Pain is relative.
Heat comes from within.
Mind over mind.
Guide my feet so they don't falter.
Guide my feet so they don't slip.
Guide my feet so they don't lose me.
Enjoy!
Bob: Joe!
All: Joe stole the cookies from the cookie jar!
Joe: Who me?
All: Yes you!
Joe: Couldn't be.
All: Then who?
Joe: Sally!
All: Sally stole the cookies from the cookie jar!
Sally: Who me?
All: Yes you.
Sally: Couldn't be.
All: Then who?
In looking back at my childhood, I am amazed at how many things just don't make any sense. Take the game, "Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?". What is the point of this game? We used to play it endlessly in class, supervised by my kindergarten or 1st grade teachers.
One could argue that it's a simple game that kids enjoy and doesn't really mean anything more than basic pattern-recognition skills and a name-learning exercise. But look at what is actually going on. A kid blames somebody for doing something wrong (stealing), and all the other kids gang up on that other kid. Then that kid makes denials, and points the finger at somebody else, who then points the finger at somebody else...
Is this a lesson in mob justice (attempted, anyway)? Certainly the other kids are taking matters into their own hands. The scenario is not all unlike a witch hunt. Nobody knows who really did it, but the kids won't give up until they get the kid that did it, with or without proof. Is that what we want to teach kids?
Or perhaps it's a lesson on how to avoid blame for something. It's simple, just tell the authorities that it wasn't you, that surely it was that person over there, and you'll get away scott-free. Every time. In the modern world of Enrons, it would seem that this lesson is probably not the greatest. And yet it's taught, by teachers, to young children everywhere. And the next time that little Billy steals Sarah's crackers at lunchtime with no witnesses, who will be surprised when he says somebody else did it?
Ah, memories...
A year. Wow. Who would've thunk it.
I still think that blogs are stupid.
Whatever.
Happy New Year!