First off, what is cool?
Let's examine this through pop culture. From James Dean to Fonzie to Justin Beiber and Lady GaGa, cool is never the geek with the glasses who likes to read. Cool isn't Calculus and Philosophy, nor has it ever been playing Scrabble® and Yahtzee.
Cool is drinking and smoking and "breaking rules" or getting into fights. At least it has been since the end of WWII. Prior to that, anti-social behaviour was treated as anti social and not tolerated in polite society. "Rough neighbourhoods" were known to house such unsavoury types, but the vast majority of people gravitated toward a much more peaceful existence.
With the advent of television, whole generations have now come to view the "cool" kids as those who act out in arrogant displays of ignorance declaring anyone with the audacity to attempt rational thought as "gay" or "lame" and justifying "kicking their a**". Violence is the immediate response of these neanderthals who think a high score in beer pong grants them the right to breed in a society that worships reality as portrayed by "Survivor".
As a child I struggled with popularity (can you tell?) because I did not understand what cool was. To me at 8 years old, Einstein and Shakespere were cool, So was "The Big Bopper" and The Fonze. Unfortunately it was 1986 and those things weren't cool to most kids my age. Oh I liked Michael J Fox and Back To the Future, Goonies and Gremlins as much as anyone else, but I wasn't exposed to television much as a child, so I didn't see what movies were coming out or what the latest craze in kids toys was on the shelves. I had a big brother who ruled the remote and only watched music videos so I went outside.
As a teen I was exposed a bit more and as a young adult got sucked in entirely. I've found that without TV I tended to explore more and read more. I was more likely to ask questions and to think for myself.
So what makes us cool? TV, Video Games, Sports, Beer seem to top the list of cool things. Cool means popular, popular means a lot of people agree on its merit. I am told Survivor is popular, I don't know anyone who watches it, but then I don't tend to have conversations about TV shows.
Think of everything you've heard of that is generally considered "Cool" and you are likely to see that not a single one of those items is conducive to increasing intelligence. There are at times short-lived crazes for things like SuDoKu but something mindless tends to overtake those things fast (can you say Angry Birds?).
So why is it that everything they tell us is cool and popular only serves to make you think less and react more? Because if you are reacting instead of thinking you are easier to manipulate. If you think about it you will notice that when you go out shopping the items you stare at for the length of time you stand in line are all small tempting items like candy and pop, or small "useful" items that "could come in handy some day". This is why you stand in line when there are twelve closed tills and 25 box-boys in the aisles. They are counting on your boredom to inspire anxiety which is quickly eased by impulse-buying a pack of gum. If you grab at a tabloid because it claims to have secret knowledge of your favourite star, you are less likely to wonder why they are also trying to convince you to lose 20 lbs in 10 days while trying out a new recipe for chocolate cake.
TV, Video Games, Blogs and Social Media all serve to distract you from life and reality, keep you feeling inadequate, excite your baser instincts and keep you from thinking. Ever heard of a little saying "If you don't use it, you lose it"? That is what is happening to our society. All of this cool stuff is making whole generations dumber than their parents. They can't think for themselves so they allow others to think for them. They choose their opinions based on popular consensus instead of logic and reason because it is easier that way.
Try taking your family out of circulation for just one week, no more phones, tablets, computers, TVs or consoles, just imagination and creativity. If it the first time for you go ahead and plan out a few activities by Googling some inspiration, but once the plan is set unplug your world. By the end of the week you should have a whole new list of fun activities for your spare time, and hopefully a clearer mind to boot. For a really effective change try going for a month without those items and see if you ever want to pick one up again.
Friday, September 12, 2014
Friday, August 22, 2014
Lost my log-in...
So I haven't posted in a while because I lost my log in info. I went on vacation and updated my chrome when I got back which reset all my bookmarks and saved passwords. Made a mess of things for me for a while, but I have everything sorted now.
Today is too heavy a workload day for me to post more than this for a bit, but I'll come back soon.
Today is too heavy a workload day for me to post more than this for a bit, but I'll come back soon.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Divestment
I promised you a few posts ago that we'd discuss divestment and what it means, but got a little hung up on other things and forgot, so here we go...
Divestment means to draw away from or stop adhering to a specific course. To divest from the government we simply pay more attention to where we spend our money. Those of you on severely limited incomes might find this more difficult and that is what they want.
Companies like WalMart provide items at significant discounts, but they also promote slave labour, sweat shops and child labour. They carry knock-off products that fool you into thinking you are buying name brand and they push other business out of the market. The products they carry are sub-standard even when they carry name brands - they actually pressure companies like Levis to reduce their prices to insane levels forcing the company to use cheaper methods of production and lowering quality.
If you have a choice of spending your money at a big-name store (think multi-national) or a small independent merchant/craftsman or tailor opt for the personal touch of the local business. If you can't afford the price-tag associated with those little boutiques then opt instead to go to a thrift store or consignment shop instead. At the very least do a bit of research into the business conducted by the companies you spend your money with, ensure that you condone the way that they do business. If you are vegetarian, stop using Clairol since many of their products are tested on or use animal products. If you love kids then stop buying Reebok whose shoes are made in sweatshops.
Divestment is voting with your dollar, and if all you care about is getting the cheapest deal then you'll get it by the least ethical methods. If you don't like Monsanto, stop buying McCain and Kraft, if you don't like the way cosmetics companies advertise to little girls then stop buying make-up. It isn't easy, it is hard to tell your kid that you can't buy them the shoes they want because the company is corrupt, they don't understand anything beyond being "cool", but you will have taught them a valuable lesson and when they grow up and see it for themselves they will thank you.
Millions of dollars a year is spent telling you what you should want, need, eat or wear. The companies that provide these things to you don't care about your health unless you do, they don't care about value unless you do and the only way you will ever get them to stand up and pay attention is to stop giving them the profits the seek unless they conduct business in a way that makes you happy. If adding chemicals to your food so it lasts longer and which cause addiction-symptoms to make you come back for more is all they have to do to keep you paying them then what motivation do they have to make a better product?
Think about it.
Divestment means to draw away from or stop adhering to a specific course. To divest from the government we simply pay more attention to where we spend our money. Those of you on severely limited incomes might find this more difficult and that is what they want.
Companies like WalMart provide items at significant discounts, but they also promote slave labour, sweat shops and child labour. They carry knock-off products that fool you into thinking you are buying name brand and they push other business out of the market. The products they carry are sub-standard even when they carry name brands - they actually pressure companies like Levis to reduce their prices to insane levels forcing the company to use cheaper methods of production and lowering quality.
If you have a choice of spending your money at a big-name store (think multi-national) or a small independent merchant/craftsman or tailor opt for the personal touch of the local business. If you can't afford the price-tag associated with those little boutiques then opt instead to go to a thrift store or consignment shop instead. At the very least do a bit of research into the business conducted by the companies you spend your money with, ensure that you condone the way that they do business. If you are vegetarian, stop using Clairol since many of their products are tested on or use animal products. If you love kids then stop buying Reebok whose shoes are made in sweatshops.
Divestment is voting with your dollar, and if all you care about is getting the cheapest deal then you'll get it by the least ethical methods. If you don't like Monsanto, stop buying McCain and Kraft, if you don't like the way cosmetics companies advertise to little girls then stop buying make-up. It isn't easy, it is hard to tell your kid that you can't buy them the shoes they want because the company is corrupt, they don't understand anything beyond being "cool", but you will have taught them a valuable lesson and when they grow up and see it for themselves they will thank you.
Millions of dollars a year is spent telling you what you should want, need, eat or wear. The companies that provide these things to you don't care about your health unless you do, they don't care about value unless you do and the only way you will ever get them to stand up and pay attention is to stop giving them the profits the seek unless they conduct business in a way that makes you happy. If adding chemicals to your food so it lasts longer and which cause addiction-symptoms to make you come back for more is all they have to do to keep you paying them then what motivation do they have to make a better product?
Think about it.
Self Esteem vs Self Confidence
Self Esteem
Self Confidence
Are they the same? No.
Are they equal? No.
Okay smarty-pants...what's the difference?
Self Esteem = To esteem oneself
Esteem = To hold as best, to think highly of
Therefore self-esteem = to hold oneself as best or higher than others.
Self Confidence = To have confidence in oneself
Confidence = certitude, assurance
Therefore self-confidence = To have certitude in who you are
It may already be clear to you what the differences are between the two concepts, but many people still often confuse one for the other.
Self esteem is unjustified. Since we all agree that "all men are created equal" then it is unreasonable to even begin to consider self esteem a worthy subject of conversation at all. I have met lots of people throughout my life that display amazing examples of self esteem and I am sure you have as well. From the pointy-haired boss in Dilbert cartoons that can't admit he hasn't a clue what he is doing to the Chinese couple running an Italian restaurant, there are some things that self esteem makes ridiculous.
If you spend your life "earning" prizes for showing up or get good grades because your teacher isn't allowed to fail you then I am sure you'll have a tonne of self esteem, but when I ask you what you can do you haven't a clue.
Being told "you suck" might be bad for your self image, but it can go a long way to encouraging the development of self confidence. As a child I was the pariah, teased by everyone on the playground because I was emotionally sensitive and gave them the reactions they were looking for. I was also clumsy, terrible at public speaking and multiplication. I was enthusiastic in gym but my results were laughable. I spent a lot of time being told "I suck" in various different terms. As an adult I find that I now amaze people with the wide variety of talents I possess. It isn't just that we all grew up, it is that I spent a lot of energy in becoming the person I am today. I worked hard to achieve a level of confidence in my duties and can claim to be one of the better professionals in my field because of it.
So I have no self esteem, but lots of self confidence. I do not think I am better than everyone - only most - and that can be backed up by facts and evidence which I'll produce to anyone who asks. When you can line up a hundred accolades, accomplishments or results you have confidence in your abilities and therefore in who you are as a person. If you cannot then all the bluster and self esteem in the world won't matter a hill of beans.
This is why I tried hard to give my kids self confidence and crushed any possibility of self esteem.
Self Confidence
Are they the same? No.
Are they equal? No.
Okay smarty-pants...what's the difference?
Self Esteem = To esteem oneself
Esteem = To hold as best, to think highly of
Therefore self-esteem = to hold oneself as best or higher than others.
Self Confidence = To have confidence in oneself
Confidence = certitude, assurance
Therefore self-confidence = To have certitude in who you are
It may already be clear to you what the differences are between the two concepts, but many people still often confuse one for the other.
Self esteem is unjustified. Since we all agree that "all men are created equal" then it is unreasonable to even begin to consider self esteem a worthy subject of conversation at all. I have met lots of people throughout my life that display amazing examples of self esteem and I am sure you have as well. From the pointy-haired boss in Dilbert cartoons that can't admit he hasn't a clue what he is doing to the Chinese couple running an Italian restaurant, there are some things that self esteem makes ridiculous.
If you spend your life "earning" prizes for showing up or get good grades because your teacher isn't allowed to fail you then I am sure you'll have a tonne of self esteem, but when I ask you what you can do you haven't a clue.
Being told "you suck" might be bad for your self image, but it can go a long way to encouraging the development of self confidence. As a child I was the pariah, teased by everyone on the playground because I was emotionally sensitive and gave them the reactions they were looking for. I was also clumsy, terrible at public speaking and multiplication. I was enthusiastic in gym but my results were laughable. I spent a lot of time being told "I suck" in various different terms. As an adult I find that I now amaze people with the wide variety of talents I possess. It isn't just that we all grew up, it is that I spent a lot of energy in becoming the person I am today. I worked hard to achieve a level of confidence in my duties and can claim to be one of the better professionals in my field because of it.
So I have no self esteem, but lots of self confidence. I do not think I am better than everyone - only most - and that can be backed up by facts and evidence which I'll produce to anyone who asks. When you can line up a hundred accolades, accomplishments or results you have confidence in your abilities and therefore in who you are as a person. If you cannot then all the bluster and self esteem in the world won't matter a hill of beans.
This is why I tried hard to give my kids self confidence and crushed any possibility of self esteem.
Friday, February 21, 2014
Self esteem is what's wrong with the world.
Self Esteem Vs Self Confidence
Sounds like I am comparing MacIntosh apples with MacIntosh apples doesn't it?
There is a difference though, a big one.
Since I like dictionaries so much I'll give you a hint:
From Merriam-Webster -
Sounds pretty good until you think what it means. Esteem is to hold something in high regard. I seem to remember a time when holding yourself in high regard was considered pompous and self-centered and bad. Now we are trying to make our kids be it? Could it possibly be that we were led to believe that esteeming oneself is a good thing for a reason?
Well, first, lets look at confidence:
Now this sounds more like something I want to teach my kids to have! To be!
How do we get there?
In self esteem books they always say that you should never say "No" to your child. That a child cannot be "spoiled" by giving in to them, instead it develops a healthy level of self esteem. I agree. If you never hear your parents telling you that your behaviour is bad or wrong then you will always hold yourself in high regard. If you are never forced to accept responsibility for your own actions and all the people around you cater to your wants and needs, wouldn't you grow up to view everything as being your due without effort? Is this not the way indolent rich aristocrats live? This makes a child feel like the world owes him something for just being alive.
Confidence can only be built by accomplishing things. Knowing you are a great cook or knitter or carpenter or mechanic gives you confidence to pursue a career in the field. Knowing where you are limited allows you to focus your energies on things to improve or mitigate in your own life thereby increasing happiness. Confidence allows you to stand firm in your beliefs, convictions and ideas, but also allows for the possibility and open-mindedness needed for progress. Self confidence makes for better people.
So why the push in the last 20-30 years for more self esteem? I thought it was just lazy and immature parenting, but this freedom movement is making me think it is a little more insidious than that. The facts are still true so we'll examine them. First, let's examine the idea that parents are immature and lazy.
I remember being a little kid and getting sent to my room. I would stomp off mumbling to myself about how my parents were sooo mean and if I ever had kids I'd never send them to their room or say "No" or make them tidy their room or...you get the idea. Does this sound like parents today? So it would seem that those little kids never grew up to understand WHY their parents sent them to their room. I also see parents relenting when their kids push because they are "too tired to fight" or "This is easier", this makes me think they are just too lazy to take time to be a parent. The problem is that as your kids grow their behaviour gets worse, not better. Kids don't just wake up one day and realize that they are selfish, indolent and rude. They don't turn 18 and suddenly know how to wash clothes and cook. These are essential skills they need to survive in the real world or pay someone else to do for them.
My mother taught me to cook, clean, sew, knit, crochet, macramé, build a house, understand what my mechanic was talking about (to a certain extent), drive, raise my kids, apply first aid, and write legibly among other things. She set standards for my behaviour that were met or I was disciplined. She made mistakes of course, she wasn't perfect, but she knew what her role was and did it to the best of her ability. She encouraged me to be myself while teaching me to strive to be a better version of myself. Sometimes she even let me get away with things if I could properly explain to her why I did not agree with her assessment of the level of safety. There was a small area near my home as a child where all the kids loved to play, but it was on property covered with "No Trespassing" signs and had the potential to be a dangerous place if you weren't careful.
I knew what items were really dangerous and knew to avoid them, I couldn't see the issue with playing there but we'd always get in trouble if we were caught. Knowing that my parents were somewhat friendly with the owner but that they were reluctant to give in to us kids, I spoke with him and asked if there were some way that we could play there with his permission. He made me promise to be careful, asked me some questions to determine if I knew what being careful entailed and then gave me permission to enter and any kids with me would be allowed if they listened to me. He did call my mother to make sure that she was okay with it and willing to promise not to sue him if I fell and broke my neck on his property, but in the end I was able to play there.
I got to play in the junk yard, on the sand dunes, in the creek & pond, in the woods and quarry. I was never even injured in any of those areas and I was a clumsy child (still am). I have hurt myself more at work in an office than ever in those carefree days. My mother was worried more about the trespassing than the danger (unlike most of the other parents) so I was the only kid in the area who's mother actually knew where she was most of the time. It also gave me a safer path to get into town than the big highway (which at 5 years old is not a good place to walk) so I could get some penny candies at the local store. It was about a 1 mile walk from home to the store and most of that was along a big highway, by going through "the Pit" as we called it I shaved off 15 minutes from my time, about 1/4 mile on distance and walked along paths through the forest on a mild hiking trail instead. It came out at the cemetery about a block away from the store.
My confidence in my own abilities made all our lives a little easier because I could take care of myself. I never hesitated to take on a project because I knew that if I put my mind to it I could do anything. Today I am a DIYer and won't buy something I can make for myself. I take on big projects like learning to cut copper, weld, do stained glass, carpentry, plumbing or electrical, canning, gardening and so much more. Every day I learn something new, I get one step closer to being able to leave society and live on a deserted island by myself yet have all of the conveniences of modern life, not that I want to, but I could. That is self confidence and that is priceless!
Sounds like I am comparing MacIntosh apples with MacIntosh apples doesn't it?
There is a difference though, a big one.
Since I like dictionaries so much I'll give you a hint:
From Merriam-Webster -
es·teem
noun \i-ˈstēm\
: respect and affection
Full Definition of ESTEEM
3
: the regard in which one is held; especially : high regard
Well, first, lets look at confidence:
con·fi·dence
noun \ˈkän-fə-dən(t)s, -ˌden(t)s\
: a feeling or belief that you can do something well or succeed at something
: a feeling or belief that someone or something is good or has the ability to succeed at something
: the feeling of being certain that something will happen or that something is true
Now this sounds more like something I want to teach my kids to have! To be!
How do we get there?
In self esteem books they always say that you should never say "No" to your child. That a child cannot be "spoiled" by giving in to them, instead it develops a healthy level of self esteem. I agree. If you never hear your parents telling you that your behaviour is bad or wrong then you will always hold yourself in high regard. If you are never forced to accept responsibility for your own actions and all the people around you cater to your wants and needs, wouldn't you grow up to view everything as being your due without effort? Is this not the way indolent rich aristocrats live? This makes a child feel like the world owes him something for just being alive.
Confidence can only be built by accomplishing things. Knowing you are a great cook or knitter or carpenter or mechanic gives you confidence to pursue a career in the field. Knowing where you are limited allows you to focus your energies on things to improve or mitigate in your own life thereby increasing happiness. Confidence allows you to stand firm in your beliefs, convictions and ideas, but also allows for the possibility and open-mindedness needed for progress. Self confidence makes for better people.
So why the push in the last 20-30 years for more self esteem? I thought it was just lazy and immature parenting, but this freedom movement is making me think it is a little more insidious than that. The facts are still true so we'll examine them. First, let's examine the idea that parents are immature and lazy.
I remember being a little kid and getting sent to my room. I would stomp off mumbling to myself about how my parents were sooo mean and if I ever had kids I'd never send them to their room or say "No" or make them tidy their room or...you get the idea. Does this sound like parents today? So it would seem that those little kids never grew up to understand WHY their parents sent them to their room. I also see parents relenting when their kids push because they are "too tired to fight" or "This is easier", this makes me think they are just too lazy to take time to be a parent. The problem is that as your kids grow their behaviour gets worse, not better. Kids don't just wake up one day and realize that they are selfish, indolent and rude. They don't turn 18 and suddenly know how to wash clothes and cook. These are essential skills they need to survive in the real world or pay someone else to do for them.
My mother taught me to cook, clean, sew, knit, crochet, macramé, build a house, understand what my mechanic was talking about (to a certain extent), drive, raise my kids, apply first aid, and write legibly among other things. She set standards for my behaviour that were met or I was disciplined. She made mistakes of course, she wasn't perfect, but she knew what her role was and did it to the best of her ability. She encouraged me to be myself while teaching me to strive to be a better version of myself. Sometimes she even let me get away with things if I could properly explain to her why I did not agree with her assessment of the level of safety. There was a small area near my home as a child where all the kids loved to play, but it was on property covered with "No Trespassing" signs and had the potential to be a dangerous place if you weren't careful.
I knew what items were really dangerous and knew to avoid them, I couldn't see the issue with playing there but we'd always get in trouble if we were caught. Knowing that my parents were somewhat friendly with the owner but that they were reluctant to give in to us kids, I spoke with him and asked if there were some way that we could play there with his permission. He made me promise to be careful, asked me some questions to determine if I knew what being careful entailed and then gave me permission to enter and any kids with me would be allowed if they listened to me. He did call my mother to make sure that she was okay with it and willing to promise not to sue him if I fell and broke my neck on his property, but in the end I was able to play there.
I got to play in the junk yard, on the sand dunes, in the creek & pond, in the woods and quarry. I was never even injured in any of those areas and I was a clumsy child (still am). I have hurt myself more at work in an office than ever in those carefree days. My mother was worried more about the trespassing than the danger (unlike most of the other parents) so I was the only kid in the area who's mother actually knew where she was most of the time. It also gave me a safer path to get into town than the big highway (which at 5 years old is not a good place to walk) so I could get some penny candies at the local store. It was about a 1 mile walk from home to the store and most of that was along a big highway, by going through "the Pit" as we called it I shaved off 15 minutes from my time, about 1/4 mile on distance and walked along paths through the forest on a mild hiking trail instead. It came out at the cemetery about a block away from the store.
My confidence in my own abilities made all our lives a little easier because I could take care of myself. I never hesitated to take on a project because I knew that if I put my mind to it I could do anything. Today I am a DIYer and won't buy something I can make for myself. I take on big projects like learning to cut copper, weld, do stained glass, carpentry, plumbing or electrical, canning, gardening and so much more. Every day I learn something new, I get one step closer to being able to leave society and live on a deserted island by myself yet have all of the conveniences of modern life, not that I want to, but I could. That is self confidence and that is priceless!
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Standards
I don't know about you, but it seems to me that there are no such thing as standards anymore. If you look around people actually apologize for being picky when they correct someone's bad spelling or grammatical error. I guess it is because of labels like Grammar Nazi. No one wants to be a Nazi, so being a Nazi over something as silly as a spelling mistake must make you a really bad person! Thing is though, if we don't hold on to standards, they start to get forgotten.
It used to be that you started learning to write in Kindergarten with a big fat pencil, moved on to a standard yellow HB in grade school and then if you could write neatly and without mistakes you got to graduate to ink. Not everyone managed to write perfectly, but there was a certain amount of slack that let everyone eventually move on with the rest. Sure, kids got teased if they were slower than the rest, the last kid to move up to a pen was called a baby or laughed at (although this was usually short-lived as there really isn't much you can say on such a small thing), but everyone eventually felt good about the fact that their maturity was clearly identified by this move from "baby" pencils to "adult" pens.
I remember being so proud when I got my pen, I wasn't the first, but I had worked hard and managed not to be last either. There were all sorts of little tests and steps that we took in school that let us know each step of the way that we had accomplished something, we had learned and we had gotten one step closer to being an adult. I had my share of items where I was the person ridiculed too. My weakness was in multiplication table speed tests. We had 100 small questions on a page and had to answer them all correctly in five minutes and I could never get more than half done because speed tests make my brain shut off.
I was hurt, humiliated and felt about as intelligent as a paper bag. This is probably why these tests don't exist anymore. Thing is though, it really wasn't that bad. I survived. I moved on. I got better at my multiplication tables, but still struggle to do math in my head quickly. This is part of who I am. I no longer let the pain rule me and I can assure myself that even Einstein wasn't quick with the basics and he was a math genius!
Is this new practice of no competition, almost no testing and lowered expectations allowing kids to find their full potential? I don't see it.
Thing is, without standards how do you know where to set the bar? People are inherently lazy, they will do the least amount possible to get by. If a child is not asked to spell correctly because spell check will take care of it, how do we ever get away from sentences like this:
"My mom gave me to many bars in my lunch today, I asked for to and she gave me five, do you want to have one?"
If you don't see the issue in that last sentence then you are a product of those lower standards.
If all the electronic devices stopped working tomorrow what would you do? Would you hand write your letters and hope that the person who gets the note will be able to correct your grammar and interpret your message? Would you guess at the measurements for your flooring and hope you have enough and not too much? Would you add up someone's change wrong and end up getting your pay deducted?
These are legitimate concerns. Computers fail every day, programs go haywire and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Don't you want your kids to have the tools on hand to be able to figure everything out on their own? Isn't the purpose of education to teach a child how to learn? How to think? You don't even really need to tell a kid how things work, how things are, you only need teach him/her how to reason and work it out, he'll do the rest.
A child in today's education system only learns one thing - how to memorize and regurgitate sanctioned and accepted views on a range of subjects. They are not asked to think beyond what is given to them in textbooks and hand-outs. By correctly regurgitating the concepts they can graduate high school without even the smallest ability to think and reason for themselves. They enter a workforce that is quickly degrading into a useless mass of mindless automatons.
A server doesn't know what to do if a customer asks for something outside of her day-to-day efforts, she is stumped, she runs for a Manager who calls head office and after an hour tells you that the lawyer suggested this option or that option. I remember when a displeased customer (even if it is a minor complaint) getting offered the entire meal for free or a coupon/certificate for a free meal next time. The other night my whole table got their orders mixed up, substituted and messed around and the manager had to get advice from the Head Office lawyer to give my son a $5 gift card because they didn't have what he came for and he had to settle for something else when it was his birthday meal.
Heck, due to lowered standards we are expected to tip 10% for BAD service when that used to be the standard for GOOD service. I hold to the old standards in a lot of things. I care about spelling and grammar, I calculate on paper if I can't do it in my head and rarely grab a calculator, I won't switch to an e-reader because screens are bad for your eyes and paper just feels more natural. If I need to do something or if I want something, I try to figure out how to do or get it on my own before I look for someone else's solution.
Even among the craft blogs I like to peruse, I am starting to find a decline in the complexity of the crafts. Slapping some mod podge over a piece of paper on a chunk of 2x4 isn't what I would call crafty, it is a kindergarten project as far as I am concerned yet I can honestly say that this is the basis of one blog I used to visit and the woman has a whole store dedicated to these types of crafts. I can't imagine spending good money on something I could get my friend's 4 year old to make for under $5. In fact in grade two (2 for those of you who had issues with the sentence above) my son was perfectly able to make a wind chime out of copper pipes and fishing wire. I showed him how to cut the pipes and sand the edges smooth and how to tie the pipes to the lamp bracket with each a little longer than the last. It was beautiful and almost looked store-bought. In fact I actually had to go into the school and get into an argument with his teacher who insisted that either I did it all or we bought it. I showed her the receipts and let my son show her how easy it is to cut a pipe.
Just because we can't all be the best doesn't mean we should have to lower the bar to suit those that can't. Those too lazy to try or to work do not deserve our praise, those that try and do not succeed need to learn their personal limits and work within them. Sure, you won't be the happiest person, but at least you will have proper self confidence instead of useless self esteem.
Next time - the difference between self confidence and self esteem and why you never want to promote the latter.
It used to be that you started learning to write in Kindergarten with a big fat pencil, moved on to a standard yellow HB in grade school and then if you could write neatly and without mistakes you got to graduate to ink. Not everyone managed to write perfectly, but there was a certain amount of slack that let everyone eventually move on with the rest. Sure, kids got teased if they were slower than the rest, the last kid to move up to a pen was called a baby or laughed at (although this was usually short-lived as there really isn't much you can say on such a small thing), but everyone eventually felt good about the fact that their maturity was clearly identified by this move from "baby" pencils to "adult" pens.
I remember being so proud when I got my pen, I wasn't the first, but I had worked hard and managed not to be last either. There were all sorts of little tests and steps that we took in school that let us know each step of the way that we had accomplished something, we had learned and we had gotten one step closer to being an adult. I had my share of items where I was the person ridiculed too. My weakness was in multiplication table speed tests. We had 100 small questions on a page and had to answer them all correctly in five minutes and I could never get more than half done because speed tests make my brain shut off.
I was hurt, humiliated and felt about as intelligent as a paper bag. This is probably why these tests don't exist anymore. Thing is though, it really wasn't that bad. I survived. I moved on. I got better at my multiplication tables, but still struggle to do math in my head quickly. This is part of who I am. I no longer let the pain rule me and I can assure myself that even Einstein wasn't quick with the basics and he was a math genius!
Is this new practice of no competition, almost no testing and lowered expectations allowing kids to find their full potential? I don't see it.
Thing is, without standards how do you know where to set the bar? People are inherently lazy, they will do the least amount possible to get by. If a child is not asked to spell correctly because spell check will take care of it, how do we ever get away from sentences like this:
"My mom gave me to many bars in my lunch today, I asked for to and she gave me five, do you want to have one?"
If you don't see the issue in that last sentence then you are a product of those lower standards.
If all the electronic devices stopped working tomorrow what would you do? Would you hand write your letters and hope that the person who gets the note will be able to correct your grammar and interpret your message? Would you guess at the measurements for your flooring and hope you have enough and not too much? Would you add up someone's change wrong and end up getting your pay deducted?
These are legitimate concerns. Computers fail every day, programs go haywire and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Don't you want your kids to have the tools on hand to be able to figure everything out on their own? Isn't the purpose of education to teach a child how to learn? How to think? You don't even really need to tell a kid how things work, how things are, you only need teach him/her how to reason and work it out, he'll do the rest.
A child in today's education system only learns one thing - how to memorize and regurgitate sanctioned and accepted views on a range of subjects. They are not asked to think beyond what is given to them in textbooks and hand-outs. By correctly regurgitating the concepts they can graduate high school without even the smallest ability to think and reason for themselves. They enter a workforce that is quickly degrading into a useless mass of mindless automatons.
A server doesn't know what to do if a customer asks for something outside of her day-to-day efforts, she is stumped, she runs for a Manager who calls head office and after an hour tells you that the lawyer suggested this option or that option. I remember when a displeased customer (even if it is a minor complaint) getting offered the entire meal for free or a coupon/certificate for a free meal next time. The other night my whole table got their orders mixed up, substituted and messed around and the manager had to get advice from the Head Office lawyer to give my son a $5 gift card because they didn't have what he came for and he had to settle for something else when it was his birthday meal.
Heck, due to lowered standards we are expected to tip 10% for BAD service when that used to be the standard for GOOD service. I hold to the old standards in a lot of things. I care about spelling and grammar, I calculate on paper if I can't do it in my head and rarely grab a calculator, I won't switch to an e-reader because screens are bad for your eyes and paper just feels more natural. If I need to do something or if I want something, I try to figure out how to do or get it on my own before I look for someone else's solution.
Even among the craft blogs I like to peruse, I am starting to find a decline in the complexity of the crafts. Slapping some mod podge over a piece of paper on a chunk of 2x4 isn't what I would call crafty, it is a kindergarten project as far as I am concerned yet I can honestly say that this is the basis of one blog I used to visit and the woman has a whole store dedicated to these types of crafts. I can't imagine spending good money on something I could get my friend's 4 year old to make for under $5. In fact in grade two (2 for those of you who had issues with the sentence above) my son was perfectly able to make a wind chime out of copper pipes and fishing wire. I showed him how to cut the pipes and sand the edges smooth and how to tie the pipes to the lamp bracket with each a little longer than the last. It was beautiful and almost looked store-bought. In fact I actually had to go into the school and get into an argument with his teacher who insisted that either I did it all or we bought it. I showed her the receipts and let my son show her how easy it is to cut a pipe.
Just because we can't all be the best doesn't mean we should have to lower the bar to suit those that can't. Those too lazy to try or to work do not deserve our praise, those that try and do not succeed need to learn their personal limits and work within them. Sure, you won't be the happiest person, but at least you will have proper self confidence instead of useless self esteem.
Next time - the difference between self confidence and self esteem and why you never want to promote the latter.
Friday, February 14, 2014
Self Evident truths: conclusion
Well, I have been sucked in.
Nothing I can find disputes what the freemen say except what the cops say, and why the heck would they say anything to lose their power?
Some of what I've found...
1. Section 32 of the Canadian Charter of Rights states that it only applies to government agents.
2. The law says that if a statute or piece of legislation falls under another then it is subject to all provisions of the higher authority and any conflicts between the two are resolved by going with the higher one. So if the Canadian Charter of Rights only applies to government agents then all legislation that falls under the charter can only apply to government agents as well. This includes, but is not limited to (one way to get around includes) the following:
Income Tax Act 40% of your income
Traffic Safety Act $100-$500/year
Firearms legislation $200-$800/year
Fishing legislation $50-$80/year
Property taxes >$2000/year
Anti-terrorism legislation Your life in prison without trial
3. The maxims of law make it really easy to see where the Freemen movement started.
4. Governments around the world have been manipulating the education system, health system, media, technology and all other aspects of our lives in order to ensure we are never thinking too much about why the world is so messed up.
5. It all seems to be leading into the greatest scam ever seen in human history, the creation of a single united world government where the people in power are the only ones deciding what is right for everyone else.
It looks like the only reason the government seems to care about any of their legislation is because it brings in money. If they really cared about fish populations they wouldn't allow companies to get away with polluting our waterways. If they really cared about firearms, they would try to find a way to stop criminals from getting any, not decent people. If they cared about public safety they would eliminate GMO food from shelves, work on alternative energy instead of being petroleum obsessed and would protect wives from dangerous husbands before they were sent to the hospital. Nothing in these legislations speaks to anything more than control and dominion.
Did you know that the federal government was mandated to provide free education for all canadians from kindergarten all the way through post-secondary? Yet we pay for our kids' education through property taxes, tuition and annual book fees. Did you know that when they finally got around to following their mandate to create a constitution they wrote it in such a way as to reduce our rights significantly? Did you know that you can be an artificial person or a natural person and it has nothing to do with your style?
Heck, did you know that Freemen who know what they are talking about are winning court battles every day all around the world? Looks like the only things bogging down the courts are all those people acting like good little slaves and answering to charges that should never have applied to them. Looks like if everyone stopped obeying the legal system then there'd be a lot less need for cops, judges, lawyers etc. One of those nice maxims of law is that you are supposed to attempt every reasonable measure to resolve your differences outside of the courts. I guess ambulance chasers never heard that one.
How do we fight something so big? So established? So daunting? How do we keep ourselves out of jail to protect our families while at the same time letting them know loud and clear that we won't tolerate it anymore?
Divestment, that's how! We'll look a little closer at what exactly that means next time.
Nothing I can find disputes what the freemen say except what the cops say, and why the heck would they say anything to lose their power?
Some of what I've found...
1. Section 32 of the Canadian Charter of Rights states that it only applies to government agents.
2. The law says that if a statute or piece of legislation falls under another then it is subject to all provisions of the higher authority and any conflicts between the two are resolved by going with the higher one. So if the Canadian Charter of Rights only applies to government agents then all legislation that falls under the charter can only apply to government agents as well. This includes, but is not limited to (one way to get around includes) the following:
Income Tax Act 40% of your income
Traffic Safety Act $100-$500/year
Firearms legislation $200-$800/year
Fishing legislation $50-$80/year
Property taxes >$2000/year
Anti-terrorism legislation Your life in prison without trial
3. The maxims of law make it really easy to see where the Freemen movement started.
4. Governments around the world have been manipulating the education system, health system, media, technology and all other aspects of our lives in order to ensure we are never thinking too much about why the world is so messed up.
5. It all seems to be leading into the greatest scam ever seen in human history, the creation of a single united world government where the people in power are the only ones deciding what is right for everyone else.
It looks like the only reason the government seems to care about any of their legislation is because it brings in money. If they really cared about fish populations they wouldn't allow companies to get away with polluting our waterways. If they really cared about firearms, they would try to find a way to stop criminals from getting any, not decent people. If they cared about public safety they would eliminate GMO food from shelves, work on alternative energy instead of being petroleum obsessed and would protect wives from dangerous husbands before they were sent to the hospital. Nothing in these legislations speaks to anything more than control and dominion.
Did you know that the federal government was mandated to provide free education for all canadians from kindergarten all the way through post-secondary? Yet we pay for our kids' education through property taxes, tuition and annual book fees. Did you know that when they finally got around to following their mandate to create a constitution they wrote it in such a way as to reduce our rights significantly? Did you know that you can be an artificial person or a natural person and it has nothing to do with your style?
Heck, did you know that Freemen who know what they are talking about are winning court battles every day all around the world? Looks like the only things bogging down the courts are all those people acting like good little slaves and answering to charges that should never have applied to them. Looks like if everyone stopped obeying the legal system then there'd be a lot less need for cops, judges, lawyers etc. One of those nice maxims of law is that you are supposed to attempt every reasonable measure to resolve your differences outside of the courts. I guess ambulance chasers never heard that one.
How do we fight something so big? So established? So daunting? How do we keep ourselves out of jail to protect our families while at the same time letting them know loud and clear that we won't tolerate it anymore?
Divestment, that's how! We'll look a little closer at what exactly that means next time.
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