Dead Presidents, Noble Gases, and an Illiterate Society...

I got onto Facebook yesterday, and I was met with some seriously disturbing statistics. Granted, I haven't verified these numbers as accurate. HOWEVER...I can see how the have the potential to be accurate...and that is scary enough. Here they are...

 

 

Being someone who buys books the way some people buy shoes, I cannot fathom having gone 5 years without visiting the bookstore....and I need BOOKS....Not e-books...I like the tangible feel of a hardbound book.... and the smell of old books..... and the idea that my favorites are stained with water marks where I cried on its pages as I felt the pain of the characters.... I like the idea that no one can unplug electricity and take all my stories away...Reading is the single greatest tool for learning. You gain experiences.. In a book, I have led revolutions,dated millionaires, loved vampires, jumped off of trains, flown on the back of mythical creatures, and raised dragons from eggs.... I suppose that I owe Levar Burton something for that.... 

All of that brought me to what I wanted to talk about today....In college, I read an amazing book written by our very own Benjamin Franklin. 

You remember him...Let's go fly a kite...in a lightning storm...with conductors tied to the tail..".It'll be fun," they said...
Anyway, Franklin was known for saying many outlandish and memorable things...for example:

They complied a book of his lesser known essays. This book is titled, "Fart Proudly." That's right. Arguably my favorite piece of literature ever written by the man is an essay titled "Fart Proudly." He basically says (I'm paraphrasing), 'How can a society expect to take responsibility for their own actions when they cannot do something as simple as claiming their own farts...We all fart. A dog makes no apology for it. Why do we insist on attempting to pass the (gas) buck?'Then he gives a call to action...(still paraphrasing) 'We are Americans! We need to stand proudly...We need to act proudly...and we need to fart proudly..' (It brings a tear to my eye..and it isn't even the gas that does it.)

 In an attempt to teach my children patriotism, I probably should not have started with this essay. My children are now loaded weapons... and feel compelled to ...share their star spangled eruptions...with everyone....proudly.... It usually causes me to give a red glare...if that helps... 

I think my point today is that we need to accept responsibility for ourselves... We need to read more....We need to be informed....and...for goodness sake...fart proudly....