What happened to the American Dream? It used to be that we knew that if we worked hard and saved, we would reap the benefits. That is why so many people came to this country and struggled to be successful--- ---now we are being told you can be successful, but it is not yours to enjoy. Don't get me wrong-I help people; I donate to those who can't help themselves and I do not begrudge it, but I very much resent being told I have worked too hard and saved too much so now I need to give it to someone who has chosen not to work hard.
My parents did without fancy things and a house. I was dead meat if I came home with less than excellent grades. They wanted to make sure I had the money and the ability to go to college. We lived in a single wide trailer until I graduated from college. My dad traveled and stayed in rooming houses if there was no work near home.
Now after living frugally for 60 years, my mother is still having to pay taxes on her savings and I am afraid my kids had better spend every penny they earn before it can be taken away from them with future tax increases.
I really do not resent helping children, the disabled and the infirm, but I do have issues helping people to feel like the third child on public assistance is their right. I chose to stop having children when I did not think I could support more. No one gave me a pay raise when I had another child, and when one actually turned out to be two, no one gave me extra money-in fact I had to pay double for day care, diapers, doctors and formula.
It is ironic that we donate our too small or no longer wanted clothing and furniture to help out those less fortunate, but they are not the ones shopping at the consignment store. Instead, the more well off people scour consignment and Goodwill stores for bargains so the money can be given to the less fortunate so they can buy brand new.....
I remember when at Christmas we were asked to donate gently used-not mutilated-toys for those less fortunate. Now we get lists from people that include things that I have chosen to NOT afford for myself. We are told not to donate used items-the same with clothes. Someone's house burns. They do not have insurance and we are told to make cash donations only. Last I checked, the dishes, towels, furniture they owned were not brand new. Why have people gotten so greedy? Why have people gotten such a sense of entitlement. Oh that's right, in our attempt to help those less fortunate we have made it easy to be less fortunate so for many people there is no reason to try to improve.
I've actually had students tell me people who work and pay taxes are stupid. Sometimes I almost agree with them.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Reach for the stars
Interesting day.
Found out late last night that one of my former students is leaving for NYC in the morning. Really excited for her. She is a talented dancer and has been accepted into the New York Conservatory of Dance. I'm excited for her yet can't help being nervous for her.The city is mean; the career she has chosen is vicious and she is a sweet and sensitive young woman. I don't want her destroyed by her dream, but I also don't want her to not go after it because of being afraid. I also saw another of my students who has made great strides in reaching his potential make a post that shows better than anything he has professed previously that he is a man now. Much sooner than I would have expected, yet not as soon as it could have been. One of my greatest pleasures is when former students seek me out as adults or even on their way to adulthood. I love their successes and sorrow for their problems-I refuse to call them failures because I have seen so many failures turn into successes because they have learned from them. Many years ago, I was told by a teacher that she could not teach us everything we would need to learn in life. Instead, she said she would do her best to teach us how to learn. Obviously, she was more right than she could have ever imagined. With technology that was only a glimmer in the sci fi writers eye being almost out of date now, had she not succeeded in teaching me how to learn, I would have floundered in a world that no longer exists. Instead I find the changes in the world fascinating if also a bit frightening. I have told so many of my students this very thing. I can only hope that despite all the requirements to stick to the objectives and stay on the curriculum straight and narrow, my students have learned to think for themselves and know how to learn. I want them to be as successful 43 years out of high school as I feel like I am. I want them to reach for the stars and believe that with enough work, they can reach them. I want them to believe in themselves no matter what anyone else says. I want them to be the future I can believe in.
Found out late last night that one of my former students is leaving for NYC in the morning. Really excited for her. She is a talented dancer and has been accepted into the New York Conservatory of Dance. I'm excited for her yet can't help being nervous for her.The city is mean; the career she has chosen is vicious and she is a sweet and sensitive young woman. I don't want her destroyed by her dream, but I also don't want her to not go after it because of being afraid. I also saw another of my students who has made great strides in reaching his potential make a post that shows better than anything he has professed previously that he is a man now. Much sooner than I would have expected, yet not as soon as it could have been. One of my greatest pleasures is when former students seek me out as adults or even on their way to adulthood. I love their successes and sorrow for their problems-I refuse to call them failures because I have seen so many failures turn into successes because they have learned from them. Many years ago, I was told by a teacher that she could not teach us everything we would need to learn in life. Instead, she said she would do her best to teach us how to learn. Obviously, she was more right than she could have ever imagined. With technology that was only a glimmer in the sci fi writers eye being almost out of date now, had she not succeeded in teaching me how to learn, I would have floundered in a world that no longer exists. Instead I find the changes in the world fascinating if also a bit frightening. I have told so many of my students this very thing. I can only hope that despite all the requirements to stick to the objectives and stay on the curriculum straight and narrow, my students have learned to think for themselves and know how to learn. I want them to be as successful 43 years out of high school as I feel like I am. I want them to reach for the stars and believe that with enough work, they can reach them. I want them to believe in themselves no matter what anyone else says. I want them to be the future I can believe in.
Friday, February 8, 2013
On the government telling me what/how much to eat.
Just heard Cat Cole say in an interview that Cinnabon believes their customers have enough sense to decide whether to share an 800 calorie bun, buy smaller minibuns or eat the whole thing on those random times when you are craving sugar.
I remember when my boys were young, we used to take my husband to the airport on Sundays. We would share a Cinnabon at the airport and buy one or two to take home to share later in the week. It was a sweet reminder of times with Dad. The most anyone got over several days was 600 calories, usually about 400. No more than having a few cookies but they would spend the time they were eating talking about something their dad did.
So happy to hear a company realizes we are responsible for our choices. Thus my motivation for this rambling.
It is time the government gets out of portion control. I like the idea of knowing how many calories, fat grams, etc. are in my food, but I do not need them determining what I can and cannot buy. Maybe instead we need to consider breeding control. Wouldn't it nice if people who are too stupid to to weak were not allowed to breed. Yes I am being facetious- well slightly. Seriously, stop expecting the government to raise your kids. If you want to raise one, then grow up and take the responsibility for the job.
Just because McDonald's sells a double quarter pounder with cheese does not mean I have to eat it everyday or for that matter even one day. There is no detour that forces my car into the parking lot and doesn't let me out till I buy one. As a former, very former, fast food worker, I remember when the "Gino Giant" (our version of the the Big Mac) was the burger people bought to share or the football players came in to get. Real people ate single burgers, shared an order of fries and bought 12 ounce drinks.without refills. The store came out with a quarter pounder-we called it the JUMBO- hint hint folks, the name means it is BIGGGGGG. The only people who bought it were the football players or couple who came in and ordered one to share. I remember when Mickey D's revealed the double quarter pounder. I seriously wondered who would order that. Now, when you go into the store, most of the sandwiches you see are at the very least double burgers (though with size reductions that is more like a 1.5 burger) and it is not unusual to see kids with a double quarter pounder with cheese. I hear mothers say that "He" is a growing boy," or "I don't want him to be hungry," or worst of all-"He won't eat it all anyway, but he really wants it." True but the idea is to grow up-not out. No one should order food they know they are going to throw away. We also should not give our kids more food than they should eat. For one thing, what happens when they start eating more and more till the entire 2000 calorie meal is consumed. AND they will, especially if you sit and talk after eating or while waiting for the little one to finish the meal. When food is sitting in front of you on the table, it is too easy to mindlessly keep nibbling. We are the adults and we need to teach our kids to make good choices. Since my children were small, I have always tried to guide their food choices. We insisted on a green vegetable as a choice; we also paid extra to get milk with our Happy Meals before they included it for free everywhere (It was only about 25 cents and if I can't afford that, I shouldn't be at a restaurant this week.) AND HEAVEN FORBID- I would say, "No, not this trip." as my son was begging for MAC donnals or King a Burger.
PARENTS need to be PARENTS not buddies. I really feel like we have become a society of people who are not taking responsibility for ourselves. If the government and our parents do not start letting us take the consequences for our actions, we will not learn to make wise choices. I don't want to live in a society where someone tells me everything to do and we are all the same. That IS what will happen if we don't start making responsible choices. Take away all our choices and we WILL become dumb.
Add to that the geniuses n New York who think they are doing people a favor by limiting the sizes of sodas. That's "POP" for you Mid-westerners and "DRINKS" for the Southerners who missed the whole argument. The only people who benefit from this law are the businesses selling the drinks. My husband and I generally share a large drink. If you take a 32 oz. cup, fill it three quarters of the way with ice and then put a drink in it, you end up with about 20 oz. of drinks--that comes to 10 oz per person-only I get about 15 oz and he gets the rest. That costs the business the price of the cup plus about 5 cents. The other $1.75 is pure profit. Now with the drink sizes being reduced in NY, and the lemmings will probably follow suit in other cities and states, we would have to buy two small drinks to get our 20 oz of soda or maybe even medium size. That means the stores will make about twice what they made on the large one as profit-----no wonder they didn't fight the law. Do they really think I am going to drink less with my meal because they reduce the size of the items? Well I will because I'll get water and skip the gold plated soda.
Companies do not make anyone overweight-choices and metabolism do.
OOOOH this is fun, getting to rant without annoying my Facebook friends.
I remember when my boys were young, we used to take my husband to the airport on Sundays. We would share a Cinnabon at the airport and buy one or two to take home to share later in the week. It was a sweet reminder of times with Dad. The most anyone got over several days was 600 calories, usually about 400. No more than having a few cookies but they would spend the time they were eating talking about something their dad did.
So happy to hear a company realizes we are responsible for our choices. Thus my motivation for this rambling.
It is time the government gets out of portion control. I like the idea of knowing how many calories, fat grams, etc. are in my food, but I do not need them determining what I can and cannot buy. Maybe instead we need to consider breeding control. Wouldn't it nice if people who are too stupid to to weak were not allowed to breed. Yes I am being facetious- well slightly. Seriously, stop expecting the government to raise your kids. If you want to raise one, then grow up and take the responsibility for the job.
Just because McDonald's sells a double quarter pounder with cheese does not mean I have to eat it everyday or for that matter even one day. There is no detour that forces my car into the parking lot and doesn't let me out till I buy one. As a former, very former, fast food worker, I remember when the "Gino Giant" (our version of the the Big Mac) was the burger people bought to share or the football players came in to get. Real people ate single burgers, shared an order of fries and bought 12 ounce drinks.without refills. The store came out with a quarter pounder-we called it the JUMBO- hint hint folks, the name means it is BIGGGGGG. The only people who bought it were the football players or couple who came in and ordered one to share. I remember when Mickey D's revealed the double quarter pounder. I seriously wondered who would order that. Now, when you go into the store, most of the sandwiches you see are at the very least double burgers (though with size reductions that is more like a 1.5 burger) and it is not unusual to see kids with a double quarter pounder with cheese. I hear mothers say that "He" is a growing boy," or "I don't want him to be hungry," or worst of all-"He won't eat it all anyway, but he really wants it." True but the idea is to grow up-not out. No one should order food they know they are going to throw away. We also should not give our kids more food than they should eat. For one thing, what happens when they start eating more and more till the entire 2000 calorie meal is consumed. AND they will, especially if you sit and talk after eating or while waiting for the little one to finish the meal. When food is sitting in front of you on the table, it is too easy to mindlessly keep nibbling. We are the adults and we need to teach our kids to make good choices. Since my children were small, I have always tried to guide their food choices. We insisted on a green vegetable as a choice; we also paid extra to get milk with our Happy Meals before they included it for free everywhere (It was only about 25 cents and if I can't afford that, I shouldn't be at a restaurant this week.) AND HEAVEN FORBID- I would say, "No, not this trip." as my son was begging for MAC donnals or King a Burger.
PARENTS need to be PARENTS not buddies. I really feel like we have become a society of people who are not taking responsibility for ourselves. If the government and our parents do not start letting us take the consequences for our actions, we will not learn to make wise choices. I don't want to live in a society where someone tells me everything to do and we are all the same. That IS what will happen if we don't start making responsible choices. Take away all our choices and we WILL become dumb.
Add to that the geniuses n New York who think they are doing people a favor by limiting the sizes of sodas. That's "POP" for you Mid-westerners and "DRINKS" for the Southerners who missed the whole argument. The only people who benefit from this law are the businesses selling the drinks. My husband and I generally share a large drink. If you take a 32 oz. cup, fill it three quarters of the way with ice and then put a drink in it, you end up with about 20 oz. of drinks--that comes to 10 oz per person-only I get about 15 oz and he gets the rest. That costs the business the price of the cup plus about 5 cents. The other $1.75 is pure profit. Now with the drink sizes being reduced in NY, and the lemmings will probably follow suit in other cities and states, we would have to buy two small drinks to get our 20 oz of soda or maybe even medium size. That means the stores will make about twice what they made on the large one as profit-----no wonder they didn't fight the law. Do they really think I am going to drink less with my meal because they reduce the size of the items? Well I will because I'll get water and skip the gold plated soda.
Companies do not make anyone overweight-choices and metabolism do.
OOOOH this is fun, getting to rant without annoying my Facebook friends.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Why am I doing this?
Because I can. I always have something to say about many things and this will allow me to express my feelings and maybe even motivate me to write more often. It also will allow me to post my own pictures on Pinterest. Now I just have to learn how to divide my things into groups so that if you don't want to hear me ranting, you can skip that section---or if cards are not your thing, you can skip that section. NOW BEFORE YOU GET PO'd at something I say, I want it to be clear that this is MY blog and if you don't like what I say-don't stay.
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