Lessons Taught by Parents

Let's Have a Dialog

It's late at night and while I'm sleepy, thoughts of  my now decade past departed mother are filling my head.  Actually, thoughts of my father were too ... and he's been gone for four decades.  He was on my mind so much today, that I tonight I swore I smelled his cologne for an instant.  So what lessons do we learn from our parents, given that this is the title of today's post.  Values and arithmetic, Morals and reading, Cleanliness and genealogy, so very many things

Values and Arithmetic, Morals and Reading, it seems to me, are paramount in raising a child to be equipped in successfully meandering and or following a dedicated and focused path.  It is important that we teach our children to be able to calculate figures in their head so that they will know if they're being cheated. It is important that we teach our child to sound out words and remember that some don't work well phonetically but rather must be taken on faith that there is a set way to pronounce a particular word.  These basics of arithmetic and reading go hand in hand with value and morals. We want to make sure our child isn't cheated, but neither do we want them to cheat. We want to make sure that our children understand the byways and paths that they'll travel on but we also want to make sure that they understand the implications of said paths - how it will affect not only them but others around them and perhaps strangers as well.  

Lastly, as listed here we have cleanliness and genealogy.  Normally, I don't know that I would put those together, but perhaps I would given that history of family, culture, surroundings, the world around and across the ponds is of vital importance; it tells them where they came from and how they came to be and not just them but societies and personages, perhaps unknown to them for now.  Cleanliness, is not just a matter of washing one's hands or showering off the grime of the day, it has to do with keeping a keen and forthright focus and mindset.  If you fall down, clean yourself up, examine your mistake ..then let it go and begin again with a clean fresh start. 

When you know and accept where you've been, and forgive yourself if necessary, you can move on to finding peace and purpose.  When you are instilled with values, morals, the ability to cipher and decipher, you can accomplish a great deal as you go. 

Let's Have a Dialog.

Outside the Box

Let's Have a Dialog

In the recent sweep of elections, despite the various ramblings of both blue and red, as well as from the media outlets, one of more prevalent issues was that of jobs, jobs of quality, decent compensation or at least a fair level above the federal minimum wage, jobs that want people who can speak and write well, who have wisdom gained from experience or are loaded with fresh ideas that just may be the ticket to pick up a business that is seeking more exposure and profits. I dare to say, that the very people that are sought, are indeed out there but it requires some progressive outside the box thinking on the part of those who are doing the hiring.   

I once worked with an architect, from Ireland, who related to me that he and his partners had been struggling for a time with a certain housing development; wanting to be contemporary, but were having no luck whatsoever, despite implementing all sorts of innovative design.  Yet while they were accomplishing these things in their blueprints and representational drawings, they weren't getting much interest from developers, builders, or even the general public at large.  They had staked their business reputations and experience on these innovative designs and they were losing steam fast from lack of interest.  After several weeks, their secretary approached them with an idea that at first they were reluctant to consider but changed their minds as they had nothing to lose. In a short time they found the idea to be positively brilliant; they hired stay at home wives and mothers and had them working in their home environment taking apart and critiquing that which was being rejected.  They then created summary reports on what did and didn't work well and why.  Shortly after commencing with this outside the box approach the architect and his partners began to see a large turnaround - an influx so big that they had to hire additional help!  The ladies, being busy wives and mothers (however sexist or convoluted it may seem), had an inside knowledge that the male architects didn't possess; functionality.   

There are many who may have a title beside their name, but often those titles are only a hint into what people possess in talent, in expertise, in abilities, and in desired growth - that just maybe hasn't had the opportunity to flourish. Thinking outside the box, like the architects in Ireland may just be the prescription that the business world needs to wake up and smell the coffee.  

Let's Have a Dialog

Verbiage

Let's Have a Dialog                                                                                                          

Interactions between men and women can be described in a whole host of ways.  The verbal, nonverbal, and physical discourse however should never be described in terms that put either part of the coupled equation in the spotlight of humiliation, condescension, or subterfuge. However, in these days and weeks prior to this year's presidential election the general public was given access into a world that seemed to epitomize these very things. 

The results of the election, while preeminent in thoughts, should not gloss over the demeaning conveyances that we were allowed to hear.  Sadly, these thoughts, feelings, and ideas of women come from the very person who has just been elected to this nation's highest office.  I know so many are quite tired of politics and electioneering, but this is not that. this is a topic that should no longer be silenced or swept under the rug of the past.  It's out there now, it existed then, it exists now.  We, as a people cannot let good ol' boy speak, if that is what this is, remain such.  It must be shouted out and stamped out like a campfire or it will surely become a raging one that will be very difficult to contain - on all sides and fronts.

The very act of putting any person in a physical position so as to be easily grabbed, man-handled, pinched, patted, etc should never be advocated, joked about, or casually dismissed as 'locker room' fodder by anyone - in or outside the political spectrum, much less by someone elected to office where they are held up to watch out for the public good.  Whether it was done in the past or not, while equally as troubling, we cannot fix past transgressions of said speak - but we can put them in the forefront so that light is shone upon them and those who are in great need of recompense are satisfied and the perpetrators, predators, and their cheerleaders are educated in the fact that we, as a people cannot and will no longer tolerate such crass, degrading, and reprehensible behavior - most especially from those whom we elect to public office.

So while, the election is over and for now seems set and solid, let us not put away with the ballot boxes the very commentaries and discoveries that have been made public. 

Let's Have a Dialog.