And then..

I left the room feeling a bit outraged myself, especially at Pat’s hypocracy. I began thinking and concluded what had just happened was I had run up against a pair of old grannys so proud and posessive of their own offspring’s offspring these feelings extended to everyone elses kids, too. If I wanted to be vicious, I would have mentioned both grandchildren just happened to be fatherless bastards, but Myra would have probably thrown something very sharp and heavy in my direction. Pat would have simply scowled until whatever it was that Mira threw hit her after I’d ducked. Catfight. I play video games like this all the time.

I continued to analyze the situation and suddenly realized the future is more important than the past in the American mindset. I also saw the fallacy in all this. Nobody knows what the future holds, especially in America where everything changes so much. Plan, stratagise, prioritise, but in the end fate has the final say. One does know the past, however.

The status of children in this culture is radically opposite of what it is in “primitive” societies. In these situations, children were expendible, especially so in the fact a woman was going to loose 1 in 4, and these were the good odds. The heart of the matter was that these people had invested very little in their children, culturally speaking. They coulden’t. Children just aren’t designed to hold very much. A child is like a savings account one can only add a penny to each day. Pretty worthless until the account matures in around 60 years. This is why the elderly were the real treasures. The past was more important than the future here.

Now concider America. Old people get thrown away while we “ invest” in our kid’s future. What if the future never arrives? I’ve come to notice Americans are so perpetually optomistic they assume the future WILL arrive as surely and as brightly as tomorrow’s sunrise. Then there’s the argument education is absolutly necessary for success – at least most American parents say so. Disagree and the result is heated rhetoric. I think the “argument” is in reality a sales pitch. Sadly I’ve come to notice success in America depends more on who you know than what you know. All this emphasis on achedemic achievement frequently boils down to nothing more than parents competing through their own children. I certainly think Myra’s guilty of this with Andrew’s violin lessons and figure skating lessons and gawd knows what comes next lessons. The woman is desperatly trying to stuff thousands of dollars of loose change into an ordinary handbag. I hope she won’t wind up destroying the bag.

I say provide education to kids but don’t force feed them like peeking ducklings. Nobody has the same set of tallents as anyone else and wise parents are astute enough to see what their children are best at and then gently encourage them in the direction their kids want to take. OK, Johnny is lousy in math, but plays guitar like ringing a bell. Let him grow up and try to be a guitar player. If he can’t make a living at it, he’s still young enough and flexible enough to find something that works. This in my opinion is REAL education, not senceless, ego driven achedemic competition .

parting shots

Beauford P. Hoosier, disgruntled denizien of Whitevolk Trailer court has a dream –

“Hell, didn’t win the state lottery this week. Say, I’ll take this hair hamburger and put this hair thing in hair and send it to th’ Indiana State Board O’ Halth. If some ol’ bitch can make a million billion dollars getting’ burned by coffee, gotdammit I can get rich too!

Gawd Bless America - YEEEE HAW!!”

200 days later, Indiana State Bored to Death –

Pat, a petite Female Irish African Native American Minority takes sample and paperwork to Ken the supervisor.

“The sheet says to test for foreign substances. Precisely WHAT foreign substances do you want me to test this for?”

At this point the monkey wrench wedged between the buns manages to make its way past the wrapper and hits the floor with a resounding clang. Muhammad alla bin Laundry, Pakistani junior chemist, ass kisser and venture capitalist smugly thinks –

“Praise Allah! I don’t have to admit to breaking the state seal!”

After considerable debate, vacillation and an afternoon catnap, a metals test is run and shows elevated, though non toxic levels of iron. The sample is deemed nutritious, delicious and one hell of a bottle opener.