primalmommy on tue 14 feb 06
I had some emails off list from a smart friend, who suggested that my
assessment of scouts who failed to 'be prepared' was a bit harsh.
Rereading my post, I can see some truth in that. In the spirit of the
packpedalling olympics, I wanted to post a few disclaimers.
1.) If this were a cub scout camp out and mommies were there, I have no
doubt that there would be extra warm socks doled out, and extra
provisions brought along for those who forgot. I have been that mom, so
I know. One mommy would have carried the kid's saxophone case and
another would have set up the shelters they were supposed to be learning
to build, while they goofed off in the woods. And all the mommies would
remind the kids 423 times to do what they had been asked to do.
But these are Boy Scouts. My 12 year old is the youngest. Half of them
shave and have driver's licenses. Two of them are months away from draft
age, and headed for college next year. They are not yet adults but
certainly not little kids either. So I suspect there is a reason and a
logic to having outings like this without mommies. At some point, soon,
these guys are going to have to solo.
(I have to shake my head about how many bright freshmen I saw drop out
of college because they were unable to feed and clothe themselves, do
laundry, handle money, stay sober or keep from getting pregnant without
adult supervision.)
2.) My kid took extra food and shared with those who asked, as did
others. The marshmallow kid had options, and went for borrowed
marshmallows instead of hot dogs, of his own free will. While there was
certainly "little red hen" factor involved, the kids who spent the
afternoon gathering firewood didn't begrudge the warmth of their
campfires to the ones who played until dark. They didn't give up their
hard-won, hand-made log benches, though.
Life is like that, and has been since Aesop's time. There will always be
ants who do the work of preparing for winter, and the grasshoppers who
fiddle all summer and then come knocking.
My kids are no strangers to helping out folks who have fallen on hard
times. They know their way around a soup kitchen and know we pay our
taxes gladly, because they help buy medicine for 'old ladies like our
grandma' and food for children of the poor.
And if life marches on from here to the starships without a glitch, and
we never run out of starbucks and unleaded, then I suppose folks are
just where they need to be. But I interviewed a lot of my elders when I
was a folklorist, and am not sure we can count on the status quo for the
next generation or so.
Back "in the day", farmers and factory workers and immigrants were
pretty good at fending for themselves. When the gas ran out, they took
the engine blocks out of the cars and hitched them to mules to make
"Hoover wagons". In Nazi-occupied French towns, first the horses
disappeared, then the dogs. People managed. Those who were prepared
could help others. Those who weren't were a burden to the community, but
got help anyway.
Our troop leader is a combat veteran, and also our local emergency
management guy. His day job is planning responses to worst case
scenarios - pandemics and quarantines, natural disasters, terrorist
attacks. All it takes is a tsunami, 9-11, an earthquake, or Katrina, to
remind us that no matter how well prepared the response teams are, if
the disaster is big enough, you can't expect to call 911 and have the
cavalry ride up to your door. Of all the plans he has to map out, "have
mom fix it for me" isn't on the list -and he works with his troop
accordingly.
Sharing your hotdogs at the camp fire is one thing, but if you were in
New Orleans and the water was rising, would you hand over your family's
water supply to strangers at the door? I think our best insurance policy
as a society is the greatest number of individuals who take
responsibility for their own well being. Part of that is rejecting the
notion that somebody, somewhere, will cover for me if I don't bother.
I try really hard to be a good parent, and try not to judge others who
parent differently. (Anyone who is more protective than I am is hover
mother, anyone who is less protective is irresponsible, lol) If I could,
I would protect my kids from all the risks and dangers, wars and
illnesses, heartbreaks and hard lessons. But as they get older, I am
beginning to see that the best way to prepare them for adult life is to
get out of the way and let them blaze their own trail
Yours
Kelly in Ohio
convinced that parenting is the ultimate "hail mary" play...
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Vince Pitelka on tue 14 feb 06
Kelly Sovino wrote -
> Life is like that, and has been since Aesop's time. There will always be
> ants who do the work of preparing for winter, and the grasshoppers who
> fiddle all summer and then come knocking.
Kelly -
As an honorary member in good standing of IGLADS (the International
Grasshopper and Locust Anti-Defamation Society) I must protest your biased
and groundless attack upon responsible and well-meaning grasshoppers and
locusts all over the world. It is not in our nature to go begging at the
doors of those obsessive anal-retentive workaholic ants. We do enjoy life,
but we take care of our own!
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Technological University
Smithville TN 37166, 615/597-6801 x111
vpitelka@dtccom.net, wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
http://www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/
W J Seidl on tue 14 feb 06
Um, Vince...I've been told that grasshoppers eat their mates, just like
praying mantises.
"...we take care of our own..."??
Wayne Seidl
Obsessive, compulsive worker bee
-----Original Message-----
From: Clayart [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG] On Behalf Of Vince Pitelka
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 2:18 PM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: Re: backpedaling in the snow
Kelly Sovino wrote -
> Life is like that, and has been since Aesop's time. There will always be
> ants who do the work of preparing for winter, and the grasshoppers who
> fiddle all summer and then come knocking.
Kelly -
As an honorary member in good standing of IGLADS (the International
Grasshopper and Locust Anti-Defamation Society) I must protest your biased
and groundless attack upon responsible and well-meaning grasshoppers and
locusts all over the world. It is not in our nature to go begging at the
doors of those obsessive anal-retentive workaholic ants. We do enjoy life,
but we take care of our own!
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
primalmommy on tue 14 feb 06
Vince wrote:
>As an honorary member in good standing of IGLADS (the International
>Grasshopper and Locust Anti-Defamation Society) I must protest your
biased
>and groundless attack upon responsible and well-meaning grasshoppers
and
>locusts all over the world. It is not in our nature to go begging at
the
>doors of those obsessive anal-retentive workaholic ants. We do enjoy
life,
>but we take care of our own!
>- Vince
Yeah, well, Vince, my inside sources have observed some pretty ant-like
behavior involved with the running of your ACC programs. I may need to
do further research into that aspect this summer, to be sure you're not
a double agent posing as an IGLADS number.
Anyway, we antish types really enjoy the fiddle music while we're
working ;0) so I'll pack an extra box of rice, beans and ammunition for
you in my bomb shelter, just in case.
Have the docs cleared you for NCECA yet?
Yours
Kelly in Ohio... still waiting for Y2K.
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Vince Pitelka on tue 14 feb 06
> Um, Vince...I've been told that grasshoppers eat their mates, just like
> praying mantises.
> "...we take care of our own..."??
> Wayne Seidl
> Obsessive, compulsive worker bee
Wayne -
Ahhhhhh . . . . just another one of those nasty rumors aimed at the insect
world based on the deplorable behavior of praying mantii, such baseless,
immoral creatures. Don't judge us all because of a few bad apples!
Grasshoppers? Eat their mates? No . . . . we would never do that. We're
good . . . . . and kind . . . . we love our fellow grasshoppers. Mmmmmm,
yeah . . . . that's the ticket.
God I'm hungry. BEATRICE! BEEEEE-ATRICE! WHERE ARE YOU HONEY? Come here
a second baby . . . . . .
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Technological University
Smithville TN 37166, 615/597-6801 x111
vpitelka@dtccom.net, wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
http://www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/
primalmommy on tue 14 feb 06
Wayne Seidl signed himself:
>Obsessive, compulsive worker bee
Uh, Wayne, worker bees are GIRLS.
In fact all but a handful of the whole 60,000-strong hive - workers,
guards, nurses, etc. are female. The males have no stingers, build no
comb, raise no babies, tend no hive, gather no nectar, make no honey and
have no stinger.
They just hang out and eat other people's honey, and are tolerated on
the outside chance that the queen is damaged or killed and they might
need to mate with the new queen.
Which sounds like a pretty cushy job, except for two things:
1.) They mate only once, and leave their seminal sac inside the queen to
provide a lifetime's worth of fertilization. For her, that is. They lose
the whole back end of their abdomens in the process, and after half a
dozen matings the new queen flies around with her suitor's entrails
trailing behind her like banners behind a small plane.
2.) When winter comes and the hive scales back to a skeleton crew for
lean times, the males (drones) get kicked out of the hive to freeze and
starve. You can watch them, on cold fall days, trying to get back in, to
no avail.
Aren't you glad you're not a bee? Human males have so many more options
;0) You can even grow up to be queen.
Yours
Kelly
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