That's the Spirit!

July 30, 2014

We were at the park the other day watching some kids doing three-legged races. They didn’t tie the kids’ legs together, they just put one leg of each kid in a burlap bag, and had them hold onto the sack.

After the usual falls and whatnot, some kids won; and as the contestants who had finished were wandering back to their families, we saw one little boy and an older girl who were still fairly near the starting place. They fell, and struggled up. The little boy was pulling the sack back on to keep going; but the girl had apparently had enough, as she ripped off the sack and turned back. He followed her, but you could tell he wasn’t happy about it.

You go, kid. Never say die.

May They Live in the Hell They Create for Others

July 18, 2014

Bolivia’s Congress has approved a proposal to make child labor legal for children as young as 10 years of age.

I could wax eloquent about how rotten it is to steal a kid’s childhood and deny him the chance for education to build a better life; and how stupid it is to then expect that somehow the kids of today will be able to take care of the world tomorrow, or raise their own country out of poverty.

Or perhaps I could hope that legalizing child labor will give the kids some protections which they don’t have now, since you know people are using child labor illegally anyway.

But I can pretty much sum up my feelings this way:

Damn them!

NOT a Den of Iniquity

July 8, 2014

I think it’s funny that when I mention going to the horse races, people react like I’m diving into the seamy underbelly of society.

Actually, the races are very family-friendly. It’s like going to a baseball game, except that you’re guaranteed 2 minutes of excitement every 20 minutes.

The Benefits of Stage Fright

July 5, 2014

While I’m on this Lemons into Lemonade kick (See “Life’s Just One Big Adventure”), I should point out a huge benefit of having stage fright, namely that it ensures that I make short speeches.

I once took a temp job for one week as an administrative assistant to a School-to-Career program. It was behind the scenes, where I like to be—no muss, no fuss. Eventually I ended up running the program, which meant that I had to address various school, civic and business groups on a regular basis. And I have such terrible stage fright that I can barely remember my own name in front of an audience, much less a speech. So I made sure I kept the speeches short, short, short, getting to the point without dramatic flourishes or lots of padding.

Obviously this benefited the audience than me, but at least nobody groaned and said, “Oh, no, not her again!”

And I did get compliments on my speeches. I like to think that they were for the clarity and humor of the presentations—but I doubt that the brevity hurt anything.

So if you have stage fright, just remember—the audience, at least, will appreciate it.