all mangled and beat up and bloody and then ask for money? I know I am guilty of asking for money for not-for-profits, but this is over the top. I am going to start posting graphic/gruesome pics and ask for money.
5). The 'age sign' in photo. First. Parents. Follow this simple rule. When a child is 1-11 months, you can say months. Once a child hits 12 months, you say 1 year. Got it? Every time a parent says, "Oh he is 14 months!" I want to punch him/her in the face. 1 year. 1 year. Get it right. The newest trend on Facebook is to post a picture of a child with a sign that says how many weeks/months/years the kid is. I can start doing this too. In fact, I am three days away from being 404 months old. How cool is that!! :-)
Join in with me and fight the absurdity of these parents. Because even if they are not child worshiping, they are jumping on a silly band wagon that needs to be stopped. Like Lynnwood hair or Ballard drivers.
THIC
Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Americans = Gatsby = Lying to Yourself?
I have always been intrigued by F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby. Many people label it the novel that shows the great American Dream. I actually call it the anti-American Dream novel. Or a novel that shows when the American dream has gone bad or goes a muck. If you have never read the novel, skimmed it, or only sort of read it once in high school and you are now at least in your mid 20's, I would suggest going back and reading it again. I think it will enlighten you.
Gatsby is a character that transcends all decades of American history. Why? Here is a man that was not satisfied with his situation at a very young age. Not unlike myself as a child. But instead of working honorably and hard to rise above his situation, he proceeded to create a fictitious Hollywood like hologram of himself. Very two dimensional in attributes and character. Some of this has to do with what he thinks he should be (versus what he wants to be) and what he thinks Daisy wants him to be. And of course he thinks he loves Daisy. And he never falters from that course even when he should have and maybe does recognize that he should re-evaluate his motivations. In essence, for whatever reason, he made some decisions as a 17 year old young man, and continued to "be constant as the northern star" to quote some good old Shakespeare (that is from Julius Caesar right before he gets stabbed to death in case you forgot). He lives his life as a complete lie. And my argument today (or should I say claim now because common core says I should use claim?) is that a majority of Americans are as stubborn as Gatsby and end up living most of their lives in spheres of facades trying to convince themselves that they are really trying to live for what they should be wanting instead of what they really like and dislike.
First, my simple Gatsby example. His extravagant parties. Notice how he doesn't really enjoy his parties. He doesn't drink, doesn't dance, doesn't even mingle among the guests. He throws these parties to try and attract Daisy because he thinks it is what she would like. He thinks it is what he is supposed to do and not what he really wants to do. Even having the goal of winning Daisy seems quite silly. She is married. That is like trying to buy a house that is not for sale. There are just some things you can not have. He needed to move on. But he lives his life in a lie and thinks he needs to win her back and thinks he knows what he needs to do and that will make him happy. And he is going to prove it to himself and the world. It doesn't make him happy. And we see such a loss in a human being.
How does this apply to the modern American? Oh, I see it every day. People's professions, child rearing, having children, where to live, clothes to buy, churched or unchurched, etc. Here is a great example from my science center days. I worked with a lot of folks who were just starting college and still living at home. They would complain and complain on end about the classes they had to take or their majors they were in. I had this one girl who hated living at home. I told her to move into the dorms. She was over 18 and she needed to be an adult. She wanted to, but her parents would stop paying for college. I told her fine! She was an adult, she had a job, she could get financial aid, and she could live on her own. But she did not do this because it would be hard. So I told her I did not want to hear her complaining anymore and cut her off anytime she started to complain about her living situation.
Same goes for field of study. One boy wanted to study one thing, but his parents would only pay for college if he became computer scientist. Instead of being true to himself (which indeed would have been a tad more difficult) he whined and complained, but did nothing to change his circumstance. So he got his computer science degree. I wonder how long he was going to work in that field... unhappy.
I always get grumpy around the holidays when people complain about having to visit their relatives. Why do you visit your relatives on holidays if you hate them so much? But their fammmmmmily is the common response I always hear. Who cares. You feel that you must do like Gatsby. There is some cosmic thing out there that says you have to be with relatives and family on holidays even if you hate it and they treat you bad, or it is just plain awful. Only being with people I enjoy on holidays has made my life so much better. I never feel uncomfortable and I have a super time. Why would you force yourself to do unpleasant things when you don't really have to. You are lying to yourself.
There are some people I have been very proud of that have been able to break the Gatsby mold. And in a very interesting way. And it goes against societal norms. I have known three people who were very insistent that they were going to be stay-at-home moms. They thought it was the right thing to do and the most healthy for their child, yada yada yada. They seemed to really really believe that. Baby comes along. And once they were in the 24/7 in your face, little to no adult stimulation/contact and no real work (not to say they don't have a job), these women had to face their truths and made a decision to go back to work for their health and happiness. One did it part time and the other two did it full time. This was not easy for them and was very hard. They had to face people who thought they were making selfish and bad choices. There was shame because what they thought was going to be the truth, turned out to be disaster. Now, when they realized that staying at home was not as fulfilling as they thought it would be, they could have stuck it out. Pretended all was rainbows and unicorns, but they would have been lying to themselves. How healthy is that to a child?
We live in a society where when new information is given or new experiences happen to go and re-evaluate and change your mind and do something different is considered wrong. We are a stay-the-course society. Which means we have a society of liars. So many folks are wishy washy because they truly don't know what they want. They only know what they think they want. They are trying to live to an ideal which really means they are living in a facade. I can only imagine how confusing and frustrating a life like that must be.
Gatsby is a character that transcends all decades of American history. Why? Here is a man that was not satisfied with his situation at a very young age. Not unlike myself as a child. But instead of working honorably and hard to rise above his situation, he proceeded to create a fictitious Hollywood like hologram of himself. Very two dimensional in attributes and character. Some of this has to do with what he thinks he should be (versus what he wants to be) and what he thinks Daisy wants him to be. And of course he thinks he loves Daisy. And he never falters from that course even when he should have and maybe does recognize that he should re-evaluate his motivations. In essence, for whatever reason, he made some decisions as a 17 year old young man, and continued to "be constant as the northern star" to quote some good old Shakespeare (that is from Julius Caesar right before he gets stabbed to death in case you forgot). He lives his life as a complete lie. And my argument today (or should I say claim now because common core says I should use claim?) is that a majority of Americans are as stubborn as Gatsby and end up living most of their lives in spheres of facades trying to convince themselves that they are really trying to live for what they should be wanting instead of what they really like and dislike.
First, my simple Gatsby example. His extravagant parties. Notice how he doesn't really enjoy his parties. He doesn't drink, doesn't dance, doesn't even mingle among the guests. He throws these parties to try and attract Daisy because he thinks it is what she would like. He thinks it is what he is supposed to do and not what he really wants to do. Even having the goal of winning Daisy seems quite silly. She is married. That is like trying to buy a house that is not for sale. There are just some things you can not have. He needed to move on. But he lives his life in a lie and thinks he needs to win her back and thinks he knows what he needs to do and that will make him happy. And he is going to prove it to himself and the world. It doesn't make him happy. And we see such a loss in a human being.
How does this apply to the modern American? Oh, I see it every day. People's professions, child rearing, having children, where to live, clothes to buy, churched or unchurched, etc. Here is a great example from my science center days. I worked with a lot of folks who were just starting college and still living at home. They would complain and complain on end about the classes they had to take or their majors they were in. I had this one girl who hated living at home. I told her to move into the dorms. She was over 18 and she needed to be an adult. She wanted to, but her parents would stop paying for college. I told her fine! She was an adult, she had a job, she could get financial aid, and she could live on her own. But she did not do this because it would be hard. So I told her I did not want to hear her complaining anymore and cut her off anytime she started to complain about her living situation.
Same goes for field of study. One boy wanted to study one thing, but his parents would only pay for college if he became computer scientist. Instead of being true to himself (which indeed would have been a tad more difficult) he whined and complained, but did nothing to change his circumstance. So he got his computer science degree. I wonder how long he was going to work in that field... unhappy.
I always get grumpy around the holidays when people complain about having to visit their relatives. Why do you visit your relatives on holidays if you hate them so much? But their fammmmmmily is the common response I always hear. Who cares. You feel that you must do like Gatsby. There is some cosmic thing out there that says you have to be with relatives and family on holidays even if you hate it and they treat you bad, or it is just plain awful. Only being with people I enjoy on holidays has made my life so much better. I never feel uncomfortable and I have a super time. Why would you force yourself to do unpleasant things when you don't really have to. You are lying to yourself.
There are some people I have been very proud of that have been able to break the Gatsby mold. And in a very interesting way. And it goes against societal norms. I have known three people who were very insistent that they were going to be stay-at-home moms. They thought it was the right thing to do and the most healthy for their child, yada yada yada. They seemed to really really believe that. Baby comes along. And once they were in the 24/7 in your face, little to no adult stimulation/contact and no real work (not to say they don't have a job), these women had to face their truths and made a decision to go back to work for their health and happiness. One did it part time and the other two did it full time. This was not easy for them and was very hard. They had to face people who thought they were making selfish and bad choices. There was shame because what they thought was going to be the truth, turned out to be disaster. Now, when they realized that staying at home was not as fulfilling as they thought it would be, they could have stuck it out. Pretended all was rainbows and unicorns, but they would have been lying to themselves. How healthy is that to a child?
We live in a society where when new information is given or new experiences happen to go and re-evaluate and change your mind and do something different is considered wrong. We are a stay-the-course society. Which means we have a society of liars. So many folks are wishy washy because they truly don't know what they want. They only know what they think they want. They are trying to live to an ideal which really means they are living in a facade. I can only imagine how confusing and frustrating a life like that must be.
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