Down Syndrome teen is Homecoming Queen
Check out this link at Good Morning Yahoo. http://www.video.aol.com/video-detail/down-syndrome-teen-is-homecoming-queen/3490469585%20-%209%20hours%20ago%20-
In a time of mud-slinging politics, depressing and volatile market news, and negative press all around, this story had me tearing up this morning.
While there may also be Columbine, there is also Alito, Texas. This town is not far from Fort Worth, and while some may give a lot of extra credit to the teens in her school who unanimously elected her, I say, she obviously earned it.
Search it on yahoo and check it out, but make sure that you have a box of tissues handy. In an unforgiving world, there are obviously some incredibly kind and inclusive communities.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Raising Women
Facebook is an interesting phenomenon. It is definitely an amusing timesuck.
For me, Facebook is a universe into which I tread pretty lightly. I definitely enjoy catching up with people I was friends with when I was younger, and am always happy to hear about their fulfilled lives and see their kids adorable pictures. I am however, sometimes a little perplexed at all the "poking" and virtual gifting of Starbucks. But that is a nonsequitor...
Facebook has become such a phenom that I have friends who specifically describe certain people as their "Facebook" friend versus an in-the-flesh one. In that sense it becomes a bit of a popularity contest for some people. And that is a game I really don't have the time or desire to play at this point in my life. But it certainly does bring back some interesting memories for me.
You see, I tortured myself enough with that garbage in high school. So much so that I was friendly with everyone in every social group, but really never truly close with any one person at my school. I always wanted to be nice to everyone and to people-please, and this definitely prevented me from being a true confidant, or really intimate friend, to anyone at my high school at that point in my life.
Now, to be fair in this recollection, I did have two close friends that I grew up with and remained close with at the neighboring high school, and I had some very memorable boyfriends, prom dates, and all that goes with along with that. What I was missing, however, was a true sense of self, and a strength from within. Add in a good dose of anorexia, a mild dose of bulimia, and a dying father, and you can imagine that my high school years were years that I just survived, under the radar, for the most part. What you'll see in the yearbook reveals none of this, and merely documents my leads in the plays and musicals, pictures with friends, and my requisite position in the popularity poll. I was so careful to avoid sharing my innards, my core, with anyone, that I remember being truly shocked at the number of friends and aquaintances that showed up at my father's shivah.
And I am one of the lucky ones. I got help for my bulimia during my college years, help that I sought out for myself after watching a close relative struggle with her eating disorder and her other separate issues. I figured out what I wanted in my life and I went after it. And if that people-pleasing role is no longer a large part of who I am, it did teach me how to make aquaintances easily. I have a large network of wonderful, genuine, caring friends, live in a great community, and have a handful of very close friends who cheer me on and support me when times get tough. I have a kind, generous, amazing husband who is 100% devoted to our family. I've got it good, and I know it.
Why am I writing about all of this now, you may wonder?
The answer is very simple. I have two daughters.
Sarah is beautiful, curious, funny and bright, and has some mild special needs that she may hopefully outgrow with time and therapies. Rachel is fun, caring, playful, nimble, and precocious.
These two beautiful girls of mine will soon age into the social pressures that I faced in school, only it is all happening even earlier these days than it did for our generation.
As a parent I definitely teach my children to be polite, kind, and follow all of the important rules. I was taught to do this at all costs as a child. But I also am teaching my girls to take care of themselves, to express themselves, to be true to themselves, and to stand up for their beliefs.
Even with this approach to parenting, I know that the time will soon come when my oldest daughter will come home from school feeling bad about herself for some reason. And hopefully she will talk to me about it so I can help her develop a way to cope with it. And then, soon after that, will come the time when she will no longer deign to talk to her mother about these pressures, both social and physical, and I will have to hope that all the parenting I do between now and tweenville is enough to build her up to withstand the harsh realities that lie ahead. Then it will start all over again with my youngest.
My own parents raised me to be a compliant, pleasant, giving member of society. All of this has indeed served me well. I am the friend you call for a listening ear, the mom who volunteers with her children at the local senior center. But I emerged from my own early childhood lesson in civilization as a Spongy Person, one who feels others' pain and joy almost too much, and lives life always hoping I have been good and kind enough to everyone else, second-guessing and questioning myself where I shouldn't.
My hope is that in raising my girls to be kind and caring, but stronger than me, they will emerge to live their lives unapologetically and with self-driven purpose. I hope and pray that these lessons stick, and that I have enough time between now and then to prepare them to not just survive, but also enjoy, their high school years and all of the growth that they face in between and beyond.
For me, Facebook is a universe into which I tread pretty lightly. I definitely enjoy catching up with people I was friends with when I was younger, and am always happy to hear about their fulfilled lives and see their kids adorable pictures. I am however, sometimes a little perplexed at all the "poking" and virtual gifting of Starbucks. But that is a nonsequitor...
Facebook has become such a phenom that I have friends who specifically describe certain people as their "Facebook" friend versus an in-the-flesh one. In that sense it becomes a bit of a popularity contest for some people. And that is a game I really don't have the time or desire to play at this point in my life. But it certainly does bring back some interesting memories for me.
You see, I tortured myself enough with that garbage in high school. So much so that I was friendly with everyone in every social group, but really never truly close with any one person at my school. I always wanted to be nice to everyone and to people-please, and this definitely prevented me from being a true confidant, or really intimate friend, to anyone at my high school at that point in my life.
Now, to be fair in this recollection, I did have two close friends that I grew up with and remained close with at the neighboring high school, and I had some very memorable boyfriends, prom dates, and all that goes with along with that. What I was missing, however, was a true sense of self, and a strength from within. Add in a good dose of anorexia, a mild dose of bulimia, and a dying father, and you can imagine that my high school years were years that I just survived, under the radar, for the most part. What you'll see in the yearbook reveals none of this, and merely documents my leads in the plays and musicals, pictures with friends, and my requisite position in the popularity poll. I was so careful to avoid sharing my innards, my core, with anyone, that I remember being truly shocked at the number of friends and aquaintances that showed up at my father's shivah.
And I am one of the lucky ones. I got help for my bulimia during my college years, help that I sought out for myself after watching a close relative struggle with her eating disorder and her other separate issues. I figured out what I wanted in my life and I went after it. And if that people-pleasing role is no longer a large part of who I am, it did teach me how to make aquaintances easily. I have a large network of wonderful, genuine, caring friends, live in a great community, and have a handful of very close friends who cheer me on and support me when times get tough. I have a kind, generous, amazing husband who is 100% devoted to our family. I've got it good, and I know it.
Why am I writing about all of this now, you may wonder?
The answer is very simple. I have two daughters.
Sarah is beautiful, curious, funny and bright, and has some mild special needs that she may hopefully outgrow with time and therapies. Rachel is fun, caring, playful, nimble, and precocious.
These two beautiful girls of mine will soon age into the social pressures that I faced in school, only it is all happening even earlier these days than it did for our generation.
As a parent I definitely teach my children to be polite, kind, and follow all of the important rules. I was taught to do this at all costs as a child. But I also am teaching my girls to take care of themselves, to express themselves, to be true to themselves, and to stand up for their beliefs.
Even with this approach to parenting, I know that the time will soon come when my oldest daughter will come home from school feeling bad about herself for some reason. And hopefully she will talk to me about it so I can help her develop a way to cope with it. And then, soon after that, will come the time when she will no longer deign to talk to her mother about these pressures, both social and physical, and I will have to hope that all the parenting I do between now and tweenville is enough to build her up to withstand the harsh realities that lie ahead. Then it will start all over again with my youngest.
My own parents raised me to be a compliant, pleasant, giving member of society. All of this has indeed served me well. I am the friend you call for a listening ear, the mom who volunteers with her children at the local senior center. But I emerged from my own early childhood lesson in civilization as a Spongy Person, one who feels others' pain and joy almost too much, and lives life always hoping I have been good and kind enough to everyone else, second-guessing and questioning myself where I shouldn't.
My hope is that in raising my girls to be kind and caring, but stronger than me, they will emerge to live their lives unapologetically and with self-driven purpose. I hope and pray that these lessons stick, and that I have enough time between now and then to prepare them to not just survive, but also enjoy, their high school years and all of the growth that they face in between and beyond.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Swiftboat Politics: Are You Ready to Rumble?
Waappp! Obama's middle name is Hussein!
Pow! Pow! McCain has a lymph gland the size of Arizona!
Waaaapp! Obama might be untrustworthy (what a new revelation, an untrustworthy politician? Oh, that's right, he is black, and his middle name is Hussein, therefore he must be a terrorist!)
Pow Pow! Bam! McCain is old and frail and will die in office, leaving Lipstick to rule!
Slap! Waapp! Obama voted for new taxes for indigent families 1,999,999 times!
Bammm! McCain was a POW - POWs are all crazy, so he will surely blow up the planet in a PTSD funk!
Waaap! Bam! Obama knew a neighbor who was arrested as a Domestic Terrorist many years ago! Together they will surely bomb our government buildings in a joyous killing spree!
Pow!!! McCain was one of the Keating 5...of course this is assuming that he is intelligent enough to have brokered that deal or understood it.
Round one! It's a draw! And how could it not be?
Should I move on to round two? Let's not and pretend that we did, because we all know that it will always be a draw with these attacks, which are often at least exaggerated if not downright incorrect.
The thing I find most frustrating is that all around me I hear friends, neighbors, and frenemies alike playing along with this game. All this proves is that we are all much more susceptible to propaganda and swayed by swiftboat politicking than we care to admit.
How about a new strategy (yes, my friends, that is strategy, not strategery - feel free to look it up if you disagree): READ. And by that I do not mean read the internet's biased campaign drivel on either side. I mean READ PUBLIC VOTING RECORDS.
If you take the time to read public voting records and understand with a more realistic approach what each candidate actual votes for and supports, then you know what he will do when push comes to shove. Then, and only then can you make an educated decision. I am not even telling you who to vote for - and believe me, I have an opinion!
Until then please refrain from sending me your loaded emails. And for God's sake, if you are going to say, "I just don't trust Obama", or "Palin's a Nazi", then at least realize that you are not expressing even the remotest intelligent thought, and are instead giving in to your own knee-jerk reaction to the Politics of Fear.
Pow! Pow! McCain has a lymph gland the size of Arizona!
Waaaapp! Obama might be untrustworthy (what a new revelation, an untrustworthy politician? Oh, that's right, he is black, and his middle name is Hussein, therefore he must be a terrorist!)
Pow Pow! Bam! McCain is old and frail and will die in office, leaving Lipstick to rule!
Slap! Waapp! Obama voted for new taxes for indigent families 1,999,999 times!
Bammm! McCain was a POW - POWs are all crazy, so he will surely blow up the planet in a PTSD funk!
Waaap! Bam! Obama knew a neighbor who was arrested as a Domestic Terrorist many years ago! Together they will surely bomb our government buildings in a joyous killing spree!
Pow!!! McCain was one of the Keating 5...of course this is assuming that he is intelligent enough to have brokered that deal or understood it.
Round one! It's a draw! And how could it not be?
Should I move on to round two? Let's not and pretend that we did, because we all know that it will always be a draw with these attacks, which are often at least exaggerated if not downright incorrect.
The thing I find most frustrating is that all around me I hear friends, neighbors, and frenemies alike playing along with this game. All this proves is that we are all much more susceptible to propaganda and swayed by swiftboat politicking than we care to admit.
How about a new strategy (yes, my friends, that is strategy, not strategery - feel free to look it up if you disagree): READ. And by that I do not mean read the internet's biased campaign drivel on either side. I mean READ PUBLIC VOTING RECORDS.
If you take the time to read public voting records and understand with a more realistic approach what each candidate actual votes for and supports, then you know what he will do when push comes to shove. Then, and only then can you make an educated decision. I am not even telling you who to vote for - and believe me, I have an opinion!
Until then please refrain from sending me your loaded emails. And for God's sake, if you are going to say, "I just don't trust Obama", or "Palin's a Nazi", then at least realize that you are not expressing even the remotest intelligent thought, and are instead giving in to your own knee-jerk reaction to the Politics of Fear.
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