The VP's are Making this a lot More Interesting

Oops - John McCain's done it again...

He's made this election a lot more interesting by picking Sarah Paline as his running mate. Listening to talk radio on both sides of the liberal/conservative positions yesterday was a real fun feast. Nobody knows how this will turn out, but it will definately be more fun to watch.

Joe Biden?

I'm not a politically astute, I'm an Independent voter, and I have no business writing anything that reflects an opinion about politics. I must express my unhappiness with Democratic presidential candidate Obama's choice of Joe Biden for his VP.

Joe Biden represents the status quo -- he is not a symbol of change, the platform upon which Barack Obama has been stumping for nearly a year now. I haven't forgotten that Biden is tarnished by his lack of honesty while a law student. I don't know if Joe Biden has mended his ways, but I think a liar is always a liar, a cheat is always a cheat, and Joe Biden was shown to be both in his past.

With all the good choices available, why Biden? I don't understand by the Obama champaign would pass up General Clark, Governor Richardson, and even Hillary. All of these people have strong qualifications that would rival those of Joe Biden.

We'll see how all this plays out, but I don't see this a an obvious strategic move. Rather, I see this as a major miscalculation. I don't like John McCain either. But, if he picks Mitt Romney for his running mate, that could very well make them the dream team over the Obama/Biden pairing. I don't get it...

Kids will be Adults (or vs.versa)

I'm confused.

When do kids become adults? This, as it turns out, is not a simple, simple question. And, when left unresolved, this question can create unwanted tension and confusion.

When I grew up, kids become adults around the age of 16. If not then, definitely upon graduation from high school at age 18, when headed off to college or to become part of the working world. After graduating from college, there was no doubt that you were an adult. This meant you were invited to sit at the adult table and you were expected to carry your load. In return, you were afforded the respect that was given to adults. Adulthood was something we strove to achieve -- and you had to step up and show that you were worthy to be treated as an adult.

We all know that being an adult isn't all fun and games. You no longer get presents for your birthday from your relatives. Perhaps you'll get a card or phone call to convey appropriate greetings and best wishes. You no longer got money when relatives visit. After all, you are now a member of the wage-earning population. And, when you visit, you are expected to lend a hand when there is cooking and clean-up to be done, or other chores to be shared. Heck, you wanted to help out -- it was the correct and proper thing to do.

Something has changed since I made this transition. Today's young adults seem to want to ride the fence for as long as possible to take advantage of both worlds. Well, who wouldn't want that? If you can still get presents, have the others do the cooking and cleaning, and also your laundry, you win!

Well, perhaps... but, I honestly don't see it that way.

I don't think anyone wins in this scenario. I think the younger folks don't learn how to carry their fair share of the weight -- which is a lot lighter if we all lend a hand. And, one day, they will be left to do everything for themselves because we will be gone (or too worn out to do it anymore.) Then what happens? Who knows? I don't, but think this arrangement stinks.

REST is a 4 Letter Word

Finally. My vacation is here. Well, more accurately my vacation time is here, but I'm still at home.

At this point in my life, I should know you cannot please everyone and should first try to please yourself. But, I haven't yet learned this life lesson. And now this has caused me to lose two days of my precious, once a year beach week. The one week each year I get to go away and forget my work, surrounded my the entire clan in absolutely beautiful surroundings. What went wrong?

I tried to do the "right" thing.

Our travel plans were always to have my husband and I travel to the beach on Saturday. Our two kids are working at summer camp and don't finish until Sunday. They have a car at camp and would come on their own. No problem. But, my daughter (only licensed since February) totaled that car in a beltway accident on Tuesday when she was coming home on her day off from camp. (Praise the Lord she only scraped up her thumbs and walked away otherwise unharmed, but very shook up.) So in going over the options now available to get everyone to the beach, one solution was to have another camp counselor come along and that would provide our kids a ride. Before taking that liberty, I checked with my mid-80's in-laws to see if they wouldn't mind having this "stranger" come for a few days. To me, since my in-laws are paying for the house, this was the proper thing to do.

My in-laws response was it was no problem having the other counselor come along. But, they wanted my husband and I to drive our own kids. This was not a suggestion - this became a source of worry for them (witnessed by no less than 3 phone calls with corresponding lectures on how our children are our most precious things...).

In addition, we had now invited the other counselor to come. So, at age 50+, I am still being told what to do by parents and I have found myself in a frustrating situation because it's Sunday morning and I'm still at home - missing day 2 of my vacation. (I sound like a baby, but I only get 7 days at the beach a year and it takes 5 of them to truly relax, my math says I'm running out of time.)

So, why did this happen? Because I was taught to do the correct, proper, polite and courteous thing, especially when dealing with my elders. And, like it or not (NOT is where I am now), this was a very bad way to handle the situation. If I had not forewarned my in-laws about this change of plans, they would have been happy to see us show up at the beach on Saturday. They wouldn't have expected for our kids to arrive until Sunday. But, again it would have been wrong in my mind to have brought another person into the house without discussing it before hand.

The bottom line is this... others get away with doing what they want all the time. But, I don't because I follow rules that were handed down to me. And, these rules frequently screw things up for me. I could accept the disappointments that come from living by rules designed to make society work if everyone followed these same rules. Which, of course, they don't. Even within our family unit. In talking this out with my husband - also trained in these rules and frustrated by them - I guess it comes down to living by rules that were drilled into your head isn't going to change unless we make a conscious effort to change them.

We should have just said "no" to my husband's family, told them this was our concern and not theirs, and we'd be enjoying the beach now - instead of just finally packing the car. It's that simple, simple.

BTW - we are going to camp, picking up our kids, and leaving directions to the house with the other counselor. That's a f'd up solution, but it's all we've got now.

Hey - It's Time to Get Over it! Race that is...

Okay, unless you have been in a coma, you know there's an election coming. A big one.

So, where will you be when history is made in November? Yes, either way that it turns out, this will go down in history as the first time a black man was the nominee of one of the major political parties.

To me this focus on race is very tiresome. I guess I first became aware that there were different races was when I was a child. As I grew, I was exposed to people of different religions, races, and creeds. Know what? I was taught that you judged a person by what they did and how they acted, not by their religion, race or creed.

I still believe this - with all my heart... I'm white. I'm female. I'm the product of a Jewish man and a gentile woman (married, in case you wondered). And, I experienced extreme prejudice because I was considered a half-breed and had a Jewish last name.

We had our house egged, our trees covered with toilet paper, the police were called any time our dog barked, and people mumbled things under their breath when we passed by. My mother told us this was their problem, not ours. And, I believed her with all my heart. Still do...

So, I understand what it's like to have people discriminate against you. But, I've never treated others (of any political party, religion, race or creed) with anything but respect. But, because I'm white I'm experiencing some things I really don't like or can tolerate - reverse discrimination and age discriminate (I'm 50 and female and white).

What is it? Human beings are so flawed that they need to have someone else to look down on to make themselves feel better about themselves? This is simply pitiful behavior. I don't plan on spending the last 30 years of my life apologizing for things I had no control over - being born white and for surviving into middle age. Sheesh. And, none of my ancestors owned slaves. We didn't come to American until the 1900's and 1920's. In fact, the Jewish side experienced extreme discrimination in the Warsaw getto - so please cut me some slack. Nobody helped my poor, uneducated, non-English speaking ancestors when they got off the boat at Ellis Island. They did it for themselves. And, there was a lot of prejudice against jews (still is) and Germans.

So, life is what you make of it. If you want to waste precious time complaining and waiting for someone to fix things for you - you won't get squat. It's that simple, simple. Wake up, get up, and do something to make things better - and while you're at it, make things better for all your brothers and sisters on Planet Earth.

Thank you very much.