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Life

it has been an interesting weekend. Conversations with friends, opinions of people who think they know it all, reactions of those who cannot handle being the center of attention to name a few. So to put it all in perspective I pulled out this piece of writing that I had copied from a poster in an 8th grade classroom and read from that.
I have no idea who wrote it but I think it is very profound and applies to everyone of all ages. Enjoy!

Life is not about keeping score. It is not about how many people call you and it is not about who you've dated, are dating or have not dated at all. Its not about who you've kissed, what sport you play or which guy or girl likes you. Its not about your hair or shoes or the color of your skin or where you live or go to school. In fact it is not about your grades, money, clothes or colleges that accept you or not. Life isn't about if you have lots of friends or if you are alone and its not about how accepted or unaccepted you are. In fact Life just isn't about that.

But Life is about who you love and who you hurt. It is about how you feel about yourself. It is about trust, happiness and compassion. It is about sticking up for your friends and replacing inner hate with love. Life is about overcoming ignorance, avoiding jealousy and becoming confident. It is about what you say and what you mean. It is for seeing people for who they are and not for what they have. Most of all it is about choosing your life to touch someone elses' in a way that could never have been achieved otherwise.

These choices are what Life is about.

Women rock!

I grew up in a patriarchal society - where the son inherits the property, where the wife goes to the husband's house and takes the husband's name and the children get the father's name.

But where I come from and many other parts of the world - there is a very strong matriarchal society - where the daughter inherits the property, the husband has to go to the wife's house and the husband never takes the wife's name but the children do.

Now as a mom, I think of all the things that I do and what happens if mom is not home or does not have it planned or organized it. You guessed right - nothing gets done or completed if mom is not involved.

Of course until men give birth (actually that already did happen with Thomas Beatie in Oregon but he was a woman first), women still have to go through labor physically and metaphorically. Have you noticed no matter how much the dad does, the kids still need their mom?

Moms are the ones who guide, help, cajole, threaten, bribe or force their children to do things that as moms think are good for their children. It could be reading, playing a sport, dancing, completing a project or following a routine. The children may not agree at the time but some time in the future they will look back and thank their mom.

Now all the while I was growing up I thought the man called the shots not realizing that it is the women who get the job done. So to all the girls out there - it does not matter what you plan on doing when you grow up - but as long as you have a child or children you will always be the most important person in that child's life and will be responsible in shaping that child.

"I get all the glory," says Leah Adler, Steven Spielberg's mother as she walks past one of his movie posters. "I eat it up. And all I have to do is be the mother."

Parenting in this day and age

Have you been listening to the songs on the radio recently? Have you watched any of the shows on TV recently? It really is a challenge for someone who is a parent trying to raise their child on values that you grew up.

We never had to worry about listening to songs that talked about drugs, sex or alcohol. The songs we listened to were poetry from the heart and had hidden meanings that we had to figure out. What ever happened to that?

We never had to worry about shows on television that glorified drugs, sex or alcohol. Now days you can't even hear a conversation that does not have at least a few swear words. Shows were funny and good clean fun that you could enjoy with the family. What ever happened to that?

We never had to worry about exposing our kids to inappropriate material on the Internet. Nowadays it is so easy to get access to material that is inappropriate.
We never had Internet so the rules are all different now.

Nowadays parenting is tough. Most of the parents are not even a traditional two parent family - the kids probably stay with only one parent. Society has changed. The traditional support group of grandparents or the community is harder to find. Kids grow up quicker because they have to deal with too much too soon.

They watch movies and listen to songs with subjects that we dealt with when we were adults. Definition of funny is not hilarious because of a spin of words or slapstick but different that involves a lot of cussing.

So as a parent how do I handle all this? Can I change society? No, but I can establish my own rules - respect for elders, manners and follow the rules. I don't think you are cool if you cuss in front of me - I just think you are out of control.
Treat others how you want to be treated and then see what happens.

I wonder how things will pan out when these kids become parents? Que sera sera..what will be will be...