civility

True Confessions

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I started to blog over twelve years ago and focused on the humor of every day life. Over time, I aged, as did my blog, but my values haven’t. On the political front, I truly have no interest in most of the propositions on my ballot, nor even the vast number of candidates vying for power and prestige. However, in the past few years, I’ve grown increasingly concerned by the hateful, rhetoric, name-calling, bold-face lies, and lack of civility. Further, I’m enraged by the enormous amounts of money spent on signs, buttons, and advertising–money that could be used to improve our infrastructure, our government services, health care, environmental concerns, and our school systems.

While all of this is upsetting, I am most disturbed by the emphasis on women. In 1920, the Constitution was amended to guarantee women the right to vote, and on June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade. Certainly, I’m too old to need an abortion or access to IVF, but my daughters might and thousands of others in future generations. There is NO legislation that forbids a man from doing what he wants to do with HIS body, but HE wants to legislate MINE! I don’t think so.

However, my final personal insult came this week from my district’s state representative–an openly gay man, who’s running for reelection. Now, it matters not to me who he chooses to sleep with–not my business. What matters to me is his anti-abortion, anti-reproductive rights stance. How dare he say, “I am proudly pro-life?” The courts have certainly protected his rights to marry whomever he wishes, and he doesn’t have to worry about a tubular pregnancy, a molar pregnancy, or a rape pregnancy.

I feel like a child eagerly awaiting the arrival of Santa Claus–removing one link of my red and green paper chain each day in my countdown to Christmas. However, my chain is made from black paper. My countdown is to November 5th. In the meantime, I shall continue to pray for a return to moderation, civility, and sanity that affords women equal rights.

#%*+!

/ skidaz / Leave a comment

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Believe me, I can talk like a sailor, but I was raised with decorum.  I knew people didn’t smoke cigarettes in church, spit in hallways, nor kick puppies.  I also knew there was a time and place when it was not appropriate to use expletives.

In my 18 years on the school board of a large, suburban school district, I never swore from the dais.  I may have thought it, but I didn’t verbalize it.  I knew better.  Further, I didn’t want teachers cussing at students.  Thus, I set an example.  However once, in front of my mom, I accidentally dropped the f bomb.  She heard it fly from my mouth.

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“Sue, when people use gutter talk, it’s the sign of a severely limited vocabulary.  Not to mention a lack of decorum and civility.  Your hero, Mark Twain, was a genius at penning classics without swearing.  We readers fully understood what Huck Finn was really saying, but Mrs. Samuel Clemens edited the base vernacular from his manuscript.”

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Hmm.  Mark Twain was a genius–a stable one.

How to Catch Flies

/ skidaz / Leave a comment

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Over three years ago, I began to blog with the intent of publishing a book of the most humorous ones.  My plan began to unravel this past summer; my mood changed.  I found myself engulfed in a humorless world filled with we vs. they. Even though, I’ve experienced the darkest side of life over the past six years, I was ill-prepared for the diabolical firestorm currently overtaking America.  My humor was suppressed–buried.

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Admittedly, I didn’t get much sense until about 40 or so years ago.  I paid attention to the debacle of the Viet Nam War, Nixon freezing my $6,000 teacher’s salary for two years, and Watergate.  Certainly, I found no humor in these events, but I managed.  When the Twin Towers fell, I was outraged.  Several nights following, I was in a crowded Mexican restaurant.  th-3

The waiter had just brought our dinners, when a mariachi band appeared on the balcony above and played God Bless America.  Every patron dropped their utensils, rose and sang in unison.  Tears ran down my cheeks as I sang; yet I wasn’t overtly sad.  The American patriotic spirit didn’t die in New York City; I had hope.

When the presidential election campaigns kicked into high gear this summer, so did the we vs. they mantra.  Civility and decorum vanished.  Extremism was rampant. Suddenly, it became socially acceptable to mock the disabled, use despicable racist terms, and blame the press for inaccurate reporting.  Following the election, the we vs. they went viral.  Somewhat cogent folks jumped on this out-of-control roller coaster and without serious thought and consideration demolished long-standing laws with the stroke of a pen.  A classic example of throwing the proverbial baby out with the bath water–health care, public education, environmental safeguards.  Budgets of long-standing programs, such as the Center for Disease Control, medical research, the arts, and Planned Parenthood were slashed. Further this divisiveness was stoked with “alternative facts,” late night tweeting, erroneous wiretapping claims, and a cloak of darkness on Russian ties.

True, I didn’t get much sense till about 40 years ago, but in those 40 years, I never witnessed the outward hate and derision I see now.  In the past few months, I’ve lost long-time friends–not to death–but to their down-right argumentative, combative attitudes.  Intelligent, reasonable, civil discourse is fine.  Friendly confrontation has its place, but I have no desire to debate with blatant ignorance.

The world has shrunk.  Like it or not, we are all citizens of the same planet.  We must cooperate, communicate, collaborate, and even compromise.  As my grandmother frequently reminded, “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.”  It’s about all of us–not some of us.

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