First Walks and Debunking

Favorite Son and the BRS Out for a Stroll

Yesterday’s fabulous summer like weather meant one of the first ever outside walks for the BRS. My son called later in the day to report she seemed to like the exposure but at one week of age it was hard to gauge. During our FaceTime call we did note that she seems to becoming more aware of the world. Her eyes were fully open and looking around for the first time. She also immediately focused on her dad as soon as he spoke and was looking around for her abuela when she heard my wife’s voice. I’m assuming they had a number of heart to heart talks during my wife’s week up there. This, of course, sent my Favorite Panamanian into the throes of grandmotherly bliss.

Traveling Girl!

Our talk with the FBR was decidedly less serene as we watched her mother try and convince her to eat a kale and tomato salad. The kale went okay but tomatoes were being launched in unfortunate directions. She does have some of my genes!  Her dad, Wingman, is enroute to Missouri as I write this to help out his mom. He flies with our thoughts and prayers. The FBR is receiving a gift today that I sent her as soon as she left on Monday, her very own copy of Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer! I’m sure her parents will be thrilled with this acquisition (tongue firmly in cheek). I came home to a similar surprise as I noticed an amazon package at the front door. My daughter and I always end up discussing books whenever we’re together and she strongly recommended Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders, which she’d recently read. Needless to say the surprise package was a copy of the book. I was really touched and love having an actual book instead of the electronic version I now read most of my books on. I also felt a little guilty because as much the FBR will love the movie I sent, her parents will probably be cursing me during the umpteenth time they are forced to watch it with her.

I’ve been truly amazed at the poised and determined effort by the young victims of last week’s mass shooting in Florida to throw their pain into the faces of NRA supported politicians. While there’s always this hue and cry following one of these despicable acts this one feels different. They certainly landed some body blows on the politicians who couldn’t avoid them. There was even an historic meeting at the White House with the president himself and some of the dialogue was heart wrenching. My only hope is the national media won’t lose their current ardent interest in the story. Despite what is often written about our youth I was impressed with this group’s eloquence, drive and most of all, their courage.

Along the same lines I saw this picture posted on Facebook by a well-meaning friend today. It purports to show Bill Gates’ 11 rules for living. 

I was going to re-post it here because I liked what is said to young people less focused than the ones I wrote about above. There are some very good truths captured. Before I did that though, I decided to follow my own advice about confirming the veracity of these type messages before passing it on. It took me less than twenty seconds via a Google search to reveal that Bill Gates did not use these rules in a speech to high school students. They have been incorrectly attributed to him since the year 2000. They’re still good rules if a bit dated now (I particularly like #s 1, 6 and 8). They were originally conceived by an educator writing about over-indulged, politically correct teenagers and were incorrectly attributed to Gates, I assume to give them more cache. Here’s what the original rules were:

Rule No. 1:   Life is not fair. Get used to it. The average teen-ager uses the phrase “It’s not fair” 8.6 times a day. You got it from your parents, who said it so often you decided they must be the most idealistic generation ever. When they started hearing it from their own kids, they realized Rule No. 1.

Rule No. 2:   The real world won’t care as much about your self-esteem as much as your school does. It’ll expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself. This may come as a shock. Usually, when inflated self-esteem meets reality, kids complain that it’s not fair. (See Rule No. 1)

Rule No. 3:   Sorry, you won’t make $40,000 a year right out of high school. And you won’t be a vice president or have a car phone either. You may even have to wear a uniform that doesn’t have a Gap label.

Rule No. 4:   If you think your teacher is tough, wait ’til you get a boss. He doesn’t have tenure, so he tends to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he’s not going to ask you how you feel about it.

Rule No. 5:   Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it opportunity. They weren’t embarrassed making minimum wage either. They would have been embarrassed to sit around talking about Kurt Cobain all weekend.

Rule No. 6:   It’s not your parents’ fault. If you screw up, you are responsible. This is the flip side of “It’s my life,” and “You’re not the boss of me,” and other eloquent proclamations of your generation. When you turn 18, it’s on your dime. Don’t whine about it, or you’ll sound like a baby boomer.

Rule No. 7:   Before you were born your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning up your room and listening to you tell them how idealistic you are. And by the way, before you save the rain forest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents’ generation, try delousing the closet in your bedroom.

Rule No. 8:   Your school may have done away with winners and losers. Life hasn’t. In some schools, they’ll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. Failing grades have been abolished and class valedictorians scrapped, lest anyone’s feelings be hurt. Effort is as important as results. This, of course, bears not the slightest resemblance to anything in real life. (See Rule No. 1, Rule No. 2 and Rule No. 4.)

Rule No. 9:   Life is not divided into semesters, and you don’t get summers off. Not even Easter break. They expect you to show up every day. For eight hours. And you don’t get a new life every 10 weeks. It just goes on and on. While we’re at it, very few jobs are interested in fostering your self-expression or helping you find yourself. Fewer still lead to self-realization. (See Rule No. 1 and Rule No. 2.)

Rule No. 10:   Television is not real life. Your life is not a sitcom. Your problems will not all be solved in 30 minutes, minus time for commercials. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop to go to jobs. Your friends will not be as perky or pliable as Jennifer Aniston.

Rule No. 11:   Be nice to nerds. You may end up working for them. We all could.