Signs of a Super Dad: A super dad does not bark often, but when he does EVERYONE stops what they are doing.
You always hear how the U.S. public school system is falling apart. Cliques and bullies, destroy our children’s self-esteem. Schools are overrun with gangs, drugs, and violence. Teachers aren’t paid enough. Classrooms are over crowded. Meningitis, Staph infections, and a host of all other kinds of disgusting diseases infecting students. Oh, and let’s not forget teachers having sex with their students. Are you scared yet? It isn’t surprising both the NCES and NHERI stated between the years 2003 and 2006 the number of homeschooled children has more then doubled. (I would post a link supporting that fact but I don’t feel like it. So just Google it.) Yes, many of those things happen. I was in high school when the first “suburban” school shootings started. The prospect of placing children into such a volatile situation as the public school system seems terrifying. Am I sensationalizing just like the evening news for ratings? Yes, but my point is this: Are the problems with public schools any different then adult life?
Students in public schools are from all walks of life. Many schools have different races, different social classes, different religions, different everything. It is easy to see how conflict would arise because of so much diversity. Public school is a scary place, but so is life. If you take your children out of public schools because you fear what “might” happen you are setting them up for failure. Sooner or later your kids will be introduced to the “evil” side of life. You cannot keep them away from it forever. Your children need to learn how to deal with complex issues that they are faced with in the public school system. It is not all about book learning, it is about socializing. It is about teaching your children how to deal with a bully, or cliques, or drugs. They need to learn how to interact with someone who thinks differently then them. This is how it will be when they are an adult.
We have to interact with people form different walks of life every day. The same problems that plague public schools do not suddenly disappear when children reach adulthood. If you try and keep your child inside a bubble sooner or later it will pop. By introducing them to the troubles and tribulations in public schools you still have time to teach them properly, instead of isolating them just to bombard them later. Now, I am not saying public schools are perfect, or that they don’t need a lot of work. I am just saying there is more to these “problems”. That these “evils” that go on can be used as teaching tools. Your children sooner or later will be introduced to them anyways. I would rather have them introduced while I still have some ability to teach them how to deal with it.
Naturally you can conclude what my view is on private schools and home schooling. I live blocks from one of the highest rated private schools in the country; I will not send my children there even if I had the money. If I had a doctorate in children’s education and 20 years experience as a school teacher I would never homeschool my children. Children don’t stay isolated for their entire lives. Sooner or later they are subjected first hand to various “evils” in the world. It is my job to teach my children how to deal with those “evils”. The public school system is a testing ground for how I am doing. Hopefully, it will tell me how I am doing before it is too late.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Epidemic of Fat
Signs of a Super Dad: A super dad knows the difference between a 4-3, 3-4, Nickel and Dime. The strengths and weaknesses of both the Zone Blitz and the Tampa 2. How to French Braid, name every Thomas Train on sight, and bake a mean pie.
I am not going to pretend I can do everything and be everywhere. Even a Super Dad has his limits. As my children grow older, I will have to start making choices. One of these important choices is how to handle after school activities. I will do everything in my power to “softly nudge” my children to play organized sport. Throughout grade school and high school I played organized sports. Sometimes I loved it, sometimes I hated it, but I didn’t really realize its importance till college. Like much of our lethargic society, I stopped all type of sports activity a couple years after high school. It didn’t take long till I was 70 pounds overweight and, in my view, morbidly obese. I wish I had kept physical activity as a daily routine that organized sports forced upon me. It took me 2 years till I could see my abs again. Now, I try to keep my body in decent physical shape by running, lifting, and playing Volleyball. My goal is to be in the best physical shape of my life. Not only for the health benefits and my wife liking it, I wish to be an example to my children.
Children should play organized sports because it gives them a daily routine of physical activity. Our society is too stationary. We have an epidemic of fat that is suffocating our population. Organized sports does not necessarily mean the staple sports people usually think of, Basketball, Baseball, Football, but even things like Kung Fu, marching band, anything that includes daily practice with physical activity. Hopefully by both being a good example and being involved with whatever sport they choose to play will help them further enjoy physical activity. That training and playing for a sport is both fun and something to be proud of.
Now, there is a stereotypical view of the “overly involved” dad. Everyone has seen the guy at a 4rth grade basketball game screaming at the refs because they made a call he didn’t agree with. This is not a Super Dad. This guy is an idiot. Reliving past failures through your children is both irresponsible and hurtful. A father needs to be a positive role model for their children. Screaming at your 9 year-old for missing a pop-up is the opposite of being a positive role model. Not only is this person embarrassing himself and his family, he is teaching his kids to be stressed out and hate something they should be doing all of their life. Don’t do it. This also leads into my next point.
There are draw backs to organized sports, specifically, the terrible coach. Organize sports should be about teaching kids good physical fitness habits, improving yourself through hard work, and working as a team. Not, winning at all costs. Coaches should teach, not worry about winning. I have experienced far too many piss pour coaches. This goes back to my post last week, a coach, like a parent, who constantly makes fun of their kids is doing harm, no matter what his record is. This is so incredibly obvious, right? And I cannot fathom why I keep seeing coaches of little kids who are screaming and insulting their kids. It’s ridiculous! It is easy for me to write it now, but it is my duty as a Super Dad to immediately yank my child out of anything he/she is participating in if I witness this. I just hope I have the strength at the time to act on it.
Pour coaching is atrociously bad at the high school level. Just because the kids are bigger means you can insult them? It makes me sick. Unfortunately, life is not fair, and more then likely when my children reach high school they will experience a terrible coach. I just hope I have given them the proper tools to deal with this crap. I would be monumentally proud if my child told a coach go “shove it”, but the sad fact is they might have a boss very similar to this one day. That this is a test drive to properly handle the situation and not ME trying to get back at past demons.
Thanks for reading. Tell a friend.
I am not going to pretend I can do everything and be everywhere. Even a Super Dad has his limits. As my children grow older, I will have to start making choices. One of these important choices is how to handle after school activities. I will do everything in my power to “softly nudge” my children to play organized sport. Throughout grade school and high school I played organized sports. Sometimes I loved it, sometimes I hated it, but I didn’t really realize its importance till college. Like much of our lethargic society, I stopped all type of sports activity a couple years after high school. It didn’t take long till I was 70 pounds overweight and, in my view, morbidly obese. I wish I had kept physical activity as a daily routine that organized sports forced upon me. It took me 2 years till I could see my abs again. Now, I try to keep my body in decent physical shape by running, lifting, and playing Volleyball. My goal is to be in the best physical shape of my life. Not only for the health benefits and my wife liking it, I wish to be an example to my children.
Children should play organized sports because it gives them a daily routine of physical activity. Our society is too stationary. We have an epidemic of fat that is suffocating our population. Organized sports does not necessarily mean the staple sports people usually think of, Basketball, Baseball, Football, but even things like Kung Fu, marching band, anything that includes daily practice with physical activity. Hopefully by both being a good example and being involved with whatever sport they choose to play will help them further enjoy physical activity. That training and playing for a sport is both fun and something to be proud of.
Now, there is a stereotypical view of the “overly involved” dad. Everyone has seen the guy at a 4rth grade basketball game screaming at the refs because they made a call he didn’t agree with. This is not a Super Dad. This guy is an idiot. Reliving past failures through your children is both irresponsible and hurtful. A father needs to be a positive role model for their children. Screaming at your 9 year-old for missing a pop-up is the opposite of being a positive role model. Not only is this person embarrassing himself and his family, he is teaching his kids to be stressed out and hate something they should be doing all of their life. Don’t do it. This also leads into my next point.
There are draw backs to organized sports, specifically, the terrible coach. Organize sports should be about teaching kids good physical fitness habits, improving yourself through hard work, and working as a team. Not, winning at all costs. Coaches should teach, not worry about winning. I have experienced far too many piss pour coaches. This goes back to my post last week, a coach, like a parent, who constantly makes fun of their kids is doing harm, no matter what his record is. This is so incredibly obvious, right? And I cannot fathom why I keep seeing coaches of little kids who are screaming and insulting their kids. It’s ridiculous! It is easy for me to write it now, but it is my duty as a Super Dad to immediately yank my child out of anything he/she is participating in if I witness this. I just hope I have the strength at the time to act on it.
Pour coaching is atrociously bad at the high school level. Just because the kids are bigger means you can insult them? It makes me sick. Unfortunately, life is not fair, and more then likely when my children reach high school they will experience a terrible coach. I just hope I have given them the proper tools to deal with this crap. I would be monumentally proud if my child told a coach go “shove it”, but the sad fact is they might have a boss very similar to this one day. That this is a test drive to properly handle the situation and not ME trying to get back at past demons.
Thanks for reading. Tell a friend.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
A gift for my children.
I am going to start off each post from now on with steps to becoming a Super Dad.
Signs of a Super Dad:
Super Dads can navigate any stroller in any terrain using one hand.
If you had one gift, only one gift, that you could give to your offspring what would it be? It is a pretty difficult question. Happiness? Intelligence? Always loved? One gift you knew for sure they would learn or acquire from you. I don’t even have to think about it. Self esteem. Pure and simple. When I look back at my life, I will know I have succeeded as a parent if all my children have healthy, strong self-esteem. To me nothing is more important.
I believe most of our societal problems are either directly or indirectly related to self-esteem. Before I go any further, I just want to make a distinct difference between high self-esteem and being arrogant. There is a simple way to distinguish the two. The arrogant person enjoys hearing themselves talk. The person with high self-esteem enjoys listening. Let me explain further, a person with high self-esteem does not need to talk themselves up or talk about the great things they have done. They did them, they were there, they don’t need to brag or keep themselves the center of attention. They know they are a good person and don’t need to feed off of others approval. Now, let me also point out I have never met someone who have reached the self-esteem “Nirvana”. That place where you never doubt or feel down on yourself. Quite frankly, I don’t believe such a person ever existed. A person with high self-esteem may doubt themselves every now an again, that’s just natural, but they don’t dwell and they quickly recover to their normal high self-esteem selves. So why is self-esteem so important?
I am not going to waste my time and yours reciting the research on the connection between low self-esteem and depression, eating disorders, anxiety disorder etc, etc. It is an obvious connection and a simple Google search will verify that. I am not saying low self-esteem is the cause of all these disorders. What I am saying is building my children’s high self-esteem will significantly reduce the chances of them getting many of these disorders.
I would also argue high self-esteem is more important then say, intelligence. Let me give you a simple example. Let us say child one has an exceptionally high IQ, studies very hard, and invents a flying car. He becomes filthy rich and famous but has an atrocious self image. Child two never did very well in school, isn’t what we would consider as intelligent, and for her entire life worked as the manager of a local gas station. She likes who she for what she is. She has very high self-esteem and has no problem with her lot in life. Now, especially in America, many people would say that child one is better off. That ones monetary gains and stature in life equates into a successful life. But, I would be prouder of child two because they are confident with themselves. They are happy with whom they are and that’s all I want. If my child likes who they are it doesn’t matter what they do.
(But, let us not be ridiculous here. On a strictly selfish reason, child one can be, sometimes, tempting. The idea of my child buying me this
www.mustangheaven.com/stangspecs/2008/2008ShelbyGT500KR.htm
in black with red trim, and don’t forget the fog lights, is extremely appealing. But, that’s that American devil talking. Oh and Christmas IS coming up if anyone needed a suggestion)
So, two examples out of many, many more I can come up with. Of course the obvious next question is how does a Super Dad accomplish this magnificent feat of Dadhoodom? Feck, I don’t know. Really, I can only speculate, and if this blog is around 30 years from now we will know if I am correct or not. First of all I will do what my parents did. I would admit to having a pretty good Self-esteem. Not as good as I would like, but even Super Dads aren’t perfect. I attribute this to how my parents raised me. When I was young, I cannot think of a time my parents ever made fun of me, or even mocked me in anyway. I think this is a huge factor, especially to young kids, on how they develop self-esteem. Mocking your children to their face, even if you think its harmless ribbing, is trying to make yourself feel better at their expense. Nothing productive comes from it. So, think a little before you make that seemingly harmless comment. If you are constantly putting them down how will they learn not to do it themselves? Another thing my parents did was tell me they loved me to such a degree it was annoying. They still do! I will also. Telling your child you love them over and over to a ridiculous extend is building your child’s self-esteem, plain and simple. They learn from your example. Every time you tell your child you love them is another brick on their self-esteem foundation.
Now, I will only compliment my children on something they did correctly. I don’t like telling kids their great even when they fail. When they fail they should know it and be taught how to do it right. Over complimenting for failure is setting up children for failure in the real world. Your children aren’t perfect and I/you need to realize that. They have to learn how to work for something. Working through failures to achieve a goal is a great way to build self-esteem. A child learns that by working hard they improve themselves and should take pride in that. This is something I never really understood as a kid. I hope I can relate this to my children.
To close, I truly hope I have the ability to build my children’s self esteem house. I hope it is sturdy when the winds of anger and turmoil come. That the roof does not leak with the pounding rain of the blues. That the foundation is strong so it does not collapse under stress. That it stays cool and a place of refuge when the suffocating heats of life’s problems arrive. That the house is the most envied on the block and something all would strive for when looked upon.
Thank You for reading.
Signs of a Super Dad:
Super Dads can navigate any stroller in any terrain using one hand.
If you had one gift, only one gift, that you could give to your offspring what would it be? It is a pretty difficult question. Happiness? Intelligence? Always loved? One gift you knew for sure they would learn or acquire from you. I don’t even have to think about it. Self esteem. Pure and simple. When I look back at my life, I will know I have succeeded as a parent if all my children have healthy, strong self-esteem. To me nothing is more important.
I believe most of our societal problems are either directly or indirectly related to self-esteem. Before I go any further, I just want to make a distinct difference between high self-esteem and being arrogant. There is a simple way to distinguish the two. The arrogant person enjoys hearing themselves talk. The person with high self-esteem enjoys listening. Let me explain further, a person with high self-esteem does not need to talk themselves up or talk about the great things they have done. They did them, they were there, they don’t need to brag or keep themselves the center of attention. They know they are a good person and don’t need to feed off of others approval. Now, let me also point out I have never met someone who have reached the self-esteem “Nirvana”. That place where you never doubt or feel down on yourself. Quite frankly, I don’t believe such a person ever existed. A person with high self-esteem may doubt themselves every now an again, that’s just natural, but they don’t dwell and they quickly recover to their normal high self-esteem selves. So why is self-esteem so important?
I am not going to waste my time and yours reciting the research on the connection between low self-esteem and depression, eating disorders, anxiety disorder etc, etc. It is an obvious connection and a simple Google search will verify that. I am not saying low self-esteem is the cause of all these disorders. What I am saying is building my children’s high self-esteem will significantly reduce the chances of them getting many of these disorders.
I would also argue high self-esteem is more important then say, intelligence. Let me give you a simple example. Let us say child one has an exceptionally high IQ, studies very hard, and invents a flying car. He becomes filthy rich and famous but has an atrocious self image. Child two never did very well in school, isn’t what we would consider as intelligent, and for her entire life worked as the manager of a local gas station. She likes who she for what she is. She has very high self-esteem and has no problem with her lot in life. Now, especially in America, many people would say that child one is better off. That ones monetary gains and stature in life equates into a successful life. But, I would be prouder of child two because they are confident with themselves. They are happy with whom they are and that’s all I want. If my child likes who they are it doesn’t matter what they do.
(But, let us not be ridiculous here. On a strictly selfish reason, child one can be, sometimes, tempting. The idea of my child buying me this
www.mustangheaven.com/stangspecs/2008/2008ShelbyGT500KR.htm
in black with red trim, and don’t forget the fog lights, is extremely appealing. But, that’s that American devil talking. Oh and Christmas IS coming up if anyone needed a suggestion)
So, two examples out of many, many more I can come up with. Of course the obvious next question is how does a Super Dad accomplish this magnificent feat of Dadhoodom? Feck, I don’t know. Really, I can only speculate, and if this blog is around 30 years from now we will know if I am correct or not. First of all I will do what my parents did. I would admit to having a pretty good Self-esteem. Not as good as I would like, but even Super Dads aren’t perfect. I attribute this to how my parents raised me. When I was young, I cannot think of a time my parents ever made fun of me, or even mocked me in anyway. I think this is a huge factor, especially to young kids, on how they develop self-esteem. Mocking your children to their face, even if you think its harmless ribbing, is trying to make yourself feel better at their expense. Nothing productive comes from it. So, think a little before you make that seemingly harmless comment. If you are constantly putting them down how will they learn not to do it themselves? Another thing my parents did was tell me they loved me to such a degree it was annoying. They still do! I will also. Telling your child you love them over and over to a ridiculous extend is building your child’s self-esteem, plain and simple. They learn from your example. Every time you tell your child you love them is another brick on their self-esteem foundation.
Now, I will only compliment my children on something they did correctly. I don’t like telling kids their great even when they fail. When they fail they should know it and be taught how to do it right. Over complimenting for failure is setting up children for failure in the real world. Your children aren’t perfect and I/you need to realize that. They have to learn how to work for something. Working through failures to achieve a goal is a great way to build self-esteem. A child learns that by working hard they improve themselves and should take pride in that. This is something I never really understood as a kid. I hope I can relate this to my children.
To close, I truly hope I have the ability to build my children’s self esteem house. I hope it is sturdy when the winds of anger and turmoil come. That the roof does not leak with the pounding rain of the blues. That the foundation is strong so it does not collapse under stress. That it stays cool and a place of refuge when the suffocating heats of life’s problems arrive. That the house is the most envied on the block and something all would strive for when looked upon.
Thank You for reading.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Hope.
I am trying to post every Monday or Tuesday. This is one is late because I sprained my back playing volleyball and haven’t been able to sit at the computer for 2 days. So I am being a trooper and toughing it out for your enjoyment.
I was going to write about how big of a hypocrite I can be. Last week I ranted on how I hate strangers touching my kids and I go and let some lady at the park feed my kids some Cheerios. I figured what the heck she is feeding them to her own kid so they can’t have poison in them. Also, “Super Dad’s” cannot give up free food. But, the election moved me such that I feel compelled to write about it.
I am not qualified to pick a president, and I consider myself a little more intelligent then most people. I know little to nothing about economic policy, how to properly end the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, or how to keep our country out of the next Great Depression. I have no idea what it takes to run a country. I could express my opinions on what I think needs to be done and they would sound pretty darn intelligent, but honestly I could never really do it. And really if you think about it, 95% of the residences in this country are not qualified to be president. Just take a trip to a Wal-Mart or listen to the morning news as all the proof you need. Ask yourself, do you know what the president does all day? Most of America does not have the education, background, or experience to run a country, so how would they know how to choose someone to do it for them? The American people vote for the people who are most like themselves. They want a person who will look out for their needs, wants, and morals. They want the best summarization of everything they stand for even if it is not the best thing for the country.
For instance I am going to share two reasons I voted the way I did. I choose these two reasons because I feel many people would probably disagree with them. This is how I feel and I would guess a good portion of others feel the same, but many people do not. First, I voted for Obama because he is black. I feel the African American community is lacking in proper role models. That America is ever moving towards a more diversified populace and Obama is a better representation of this country. I have a very negative view of this country because I believe many people hold very discriminatory views. I have grown up witnessing a great deal of racism so I can only picture most of America is similar. If Obama gets elected, my view of this country will greatly improve. It will give me faith that the majority can look beyond race and this leads me to my second point. Two, I voted Democratic because of homosexuals. The open hatred and bigotry towards homosexuals in this world is sickening. You see it everywhere, on the TV, radio, and even with our children calling each other “Fags”. I even grew up saying things like, “That’s so gay,” or “You’re a fag”. It disgusts me I acted so. Denying people the basic right to marry the person they love is barbaric. This is one subject I am very emotional about and I probably wouldn’t be this way if it wasn’t for two of my very good friends. These two people watch my kids. When I get a chance to go out (which all of you know is difficult at best being a “Super Dad”) I call them first. I want them to get the chance to experience what I have marrying my wife. The enjoyment of a wedding, honeymoon, raising kids, and everything else that comes with marriage. I could go on for pages at the ridiculousness of telling someone else who they can and cannot love, but that is not the point here. The point is I think these two views are important in a President; a lot of people would disagree. Whose right? Your personal views aside, what’s the best for this country? I think I am right, am I? Do you want me picking someone for President with these ideals?
As our system works now we are spoon fed what a certain candidate represents. The candidates hope they can appeal to the greatest number of people in a very diverse society. The candidates portray themselves in a certain light that gets the most votes. The two parties argue and tear each other down. They make the most annoying political commercials to scare people into picking them. They waste millions of dollars just to convince people they are the most qualified person, even if they really are not. You would have to say, "There has to be a different way to do this!" There has to be a way to figure out the “best” person to run this country. The thing is I don’t think there is a better way to do it. I had an idea about bringing the greatest minds in our country together to make a computer simulation that would test every person in America. The person with the highest grade would be the perfect President. That this person would then be groomed by a special school for years before they became president. That after twenty years of grooming they should be able to handle anything. Then the question is asked, “Who are the greatest minds?” “How do we decide on that?” “What’s the best thing to teach?” It pretty much breaks down again to arguing and campaigning, and quite frankly I feel every other idea would break down similarly. So even though the political commercials drive you nuts, and we always hear about corruption, and or leaders making idiotic decisions, the system we have is the best we got. That we can only hope that the effort a candidate puts into moving up his/her party ranks make them qualified to run this country. That the candidate jumping through hoops and impressing enough smart people has given them the required experience. That the judgment of picking the right people for their campaign that wins an election is comparable to picking the correct people to help run this country.
As a side note, I feel compelled to share my personal views of last night’s election. I watched the election coverage for almost 3 hours. Once they announced my home state of Pennsylvania going to Obama I knew it was over. Throughout the evening, I was brought to tears three times. (I hadn’t done something like that since a House episode 3 or 4 years ago, which was about a baby dying. Yes, all “Super Dads” can have a heart.) Twice because of seeing elderly African Americans crying so hard they could not speak into a microphone and once during Obama’s speech. Disgusted, cynical, fed up are just some of my feelings towards my country in the last couple of years. (I am a child of generation X. I guess it’s in my birth right.) I truly felt anger and hate ran so deep in our population that we were in serious trouble. So much hate against Muslims and Homosexuals just a name a view that I had pretty much given up hope in our government. For the second time in my life I have witnessed something so special it has completely changed my view of this country. This is a great country. My hate runs deep but now does my hope and my pride. What happen last night does not solve the racism, or hate, and Obama might not even be the right choice for this country, but that enough people could look past his race to vote for him is so heart warming it has given me hope. It is such a significant step toward equal treatment for “all” that I am elated I was alive to witness it.
Thanks for reading.
I was going to write about how big of a hypocrite I can be. Last week I ranted on how I hate strangers touching my kids and I go and let some lady at the park feed my kids some Cheerios. I figured what the heck she is feeding them to her own kid so they can’t have poison in them. Also, “Super Dad’s” cannot give up free food. But, the election moved me such that I feel compelled to write about it.
I am not qualified to pick a president, and I consider myself a little more intelligent then most people. I know little to nothing about economic policy, how to properly end the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, or how to keep our country out of the next Great Depression. I have no idea what it takes to run a country. I could express my opinions on what I think needs to be done and they would sound pretty darn intelligent, but honestly I could never really do it. And really if you think about it, 95% of the residences in this country are not qualified to be president. Just take a trip to a Wal-Mart or listen to the morning news as all the proof you need. Ask yourself, do you know what the president does all day? Most of America does not have the education, background, or experience to run a country, so how would they know how to choose someone to do it for them? The American people vote for the people who are most like themselves. They want a person who will look out for their needs, wants, and morals. They want the best summarization of everything they stand for even if it is not the best thing for the country.
For instance I am going to share two reasons I voted the way I did. I choose these two reasons because I feel many people would probably disagree with them. This is how I feel and I would guess a good portion of others feel the same, but many people do not. First, I voted for Obama because he is black. I feel the African American community is lacking in proper role models. That America is ever moving towards a more diversified populace and Obama is a better representation of this country. I have a very negative view of this country because I believe many people hold very discriminatory views. I have grown up witnessing a great deal of racism so I can only picture most of America is similar. If Obama gets elected, my view of this country will greatly improve. It will give me faith that the majority can look beyond race and this leads me to my second point. Two, I voted Democratic because of homosexuals. The open hatred and bigotry towards homosexuals in this world is sickening. You see it everywhere, on the TV, radio, and even with our children calling each other “Fags”. I even grew up saying things like, “That’s so gay,” or “You’re a fag”. It disgusts me I acted so. Denying people the basic right to marry the person they love is barbaric. This is one subject I am very emotional about and I probably wouldn’t be this way if it wasn’t for two of my very good friends. These two people watch my kids. When I get a chance to go out (which all of you know is difficult at best being a “Super Dad”) I call them first. I want them to get the chance to experience what I have marrying my wife. The enjoyment of a wedding, honeymoon, raising kids, and everything else that comes with marriage. I could go on for pages at the ridiculousness of telling someone else who they can and cannot love, but that is not the point here. The point is I think these two views are important in a President; a lot of people would disagree. Whose right? Your personal views aside, what’s the best for this country? I think I am right, am I? Do you want me picking someone for President with these ideals?
As our system works now we are spoon fed what a certain candidate represents. The candidates hope they can appeal to the greatest number of people in a very diverse society. The candidates portray themselves in a certain light that gets the most votes. The two parties argue and tear each other down. They make the most annoying political commercials to scare people into picking them. They waste millions of dollars just to convince people they are the most qualified person, even if they really are not. You would have to say, "There has to be a different way to do this!" There has to be a way to figure out the “best” person to run this country. The thing is I don’t think there is a better way to do it. I had an idea about bringing the greatest minds in our country together to make a computer simulation that would test every person in America. The person with the highest grade would be the perfect President. That this person would then be groomed by a special school for years before they became president. That after twenty years of grooming they should be able to handle anything. Then the question is asked, “Who are the greatest minds?” “How do we decide on that?” “What’s the best thing to teach?” It pretty much breaks down again to arguing and campaigning, and quite frankly I feel every other idea would break down similarly. So even though the political commercials drive you nuts, and we always hear about corruption, and or leaders making idiotic decisions, the system we have is the best we got. That we can only hope that the effort a candidate puts into moving up his/her party ranks make them qualified to run this country. That the candidate jumping through hoops and impressing enough smart people has given them the required experience. That the judgment of picking the right people for their campaign that wins an election is comparable to picking the correct people to help run this country.
As a side note, I feel compelled to share my personal views of last night’s election. I watched the election coverage for almost 3 hours. Once they announced my home state of Pennsylvania going to Obama I knew it was over. Throughout the evening, I was brought to tears three times. (I hadn’t done something like that since a House episode 3 or 4 years ago, which was about a baby dying. Yes, all “Super Dads” can have a heart.) Twice because of seeing elderly African Americans crying so hard they could not speak into a microphone and once during Obama’s speech. Disgusted, cynical, fed up are just some of my feelings towards my country in the last couple of years. (I am a child of generation X. I guess it’s in my birth right.) I truly felt anger and hate ran so deep in our population that we were in serious trouble. So much hate against Muslims and Homosexuals just a name a view that I had pretty much given up hope in our government. For the second time in my life I have witnessed something so special it has completely changed my view of this country. This is a great country. My hate runs deep but now does my hope and my pride. What happen last night does not solve the racism, or hate, and Obama might not even be the right choice for this country, but that enough people could look past his race to vote for him is so heart warming it has given me hope. It is such a significant step toward equal treatment for “all” that I am elated I was alive to witness it.
Thanks for reading.
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