Weighing In. . .

I am fed up today with this liberal nonsense.  Everyone has an agenda, EVERYONE!!!  I really wish for once that "people" would actually take on a cause for the sake of the cause and not to push an agenda.  Our schools do have a real problem but it is not one that can be solved over night and it will not be solved by making more laws.
Let us look at what is a law these days, last time I checked it was illegal to take another persons life and yet this happens multiple times every day every where.  It is also illegal to drink alcohol and drive a car, yet  we hear more and more death by motor vehicle due to a drunk driver.  Drugs are also illegal and yet people are dying everyday due to overdose from illegal narcotics.  It is illegal for someone under the age of 16 to operate a motor vehicle and yet you hear about kids dying in car wrecks at the hand of a 15 and under driver.  It is illegal to drive in excessive speeds and yet there are multiple people doing it and wrecks caused by it and people dying because of it.  Oh, and let us not forget the  that schools are gun free zones!!!!  Laws are only as good as the people that follow them.
I believe our problem is not a gun problem but it is a heart problem and a respect problem.  The youth of today have 0 respect for their elders and no I am not 100 years old or even 80 years old.  I was raised to respect my elders (anyone that is older than yourself) regardless of who they are and I was most certainly brought up to respect the law and law enforcement officers.  I have also tried to raise my children to have this same respect.  Some days I feel like I have dropped the ball somewhere and then other days,  fewer days I see I have done a good job.  I get to see that my boys are truly growing into fine young men.
I have talked numerous times about everything that has been going on in the media with my boys, I use these as teaching moments and if all parents would use these as teaching moments what a much better place our world would be.  Let us no teach them if they do not get their way to stomp their feet and demand it be their way or else.  Let us teach our kids to put on their big boy or girl pants and suck it up and move on.  There are going to days even years that will not go your way, you must  rise above it all and do something about it, make a change but do not stomp your feet and protest/pitch a temper tantrum and demand to have "your way."!!
I talked with Big T about the "walk out" after school the other day and he said he did not do it.  He said that he and two of his friends sat in class alone with the teacher and did their work and talked about what was going on.  They talked about how there are better ways to make a change in this world.  He did not try and stop anyone from protesting but he did not see the point in it all.  This was his choice and I think it was a pretty good one.  Sprat does not go to the high school until later in the day so he was not on campus when all of this took place.  He would not have participated in this either.
Our schools say they have a 0 tolerance for bullies and I am sorry but this is laughable.  When Sprat was in middle school he was bullied and so was Big T and nothing was done to any of the kids that were taking part in this.  In fact Sprat was the one that was punished not the bully in his case.  In high school both of my kids have been bullied by teachers, coaches, and other so called adults that work at the high school.   Big T was at the high school waiting for Lacrosse practice just this week and had some woman demand he give her his lap top (school issued from his school not the school he plays Lacrosse for) and she argued with him for a good 10 minutes before she left him alone.  If our schools would take as much time and actually doing what they say they are going to do and follow through our schools would be much better off and so would our kids.  One of my friends daughters was bullied every day on the bus in middle school.  This little girl hit her and stole her lunch and any money she had, every day.  The schools answer was for the child being bullied was to have their parent bring her to school rather than ride the bus.  Nothing was done to the bully!!! This parent transferred her daughter to another school district.
Oh and you can see the respect aspect of all of this play out daily on the news with the so called news reporters that are so disrespectful to the President and his family.  I do not care if you like him or not that is irrelevant, he is the President for that fact alone he deserves respect. The position of President deserves respect, no matter who is at the helm.

Techno Tuesday. . . Social Media

What is it about social media that makes people think they can just say anything to anyone?   I have clicked on news feeds comments section and I am amazed at what some people say and how rude they are to people they do not even know. 
Is it because they are not saying it  in person that they believe it is ok?   Why say something ugly and hurtful to someone, especially someone you do not know?  What purpose does that serve?  Not that it is ok to be hurtful to the people you know.  I just think I would understand it better.   I know some  are just out to cause drama and see if they get a reaction from people, they crave the attention. 
This is one reason I have not let my kids on social media.  Kids are mean enough in person, add a little distance and anonymity and you are just asking for trouble.   I have a few friends that let their kids have a social media account and they shared terrible things their kids have had to deal with.  
It is sad that we as adults cannot set better examples for our kids and others.   I believe it all goes back to the respect issue.   There is a huge lack of respect all over but, especially among young people. 

Sorry I'm late today. . .

I am feeling technology over load today.  I love having a phone that  is smarter than me.  I like checking email quickly without having to go to my computer or laptop and log on and wait for everything to connect.  It is a nice, let's just say it, luxury.  I like checking Facebook with my phone,  it is quick there is no log on required.  The smart phone is a fabulous tool.
Now that I have said all of that.  I absolutely detest sitting in a nice restaurant and seeing someone constantly checking their phone and completely ignoring the people that are right there in front of them.  I do realize there are exceptions and I try not to judge.   One of our family members had their phone out over New Year's dinner because there was an illness in the family and they wanted to be able to be in touch if needed.  Those things I completely understand because I have been there and done that.  It is almost like we have created a whole new type of ADD.  

You know how I feel about children having cell phones, I have expressed that many times here.  My oldest did get a phone this year due to his football schedule and practice.  He did not get the newest and the best $500+ phone, I do not even have one of those.   His phone is not allowed out during meal time, whether we are at home or out to eat.  I personally just think it is rude to be on your phone all the time and ignoring the people that you are face to face with.  I see this more with young people and that goes back to my whole feeling of their lack of respect for anything.  That scares me because they are the ones that are going to be taking care of my age group in our old age.  They do not respect  us now, how will they act when we are old and cannot take care of ourselves.  I have seen them blow by the elderly person coming in a store or almost hit the elderly person crossing the road in front of them, as if to say, how dare you impede my route.   This bothers me because I was raised to respect your elders and be respectful of those around you, whether you are in a car or on foot.   I do not think parents are stressing this today, or maybe they were not raised that way.  

I went off the deep end today sorry about that. 

Attitudes toward Women. . .

I am not an over the top women's liber but I do believe that we contribute more than our part to society and get little if any credit for the hard work that we do.   My husband is not one of those, thank goodness.  I was quite upset the other night sitting at a baseball game when I heard a "man" yell that these boys shouldn't listen to their mothers.  It just so happened that one of our kids was stealing home with everyone yelling run, run and he was tagged out.  We all thought he would make it.  That is when the comment was made.  The "man" also said, "what do they know about baseball anyway."  Well, that flew all over me.  I pride myself on knowing a little something about all the sports that my kids play.  I even went to the Wake Forest Women's Football camp several years in a row so that I could better understand football.  Yes, we had contact too, I learned how to tackle and block.  So you can see how that "man's" comment would really irritate me.  To make it even worse he is one of our parents.  Now, how bad is that, that this nit wit would rag the parents of his own team.  I have thought several times that I would say something to him but, I have not.  I do believe that it would fall of deaf and dumb ears.  I put man in quotes because a real man respects  women, all women.  Since he is on his second marriage I feel sure that may be his whole problem.  He has not learned respect for women and boy does it show.  Just to clarify this rant.  It is the Moms that  see that these boys are fed and ready to go to practice and it is the Moms that sit with them while they do their homework before games and practices.  It is the Moms that take them to practice most of the time and sit watch and cheer them on during practice and games.  It is the Moms that brought these boys into this world and it is a Mom that will cheer, fret over, and defend to the death these children.   Now that I have all of that off of my chest, I feel so much better.

Texting and driving? ? ? ?

So yesterday in all my running around I was almost hit four different times by four different people.  I was beginning to think I was driving with my cloaking device on.  It was like I was completely invisible to everyone around me.  I know my little blackberry is not as big and bold as good old Big Bertha was but good grief.   I watched two people that I know were texting while driving.  I  do not understand the arrogance of some people.  One young man was doing at least 70 down the highway texting or on his computer or something.  How can you think you have control over a vehicle going that fast and you are not paying attention.  I watched him as he flew by me and swerved to one side and then to the other too many times to count.  The bad thing was that there was a car that was riding his tail.  What was that car thinking?  If the guy in front wrecked he would surely take out everyone around him.   I watched one coming home after school, I am assuming it was a student, going down a very curvy road swerving all over the road.  I know how these kids are having wrecks, they are doing everything behind the wheel except paying attention to the driving.
After dropping my oldest off at school I was on the back roads going home and I had a van stuck up my rear end.  If I had to stop for anything they would have killed me.  He was so close that I could smell his breath.  I do not drive that slow, I usually do the speed limit or a little over.  I was getting ready to turn in to our development and this guy flew around me.  You have to slow down to turn into our development because of the angle of the turn.  If you don't you could either take out the person sitting waiting to turn onto the road or take out the brick marker for the development.
Where has our common courtesy gone?  Is everyone so consumed by themselves that they would rather push someone off the road and hurt them just to get on their way?   Are people really that hurried and that unconcerned with someone else's life?  I think this is what is wrong with our society as a whole today.  It is all about me, me, me and self, self, self, who cares about anyone else.  I think we have lost all respect for everything we used to hold dear.  Kids don't respect their parents, so why should they respect their teachers or any other adult for that matter.  This makes me sad.  If we don't start teaching the younger children about respecting their elders I dread to see what our Country will be like in the future.