Perspective

My two year old reminded me today of a lesson I try to teach my boys.

Me, griping: "There are a lot of bad drivers out today."

Sam: "But Mommy, they aren't bad. They're nice."

Me: "You're right. They're just making poor decisions today."

Just that little reminder, that we all make poor decisions, calmed me. I could feel my blood pressure drop back to normal. Because I'm sure I've done bone-headed things while driving - forgetting to signal, getting confused which lane I should be in, maybe stopping a little too late and quickly. Haven't we all?

And that little parenting lesson, telling my sons that I still love them even when I don't like their behavior, is about separating the person from the action.

Remembering that the driver who just cut you off isn't really a bad person sure can make you remember that they are a person. The driver isn't the car, which is easy to transfer anger to, inanimate object that it is. And the driver is only human and humans make mistakes.

I bet removing my anger and aggression (ok, more annoyance than anger) made me a better driver so someone else wasn't griping about my ability to safely maneuver a car.

Least presidential thing

With all the hoopla Sunday night and since about the killing of Osama bin Laden, there is a movie quote that keeps running through my mind. It's a quote from "The American President" (1995).

President Andrew Shepherd: What I did tonight was not about political gain. 
Leon Kodak: Yes sir. But it can be, sir. What you did tonight was very presidential. 
President Andrew Shepherd: Leon, somewhere in Libya right now, a janitor's working the night shift at Libyan Intelligence headquarters. He's going about doing his job... because he has no idea, in about an hour he's going to die in a massive explosion. He's just going about his job, because he has no idea that about an hour ago I gave an order to have him killed. You've just seen me do the least presidential thing I do. 


Michael Douglas plays President Andrew Shepherd. If you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it. 


While I understand the necessity, I find the euphoria.... uncalled for? Cheap? A lot of other people have pinpointed some of the uncomfortable feelings I have watching the cheering crowds and reading the smack talk on Twitter. So I'll share one that I think makes the point rather well.


I found links on Feministing and GOOD to this post on ColorLines.

Pictures from my 4 year old

Wil discovered my digital camera yesterday and has been taking pictures ever since (almost 200 so far). Very few have been so out of focus that I just deleted them (about 5). the vast majority are just things he found interesting, like the wall, the stairs, the grass.... But a few are actually pretty good.

Wil's guitar

Portrait of a dinosaur

Dinosaur family

Wheelbarrow wheel

Study of a wheelbarrow

Car

Hi Daddy! I found the camera!

Action shot of Daddy working

Mommy, how does this work?

Picture of Mommy & Sam

self-portrait of the artist

This is just a small selection, but I was quite impressed with the composition of some of the photos.