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The destructive nature of man
Something as simple as throwing rocks can fascinate kids for hours. We spent hours at the rocky end of the island this afternoon tossing rocks back out into the surf (it was actually pretty calm this afternoon).
For whatever reason, there’s something deeply satisfying about heaving a big rock out into the water and making a big splash – and I’m not immune. We started out with the magnificent splash of the one’s we could barely lift, and finished off with a lesson on the fine art of skipping rocks across the water. The kids loved the hunt for flat rocks (suitable for a good skipping) as much as they enjoyed a good toss.
Their old man is going to have a sore shoulder for the better part of a week, but it was so worth it.
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Classic Onion
This one stands on it’s own (and does it admirably).
WASHINGTON, DC–Mere days from assuming the presidency and closing the door on eight years of Bill Clinton, president-elect George W. Bush assured the nation in a televised address Tuesday that “our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is finally over.”
“My fellow Americans,” Bush said, “at long last, we have reached the end of the dark period in American history that will come to be known as the Clinton Era, eight long years characterized by unprecedented economic expansion, a sharp decrease in crime, and sustained peace overseas. The time has come to put all of that behind us.”
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Surely they don’t mean it
“I’d rather burn in hell than pay her any money.”
A guy said that to me the other day. It’s nothing new. People say it all the time. It doesn’t come from all the folks we deal with; not even a majority of them. Still, despite our lofty goals, the harsh truth of my job is that you can’t always turn bad people into good people. There are some folks who seem to be so full of hate and spite that no amount of assistance, persuasion, or punishment (when it comes to that) seem to be enough to bring them around. If there’s any concern for the well-being of their kids in there, it’s buried deep.
In order to do my job well, I try to understand. I try to imagine the circumstances that would bring someone to this point. I don’t know if it’s my sheltered upbringing or my relatively uneventful life, but sometimes I can’t see it… not really. Even if I thought the mother of my kids was spending my money unwisely, surely I’d see that cutting off all the support for my children was not the answer.
Most days I like my job, but I wonder if a growing inability to relate to these folks (on some level) is a bad sign.