Look at all the pretty snowflakes!!! So unique...So fragile... So, what's not to like about snow?!
It reminds me of a story about a man who moved up north...lol.
A Southerner Moves Up North...
December 8,
5:00 PM. It's starting to snow. The first of the season and the first one we've seen in years. The wife and I took our hot buttered rums and sat by the picture window, watching the soft white flakes drift down, clinging to the trees and covering the ground. It was beautiful !!!
December 9,
We awoke to a lovely blanket of crystal white snow covering the landscape. What a fantastic sight. Every tree and shrub covered with a beautiful white mantel. I shoveled snow for the first time in years and I loved it. I did both our driveway and our sidewalk. Later a city snowplow came along and accidentally covered up our driveway with compacted snow from the street. The driver smiled and waved. I waved back and shoveled it again.
December 10,
It snowed an additional 6 inches last night and the temperature has dropped to around 11 degrees. Several limbs on the little shrubs snapped due to the weight of the snow. I shoveled our driveway again. Shortly afterwards the snowplow came by and did his trick again. Much of the snow is now brownish-gray.
December 11,
Warmed up enough during the day to create some slush which soon became ice when the temperature dropped again. Bought snow tires for both cars. Fell on my butt in the driveway, $145.00 to a chiropractor, bu nothing was broken. More ice and snow expected.
December 12.
Still cold. Sold the wife's car and bought a 4 x 4 in order to get her to work. Slid into a guardrail anyway and did a considerable amount of damage to the right rear quarter panel. Had another 5 inches of the white crap last night. Both vehicles covered in salt and crud. More shoveling in store for me today. That darn snowplow came by twice today.
December 13,
3 degrees outside. More f...ing snow. Not a tree or shrub on our property that hasn't been damaged. Power was off most of the night. Tried to keep from freezing to death with candles and kerosene heater, which tipped over and nearly burned the house down. I managed to put the flames out, but suffered second degree burns on my hands and lost all my eyelashes and eyebrows. Carl slid on ice on way to emergency room and was totaled.
December 14,
Darn mother-f...ing white crap keeps on coming down. Have to put on all the clothes we own just to get to the f...ing mailbox. If I could catch the son of a bitch that drives the snowplow I'd chew off his ass and rip out his heart. I think he hides around the corner and waits for me to finish shoveling and then comes down the street about 100 MPH and buries our driveway again. Power still off. Toilet froze and part of the roof has started to cave in.
December 15,
6 darn more f...ing inches of f...ing snow and f...ing sleet and f...ing crap fell last night. I wounded the f...ing snowplow a..hole with an ice ax but he got away. Wife left me. Car won't start. I think I'm going snow blind. I can't move my toes. Haven't seen the sun in weeks. More snow predicted. Wind chill factor -22 degrees. I'm moving back to North Carolina.
I find myself relating to this man in so many ways. It is no wonder that conservatives have nicknamed the "social justice league" with "snowflake." Like the man in the story viewing only the positive side of snow, I began with the idea that being politically correct was a positive movement meant to promote politeness and a general respect for mankind. Well, as the old adage goes," When you assume...You make an ass out of you and me." ( Ass-u-me...In case anyone is not with me today...It might be a southern American expression.) In the stead of actually being polite, we have become a society that is afraid to hear opinions that do not match our own. The young people of the United States are demanding that they have the right to free speech, but no one else can have those rights. We have even come to the point where these toxic avengers no longer recognize the difference between protesting and rioting.
How did our society move from comedy roasts to 3rd degree sunburn sensitivity? Did parents not hug their kids enough? Is it because people from the 1960's hippy era raised flower children of their own?
Maybe...I personally think part of the blame falls on the current school system. When we were in school, being forced to read sonnet after sonnet of Shakespeare's droning...(which he probably wrote for either the wench down the alley or the young and strapping lad starring as Juliet in his latest showing at the Globe...)
The teacher would ask us repeatedly,"What do you think Shakespeare meant when he said__(fill in the blank)___? The question placed the importance on the accomplished writer's intentions. It taught students to see from another person's perspective. It emphasized the idea that "putting on the author's shoes" was the best way to analyze the situation.
This is no longer the practice of our schools. Now the question goes as follows,"How does this story make you feel?" As harsh as it seems, the only and correct answer to that question is,"Who cares?!" In one tiny question, we have moved the entire system of evaluating. The idea that the unaccomplished middle school/Jr, high/ high school student's unqualified opinion has any real value is absurd. It simply doesn't matter how it makes you feel! The single idea that this random person's opinion is as or more important than the intention of the person who wrote it is why we have a SJW problem today.
(The irony that a blogger said that opinions don't matter isn't lost on me...This is a blog... This is my opinion...We all have the right to one... at least for now...Take it or leave it...)
We have taught an entire generation of students that their feelings are as, if not more, important than reality.
I believe in affecting change. It does absolutely NO good to complain about something without offering up solutions to the problem at hand. Therefore, I have decided to compile a 3-step plan for undoing an entire generation of butt-hurt.
1: It must begin at home.
Ultimately the biggest influence a child has is his parents. Not simply because they are around first and more, but also because every child wants acceptance from their parents. My child was once in a school district that was filled with children who knew in the 5th grade that they would apply for welfare upon graduating high school. Though some of the teachers quit trying long ago to make an impact, this was a result of parental influence. The administration had to bribe parents with raffles and gift cards and free meals to get them to attend an assembly. How can you teach children to better themselves through self drive and a solid education when their parents refuse to care?! You can't. It is a very sad situation. Between the parents who let technology be their babysitter to the parents who want to fight their children's battles for them, if we want the self entitled whining to stop before these children are old enough to make the laws, we must change ourselves. We must teach our children to expect greatness out of themselves through hard work, teach them to "suck it up, Buttercup" when people say things they don't like, and show them by example that life is what you make it...nothing more and nothing less.
2. We must change the schools.
Note: Most teachers are making amazing effort to educate children. However, they are given too many ridiculous guidelines, not enough money, and are stripped of power to control the students. This is not about them.
I was asked about kindergarten the other day and what it actually taught children (They were considering homeschooling.) I began to explain that it covered numbers to 100, shapes, the alphabet, small words, etc., but it teaches other things... How to conform. How to think as a unit (walk in a single file line, raise your hand, etc.)... Are these things hurting our children? On the surface, I don't think so. I think it teaches children to function in a society that has rules. However, the long term ramifications of mass schooling may include not thinking for themselves, the inability to voice a differing opinion, and a personal need to "tell the teacher" and let someone else fight their personal battles. Couple that with the now lack of evaluation skills, and viola'! You have an entire generation that needs safe spaces.
3. We must change (back) the government.
When America was founded, the idea was to create a government that was small and efficient. It was designed to keep the power in the hands of the populous. The American dream was to live in a society where an individual could succeed or fail based on his own efforts. This is important to understand. People flocked to the United States for 400 years to ESCAPE GOVERNMENT CONTROL. We (especially this younger generation) have lost sight of this. At some point, we lost perspective.
We must not trade freedoms for comfort. Freedoms are only ever won back through bloodshed, and we would do well to remember that those freedoms are the most precious gifts ever bestowed on people without power.
America should not be socialist. America should not have MORE government. If we want to maintain the integrity of what America stands for, we will push for less government.Here is the crux. In order to succeed in a restored America, we must accept that we create our own destiny.
Free will, baby! It is our choice to better our situation or not. It is our choice to push for success. It is true that not everyone has the same starting point, but with the attitude of personal responsibility, each generation of every family will have it a little better than the last... and that is the American dream...THAT is winning.
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