Discipline

As with virtually all the topics brought to our Loose Blogger Consortium for Friday writing, this one can be approached from so many angles.  Who knows what Delirious of Life on a Limb had in mind when she brought it up – although, a clue might be in what she writes on it today! – but the beauty of it all is that each topic has no “right” answer or theme.  That is why I encourage you to look at the clickable list on the right of Consortium members and see what they wrote.  After reading my delightful piece, of course.

My father was a truly excellent school principal.  One of the hallmarks of his ability was his easy mastery of discipline with his students, something that those who have it make look SOOO easy.  So, what was his secret?

I asked him precisely that one day, “Dad, how do you make it look so easy?”  His answer was straightforward and simple, “Never attach a consequence to an action that you are unwilling or unable to produce.  When kids test you, never fail at this and always deliver the consequence and they accept it as inevitability.  Thereafter, you don’t even need to tell them emphatically.”

Alloyed with this was a marvelous instinct and the capacity to come up with the perfect creative response at the right time.  For example, when coaching a boy in Jr. High who was a star athlete, the boy was not participating in practice.  When Dad asked him why he wasn’t working at it and told him that if he didn’t practice he wouldn’t play, the boy responded, “I‘m not going to practice because I don’t give a $%!+ about practicing.”

Now, this is the point when a lot of educators would go ballistic and try to dominate the boy.  Not Dad.  He just told the boy that he didn’t either, so the boy may as well just go home.  Then he turned and walked away to work with other boys.

Outcome?  The boy decided practice wasn’t so bad after all.  Easy.

Best answer to the question: Does my bum look big in this?

Paul of Blackwatertown fame came up with this for the Friday Loose Blogger Consortium topic.  Danger, Will Robinson!

First, we have to look at the consequences of managing this topic improperly:

I think that to properly pull it off and survive, it is good to set the bar high, then set the questioner’s derriere above that bar!  Now, what in current society sets the bar high?  Why, Pippa Middleton’s bum, of course:

To men, her bum is proof that God is indeed good!  I mean, it has absolutely no bad angles.

So, that being considered, here is a test answer:

Your bum is the only one in the universe better than Pippa Middleton’s.  This shows it to advantage!

This answer is fraught with danger, too.  I can anticipate some of them:

1. Why have you been looking at Pippa Middleton’s bum?
2. That didn’t sound particularly sincere.

And, on and on.  No, on reflection, the best response is to show appreciation with an immediate roll in the hay!  With gusto!  And say nary a word.

No tax break for lap dances????

Yes.  In a sad ruling, New York’s highest court has voted 4 to 3 that lap dancing is not tax exempt because it does not promote culture in a community the way ballet or other artistic endeavors do.

Me, I think New York is just using it as a way of getting more money in their coffers when foreign leaders visit:

NOTE: I had a picture of a foreign “dignitary” in a picture with a pole dancer.  Besides being in bad taste – which he, the lying SOB, deserves – I pulled it knowing that some people react violently to such things.  Besides, it was obviously a picture someone else had photoshopped.

I had no desire to suddenly disappear.  But, you must admit that this ruling and the call for it fits right in there with the absurdity of the day.

Secrets

This topic was brought to the Loose Blogger Consortium this week by our member, Will Knott.  Be sure to check out what he and the other members have to say about Secrets on their own blogs which you can conveniently visit by clicking on their links listed on the right side of the page.

While a boy growing up in Kansas in the 1950’s and 1960’s, I joined the Boy Scouts of America along with many of the other kids from town.  We even parade marched in front of former President Dwight David Eisenhower and future President Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1962 as part of the dedication of the Eisenhower Library.

We were proud to be Scouts and faithfully learned our knots and how to march somewhat in sync.  Every meeting, we repeated our Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, our Scout Oath and Scout Law and worked on our Merit Badges.  We camped in the summer on a week-long retreat.  We had official uniforms, a secret left-handed handshake and saluted with three fingers.

Boy Scout Oath or Promise

On my honor, I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.

No one ever did anything improper toward me while I was a Scout, nor do I know of anyone else involved in improper activity.  To me, some of the most reprehensible actions are those committed by a person who takes a position of trust and uses the power and authority of that position to violate those entrusted to his care and guidance.  I think this may be the reason I am so outraged when I hear of the sexual violation of youth by teachers or priests or – and this one is hot off the wires – Boy Scout leaders.

The damage done in these instances is incalculable for the individuals involved.  Kids afraid to speak up, for the very source they have been told is a moral authority is actually a predatory creature bent on sick gratification.  These are crimes so heinous that the other hardened prisoners in the penal system often exact their own version of frontier justice when no one else is around.

The damage done to the victims often is a disruptive force in their adulthood, causing a burden of bewilderment and confusion, guilt and shame, in a secret package sealed within that festers and then blocks healthy interactions, sometimes with mates left to wonder where the problem is that always seems to lurk below the surface.

There will always be these types of individuals in our world and I don’t expect them to be magically eliminated.  However, what disgusts me the most is an organization, whether it be the church or the Boy Scouts, that puts loyalty to its priests and leaders above service to recipients of its moral instruction.

An excerpt from the article:

In one case, the files show that after a volunteer in Texas was expelled when he confessed to molesting Scouts in 1965, a local Scouting official wrote to the national office and said a minister that knew the man "is doing his best to protect Boy Scouting and trying to keep this incident as quiet as possible.

"However, if some parents file charges, of course it will come out into the public."

The people in your care are ALWAYS your first priority.  Stopping abuse if it is discovered must be immediate and those abusers must not be protected from society’s sanctions and justice.  Immediate care for the abused must be initiated at the expense of the organization, regardless of the embarrassment or expense.  Any organization unwilling to unflinchingly stand up for these responsibilities immediately in the light of day should be disbanded.

To their credit, this also was indicated about Scouts as it currently stands:

The organization currently requires even suspected cases of child molestation to be reported immediately to law enforcement officials, conducts criminal background checks, and prohibits one-on-one contact between an adult and a Scout. The group now rigorously trains volunteers and leaders to spot signs of abuse.

On the news, they said that almost all of these cases were beyond the statute of limitations and that these revelations were more embarrassing than anything else.  Embarrassing?  No, it’s much worse than that.  It is a misplaced mockery of morality and care.  It is, in fact, a crime.

Quotations from an online article by Chris Francescani and Teresa Carson

Reuters

3:06 p.m. CDT, October 18, 2012

Time, the universal currency

The Lady F and I are very busy right now, but in no sense are we victims of circumstance.  We have accepted life’s tasks, but we take the time to notice the scenery of life along the way.  And that scenery is gorgeous!

We have been spending many weekends caring for the Lady’s mother since the death of my father-in-law.  We found that she was progressively losing her sight at the age of 87.  The eye specialists diagnosed wet age related macular degeneration caused by a profusion of blood vessels and bleeding in the retina.  She started a series of treatments and is responding well, but that led to the realization that she had something called a macular pucker in one eye that required surgery in San Francisco.

We brought her to our house and took care of her here for two weeks.  The surgery was a success and things are going very nicely!  That investment of time drew fast dividends.

Along the way, we had some time to spend as spare change and spent it taking in some of the sights:

This is a group of 25 quail that crossed our path.  They are all over the mobile home park in which my mother-in-law, Gigi Fossil, lives .

They also have hummingbirds and here is one little fellow at her feeder:

Back home, the birds are no fewer.  Here are “the girls” as we call them that line up on our street lamp post out front:

We also love our plants, like our Christmas Cactus and our Angel’s Trumpet:

We spend time with our kids whenever possible and our granddaughter, who is growing into a fine young lady.  She is becoming a better soccer player, too!

Every so often, a special event pops up.  This one was once in a lifetime, the Space Shuttle flying low within three blocks of our house:

Then, there are the birthdays and anniversaries.  We celebrated our 30th Anniversary with our best friends, who live in the Sierras about an hour from Yosemite.  Here is one of those views that just caught my eye while sitting and sharing on their patio:

Then we went to Yosemite, where the wildlife are so protected and so tame that they simply hang around with the people:

We had brunch at the Ahwahnee Hotel at the park, world famous for beauty, setting and quality.  The food alone is some of the best I’ve eaten.  This is the lounge area in the hotel:

Then, going outside for a walk after eating so much delicious food that you think you will pop, the views are incomparable.  On our walk, I took this picture of Half Dome:

So, you’d think coming home would be a letdown after all this.  But … there is always a sunset while on an evening walk:

It isn’t a Pollyanna world for us and we work and contend a great deal.  But we are rich, oh so rich, in those things that count, those things we have the privilege to spend our time on.  We are surrounded by beauty begging to be seen, creatures sharing the wonders, family that cares about the substance of life.

Thank you, world.

Still too busy

I regret to say that I can’t participate with my beloved friends in the LBC again this week.  I cannot say when this extreme work and life load will let up, but until then … wish me luck!!!

Don’t worry, it is to the good right now.  Just VERY busy.  Mostly work, but also care giving.

I'll be back after this weekend

Sorry about not writing on the topic, but a lot has been happening and we have been trying to finish everything necessary so that we are free and clear to celebrate our 30th Anniversary at Yosemite this weekend.

Two of my favorite things: Yosemite and this beautiful woman I have been lucky enough to call my mate for 30 years! It doesn't get much better.