This is madness

I am completely fed up with the world as it is at the moment. It is madness. Donald Trump is the president of the United States of America. That statement alone would be and should be a sufficient place to end this rant in a sane world. I am beginning to believe this is not a sane world. This is madness.

The list of things that bother me on a daily basis are as follows in no particular order:

-Donald Trump is the president of the USA (*noted exception: this one is in proper numerical order).
-Many people seem to believe that professional athletes who decide to protest the continued discrimination in this country of people of color by sitting or standing during the national anthem are "spoiled brats" or are just out for attention. Another oft cited complaint is these individuals just do not understand what these great symbols mean in our country. Our brave men and women soldiers fight and die for these symbols every day. Yet the symbols of our country and its democratic tradition seem to be held in exponentially higher esteem than, say the systemic mistreatment of, unjust killing of and mass incarceration of actual living, breathing human people of color. I contend the brave soldiers who fight for our country are defending NOT the flag or a song but rather the access (and equal access at that) to the rights of all human beings who reside on this soil.
-Many citizens of this country believe that once a sperm meets an egg and fertilizes said egg the fertilized egg should enjoy the full breadth of rights afforded to walking, breathing, living citizens. Never mind the previous point that many are systematically denied those same rights. Never mind the rights of the woman whose body contains this precious commodity. Simultaneously, reliable, affordable birth control is fought against by the same group who lobbies for the rights of the fertilized egg.
-People think DACA recipients receive federal aid. You know, those freeloaders get free college, free housing, free EVERYTHING! WTF? Am I right? No I am not and neither are you. Check the f'n facts.
-For reasons completely incomprehensible by me through copious conversations attempting to comprehend many hate Hillary Clinton. I am listening to her book on Audible and though Ive always liked her I am smitten with her now. She's genuine, funny and wait for it, principled. See my number one bullet point to understand the complete cognitive dissonance I am feeling.

None of this makes any sense if people seek facts. In this currently mad world many are immune to facts. My mind remains boggled. I hope for the best for my children though I do not hold much of it.

Walking Dead Producers/Writers Have Forgotten about the Machete with a Red Handle

I just read a blog that lauded "Crossed" as more interesting because it included all of the groups rather than just one. First off, give me Daryl and Carol, or Rick, Michonne and Carl any episode and I'm set. Please spare me the army group and the Eugene storyline. It was boring even when we thought he had the cure. Glenn and Maggie have long since lost their apocalyptic edge.

Back to "Crossed." I'm most frustrated with it's complete betrayal of previous character development. Most noticeably:

1. Rick would have shot the third cop in the forehead because he tried to first shoot them with an automatic weapon and second tried to strangle Daryl. I've never shot a gun in my life and I would've shot that person. Don't try to kill Daryl. And that goes for you too producers.

2. The other detour from character development that has me concerned is Daryl. One, Daryl Dixon would not ever agree with the  "love not war", weak-minded Tyreece. Especially when it involved saving Carol and Beth. Furthermore on the episode before this one there is no way little Noah holds back Daryl from running into the street to take out the two cops that hit Carol (who by the way had no drawn weapons). Please tell me, WD producers, you are not trying to make Daryl less powerful and popular because you plan to kill him. Maybe you haven't figured it out but you could make Daryl brain dead and people would still watch the show for his appearances. Kill him and you lose a lot of viewers.

3. Sasha. That was dumb. She's not dumb. That was dumb writing. If you are gonna insult viewers with that at least give us the satisfaction of watching her plummet out the window and landing squarely on Tyreece's head.

I don't like anything about how the hospital is supposedly powerful just because the people have guns and police uniforms. Rick and the gang have a crossbow, automatic weapons, ammo and do not forget, a machete with a red handle.

It could be worse...

I have never prescribed to the "it could be worse" mentality. It doesn't occur to me to tell my children at dinnertime when they refuse to eat that there are children starving in China. Most obviously, because China has long since lost its poster child for hunger status but also because there is no logical connection between these items in my own mind. This is, for me, the ultimate challenge in parenting. The ideas I was raised with never made much sense at the time. The only sense they make now is in their potential ability to make my child stare at me blankly and wonder what in the hell I might be talking about. At least it stops what they are doing. But I have trouble incorporating that into a parenting style. My parenting style consists of endless loops of trial and error, guilt, overcompensating for my own childhood scarring, rinse, repeat...

The lack of logic in parenting is really only reinforced the more I look around at other moms and dads and kids. It's a slippery endeavor to be sure. There is only one thing I feel fairly confident about. That is when someone seems to know THE way or THE answer then I know they are full of misinformation and likely an insecurity more painful than mine. I silently hum yankee doodle in my own head to drown out anything they are saying. I take an extra long shower once home just to ensure none of the residue of their self purported wisdom adheres to any part of me.

Here are some of my favorite parental faux pas:

-when I scream at my children at the top of my lungs, "Do not yell at me! It is disrespectful and unkind. It makes you seem like a complete maniac!" and on my really self aware days I add, "if you aren't sure what I mean please take a video of me right now as a reference."

-the well meaning "dont worry about what others think" while I tell them to pull up their sagging pants, comb their hair, and wear clean underwear. No one is fooled here. Least of all our children.They witness me on weekend mornings wearing 10 year old pj's with holes in the them, hair unkempt, teeth unbrushed for hours. When they ask me if I'm gonna comb my hair I reply, "no one is gonna see me."  In this situation I think parenting needs an infusion of honesty. Something along the lines of "please know that people are watching and judging all the time and so in order to not be picked on please do everything possible to seem normal when in the presence of other humans."


-buying everything they want because you feel guilty or you are maybe thinking they need it. There's no hard, fast rule here. I say buy it if you can just to be sure. Forget the guilt. 

The funny thing about this whole parenting thing is no one knows the answers. No, not you. You really don't. It doesn't matter what you think. You don't.