Holidays Vs. Politics

it's called a WHAT?

 

 Merry Christmas!!  Or should I say Happy holidays. How about have a nice shopping season? What’s the latest politically correct way to express the season? Who knows-it changes by the minute by whoever is the latest idiot to find offense in someone’s cheer and make a stink about it.  

 Have a tree this year? That’s also incorrect according to some. A real tree is wasteful killing of a living thing. An artificial tree is a waste of the planet’s already depleted resources. But if you have a tree, what does one call it? I’m no longer sure. Every time I open the paper or watch the news I hear something else and it takes me a while to figure out what the hell they’re talking about. I’ve always known it as a christmas tree, but then it turned into a holiday tree, then a holiday icon, season tree, season icon, and so forth. What’s next? Maybe an “Incandescent biological effigy to seasonal economic excess”? Sort of takes the fun out, doesn’t it?  

 So what have we come to? A society that tries to please everyone while celebrating a holiday that doesn’t even apply to a great many people being a Christian based event. While I’m not Christian, I still celebrate the holiday for many reasons-being the ideal of the spirit of giving and generosity is something I believe in, and that the holiday is based on the much older holiday of Yule that I do celebrate. This takes me into the subject of religious history which is another topic I will get into at some other time as it’s something I have studied pretty extensively and have some hard feelings towards.  

 There are many good old traditions that have pretty much fallen to the wayside over the years such as going caroling around the neighborhood, sleigh rides through the snow, and the burning of the Yule log among others. So I say lets open our eyes and our hearts to the spirit of the holiday and not let some grinches bleed that away too. So I say “Have a Merry Christmas and Good Will to All” !!

Discipline and society

You know about all the stories in the news-you know the ones: “16 year old kills 6 at family event”, “12 year old steals car and leads police on high speed chase”, and the list goes on….and on….and on. It’s become an everyday event that hardly ever makes the news anymore.
What the hell is going on??!!
The government “know-it-alls” keep spewing the same crap. It’s the “collapse of family values”, it’s “poverty and a depressed society”, it’s “parents not taking an active part in their children’s lives”, and more excuses. Yet, the same government passes laws to “protect” children from purported “abuse” such as excessive discipline.
In most places it is now illegal to spank your child. Your out of control two year old keep knocking expensive glass items off shelves in the store, then throws a temper tantrum when you try to intercede. What can you do, swat them on the bottom? That can swiftly end with you in jail charged with child abuse, and your child(ren) taken away and put into the foster care system. How about yelling? That’s also a no no. Thats considered verbal abuse, with the same possible result. How about those seatbelt restraints in some shopping carts? Well, if your kid is a typical 2 year old, they will escape that faster than Houdini.
So what can you do? Well, the “experts” advise things like “timeouts”. Like that does any good. Try giving a small child a timeout in a store crowded with interesting stuff as well as other people. Since when did stores start providing timeout areas? THEY DON’T! Do you have another 2 hours you dont know what to do with till the child calms down? Probably not! The only options left is to 1) try to hush the kid with your hand and run away-quickly, and 2) give in to the kids demands and “bribe” them with something to keep them occupied. Most people opt for number 2.
What does this accomplish? A spoiled kid who learns that with enough bad behavior they will be rewarded. This translates later to worse behavior and bigger rewards. Kids learn no discipline or values. They learn eventually that if they want something to just take it. It’s not worth the trouble for someone to fight them to get it back. Then what have you got? Another generation of juvenile delinquents, growing up into being full fledged criminals. Go figure