to that which we are loyal

my general perspective is that everyone is loyal to something. for the most of us, we encounter someone's loyalty when we find someone stubborn. i tend to have a great deal of respect for those folks i find stubborn. i did not say i liked it...i am not always that patient or understanding...until i realize that person who irritates me with what i believe is stubbornness is actually a person with an incredible amount of loyalty. i struggle with finding that to which they are loyal...and therefore find them stubborn. but when i find that to which they are loyal, i am filled with awe, and that leads to respect. obama and mccain have opposing loyalties...so did obama and hillary. does does bush and much of the questioning public. bin ladin is an incredibly loyal man. those of the islamic faith are incredibly loyal. i can't quite get there...not sure i want to go in that direction with my spirit and life focus (and i believe this nation of ours will, within 20 years, be islamic by majority)...yet i am incredibly impressed by the energy that is expended toward that with which they believe. my wife and i were somewhat surprised by all the people...in two separate line-ups...waiting to get their new iphone at the local mall. for people to line up in one wing of the mall, just to be able to get into a second line in another section of the mall, just to be next in line to enter the section of the apple store to purchase an iphone (all the while chatting on their verizon and motorola and att phones while in line)...that is a level of loyalty in which i can find respect. my superiors would call those folks stupid. i would contend opposing loyalties...and a bit of connective ignorance

merge

traveling to work via the expressway requires me to merge from u.s.45 southbound to i-94 westbound. this occurs at the zoo interchange. generally this is an easy process. when traffic is heavier it can be more of a challenge. today the traffic was heavier. the ramp lane ends by merging into the right-most westbound lane. you have to merge or else run the shoulder. there are no other options. today, i encountered yet another instance in which someone finds it unnecessary to allow a driver to merge. for some reason it is more important for the driver in the right-most lane to prevent a merge. the result is an incredible amount of head-turning to find a way to merge, as well as the need to slow down in the merge lane, which causes folks behind trying also to merge to also have to slow down.

to the gentleman driving the gray p.t. cruiser with the orange sticker on the left side of the rear window...the driver with the driver's side window down...the driver with is arm out the window opening...a cigarette between the thumb and index finger...yes, you...dude, you are curious sort, perhaps either a bit silly or with a bone to pick with the world or perhaps with a major bee up your anal cavity...what's the beef? it's not like you are winning a race...i still passed you 2.6 miles later...i remained smiling though i have to admit, being impeccable, i pondered what it would be like to pull in front of your vehicle and slow to a 45 mph crawl (within legal limits on the expressway)...but opted not to do so for want of a desire to not perhaps stoop to a level of intelligence that may be equal to the depressed and bored two-toed sloth that grows moss on it's fur particularly when held in captivity.

actually, to you, fine sir, i hope you are blogging about the drivers you challenged today. i hope you are cogitating upon your need to exert your inalienable rights to be you. i salute your humanness...and doing so i salute that part of me that understands your need to be loyal to a set of values that others find stubborn.

give it to the children

i read an article that purports children are getting expelled from preschools at a rate higher than teens are getting expelled from high school. the article did not claim, though hinted, that the problem seems to stem from attention deficit disorder.

i am on record that the true meaning of attention deficit is a person having too little attention from predictable and stable and non-confusing people...mostly parents...in their lives. the rise in the diagnosis of 'attention deficit w/without hyperactivity disorder is both a sign of the behavioral health profession once again jumping on the 'make a buck' scene, and also a sign of parents who are too busy with the other aspects of their lives at the expense of time with their children. i dare say that modern american parents spend more time in the following non-work activities than they do spending time with their children: watching t.v., engaging in physical self-care programs.

children don't get enough attention from the people best suited to caring for their needs...their families. while i believe most day-care settings are helpful...good attentive staff, enabling parents to balance needs and life in a costly world...i also believe day-care settings are first and foremost a resource for parents (not the child) and, in a close second, a business. thus stated, day-cares don't provide care for children at a commensurate rate in which they meet the needs of the parents; the child while helped, is the secondary recipient. further, children are not a business...they are lives. life is not a business....life is primary.

children in modern american society are more like commodities. if that contention is indeed true, such a sad state of united americans.

now, if i am a child spending 6 - hours in a day-care setting, starting at an age of a few weeks and even if starting at age 3, i am not sure i can find meaningful and trusting connections with attentive workers...people...who are both running a business and tending to the needs of a dozen or more children. even children born into large families had a different experience...older children in parenting roles who were better able to provide the emotional safety and security that would typically come from mom/dad. without those strong emotional attachments, children are free far too soon. children free far too soon are independent before they have finished learning how to be dependent. children free far too soon are the centers of their own universes, rather than having mom/dad to ground them. children free far too soon are going to strike out and be unruly and not be attached and will always be wary...and these are the roots of what we safely categorize as attention deficit. children of modern american culture don't like people...they haven't learned how.

all ye all ye in free

ok, i've done my part. i will now accept guests. or, you can always catch my website @ www.crankyourshorts.com