It's True. I'm A Snob. You Should Be, Too.
This is from several years ago, but it’s been updated, and it’s still true. I don’t suffer fools gladly, and I don’t think you should, either. A great deal of the world’s problems stem from suffering fools.
Mamacita says: When people’s lives are focused primarily on television shows, celebrity antics, pizza delivery, Nascar *, sports, farting, belching, frantic sneaky extra-marital sex, having their own way in everything, leaving work early, going to work late, not going to work at all, gossip, making assumptions, trying to boss people around, yelling as a way of life, hitting when things don’t go their way, and looking after #1, how can they stand themselves and each other? I’m serious. And why would any sentient person even sit by someone like that, let alone marry them and breed with them and be seen in public with them?
I know people who yell a lot and to be perfectly honest, and you know I will be on this blog, nothing they have to say is remotely interesting to me. I don’t do “yelling.” Raise your voice to me and I’m out of there, mentally for sure and physically if at all possible. Try to boss me around and I tune you out.
I’m a people-watcher, and there are times when I’ve wondered if some peoples’ heads contain anything that doesn’t resemble styrofoam peanuts. Is it really possible to sustain and nurture any kind of relationship based on a mutual love of American Idol and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos? What kind of children will such people bear, and rear? (Wait, I already know the answer to that one. . . .)
I know I’m a bit of a snob – people have been pointing out that little fact for years now so don’t bother – but this kind of life seems really, really, really, really shallow to me. Life without intellect. . . . life without constant intellectual exchange. . . Life without debates and conversations and trivia contests at the dinner table and music and art and knowing how such things are put together and playing 6 Degrees of Separation with all kinds of topics. . .I couldn’t live like that. I couldn’t – and wouldn’t – live without these things. I wouldn’t want to, either. I’m not saying,of course, that EVERYBODY should know the things I know, but I want to know things others know; shouldn’t everybody want to know everything they can possibly absorb in the short time they’re on this earth? It seems sometimes that some people work hard so they won’t have to learn things, rather than work hard so they can.
Americans know every detail about Britney and Lindsay and Mel and Tom, but how many Americans can name five scientists? Five distinguished politicians – not the overweight pork-bound stupid scandalmongers who drown girlfriends in lakes and get by with it or actually believe blowjobs aren’t sex – but five distinguished, scandal-free, honest, kind, decent politicians?
There are Americans who have Dale Earnhardt up on a pedestal and who lay flowers at his grave and practically revere him as a god, but who have no earthly clue who Clara Barton or Father Flannigan or Virgil Grissom were, and if they did, they wouldn’t care. Beer! Tailgate! Cars all covered with advertising! This was never meant to be a lifestyle. Most fans don’t even know that “NASCAR” is an acronym.
There is probably not an American alive today who can’t tell you something about Bill Clinton’s sexual antics in the White House, but how many people can tell you a single thing about his actual presidential accomplishments? There were many.
Kennedy snogged Marilyn Monroe, but what else did he do?
Who’s been to the moon? Who conquered polio? Whose fortune funds your public library? What did Alfred Nobel invent that enabled him to set up the Nobel Prize? Can you name five people who have won the Nobel Prize?
There was a movie about Ghandi. Many people don’t know he was a real person. What did he do?
What’s the address of the White House? Who was the first president to live there? What First Lady instigated the Hot Lunch Program in all American schools?
How many Americans know that George Washington turned down the proposal that he be crowned king, and that it was he who established presidential protocol, ie, we don’t bow to the president, etc.?
What is the name of the janitor who cleans your office? Is he married? Does he have kids? I bet he knows YOUR name.
Why does the Pentagon have so many bathrooms? And no, it’s NOT for your personal convenience.
When you play Jeopardy, do you know at least half of the answers?
Can you make at least one connection between any famous person and something else that affects your daily life? When you read or study anything, ANYTHING, can you connect it with something you already knew? Is your schema constantly activated? Do you have tons of prior knowledge to lay on the table?
What nation launched the first satellite into space? What was the satellite’s name? Most people know about the most recent volcanic eruption, but where was it? Pretty much everyone knows about the oil spill, but where was it and why are environmentalists so concerned?
For whom were the planets named? Why? Who named them? Do you know each planet’s similarity to the entity for which it was named?
The first telescope was about as powerful as a child’s binoculars. Who invented that weak little telescope?
Can you think of an invention that was created by accident? Did Columbus really discover America? What are these “microwaves” that heat your oatmeal every morning?
Safety pins are handy little objects. So are zippers. And velcro. Who invented them? What was the inspiration for it? What did people use before they were invented?
Edison invented a lot of things. Which invention was his favorite?
Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, but afterwards, he wouldn’t always answer his own phone when it rang. Why? What was he actually trying to invent when the telephone “happened?” Why?
Who was Shakespeare’s favorite actress? What was the first “peeping Tom” peeping at?
Most Americans can recite all kinds of sports stats. Can you recite a poem? Can you name five famous living poets? Five living authors? Five dead authors? (Besides Stephen King)
Wahh, wahh, math is hard. I can’t do it without my calculator. Why should I EVER have to do it without my calculator? Can you add a column of a hundred big numbers with a piece of paper and a pencil? Teachers used to do that every six weeks, for every student. That’s how grocery clerks used to figure up your total. Can you figure a square root with a pencil? Can you figure tips in your head? Poor, poor Barbie. I was in a bookstore a few years ago and the power went out. They had to close the store because there wasn’t a single employee who knew how to add correctly and figure change, by hand.
Can you tell the difference between satire and racism? Do you have any sense of historical context when it comes to studying literature, science, and history? If you don’t, you’re easily and often offended. If you do, you laugh a lot, shake your head a lot, and understand at least part of almost everything you read or hear.
How big is your vocabulary? The more words you know, the better your understanding of the world and the better the world can understand you. (By the way, it’s “. . . make ends meet,” NOT “. . . make ends meat.” Dear Lord. A college graduate actually asked that question.) Do you put an apostrophe on every word that ends in “s?” Stop it! Do you believe that “idea” and “ideals” are the same thing? Do you say “anyways?” Keep a dictionary in your bathroom and learn at least two new words with every poop.
I love to observe people talking to one another, in restaurants, airports, waiting rooms, etc. I’m not saying that I sit there and make judgment calls, but I do tend to sit there and make judgment calls.
People whose children are running wild in a public place probably aren’t talking about Darwinian theory or comparing a book to its movie adaptation. Men who think bodily noises and odors are hilarious and classy probably don’t converse about citizenship and the importance of discipline in our schools. Women who have affairs with married men probably don’t converse about proper behavior or philosophical ethics or Plato or morality. Grown men who don’t remove their hats inside a house or public building probably don’t listen to Bach or read. . . much. Adults who honestly believe they’ve got a right to sit and rest with friends and have a coffee and a croissant while their toddlers destroy the restaurant and get angry if the owner asks for “inside voices” probably weren’t discussing missionaries or tutoring or foreign policy or volunteering. Children raised in homes with Jerry Springer will often enter kindergarten completely illiterate and with no clue about how to hold the scissors except to stab things. Adults who drink too much, use drugs, fool around, curse constantly, and hit, generally breed children who don’t know how normal, decent people are supposed to behave, and who either wash out completely in school and life just like their parents, or somehow, miraculously, transcend their parents and become wonderful human beings who love learning and make their own living. I love it when that happens.
Many Americans don’t even KNOW anybody who earns their own living. Many of them don’t even know how a person would go about earning their own living. Many Americans have permitted themselves – and yes, it’s ALWAYS their own fault – to become adults who have no skills whatsoever that might earn them a living.
In any group of a hundred people, 95 of them are like the people in my reader: kind, intelligent, considerate, thoughtful, decent, ethical, helpful, hardworking, interested, interesting, and thirsty for knowledge. It’s the same in most schools. Most people are good. Most people mean well. Most people try.
What a shame that the majority of the world’s attention, money, and interest seems to focus mainly on that 5 percent that are the complete and utter opposite.
A shame, and a travesty, and a disgrace, in fact. The lowest common denominator in any circumstance are NOT the ones who deserve these things.
Awards, rewards, badges, certificates, trophies, and self esteem mean nothing unless they’re honestly and individually earned by accomplishment and merit and work. Prizes for showing up are a joke. Trophies for trying, ditto. Every kid knows there are no points “given” for missing the basket, no matter how angry your mommy might be that the mean scorekeeper didn’t understand how HARD he tried and how MUCH he wanted those points and how UNFAIR it is that the other kids on the team are taller, etc. But I’ve ranted about this before.
And I’ll probably do it again, because our culture is going down the tubes and most of it is due to people insisting on their share of the pot even when they haven’t put anything in the pot.
Why yes, I might be a tad opinionated. Why, what’s your point?
*No offense meant to Nascar fans who also know how to carry on a conversation about Einsteinian theory and Scrubs, and who can pick out the fine points of a Sondheim counterpoint. Ditto the occasional flatus-man (or woman) but only if they know what “flatus” means.
People who are not lifelong learners. . . . I just don’t get it.
Quotation Saturday: Never Give Up, and Never Surrender *
Mamacita says: We all need to be reminded sometimes – probably more often than we ARE reminded – that we are only human, and that we can’t do it all by ourselves.
Fortunately, as John Donne liked to remind us, no man is an island. This is the key to all education, no matter what our age. No man is an island, and that means CONNECTIONS.
Education is about learning to make connections. Understand that one point and you’ll know how to keep on learning until they carry you out feet first. The sooner we learn it, the better off we are.
We are human, and humans mess up. That doesn’t mean – it NEVER means – that we should give up when we mess up. No, no, no, no, no. No matter how many times we mess up, we must try to pull ourselves up and try again. And if it’s just too hard to pull ourselves up, we need to give our families and friends the privilege of helping us do it.
Never give up, and never surrender. No matter what “it” is, never give up. We can do it. Life likes to hit us below the belt sometimes, but we don’t have to let it get by with that. Never give up. Never surrender. And it doesn’t matter how many times we’re down, either. Each time, get back up and vow again to never surrender. Eventually the lesson will sink in. And if it doesn’t happen soon, or when we think it should, well, keep on trying anyway.
We are all surrounded by people who love us, in real life or online – and what does that say for social media that some of our best friends are online friends – and together we will always be stronger than anything that doesn’t love us. We might have to wait for it. It might be late. We might worry that it’s not coming at all. But be patient, for love really does conquer all. It does. Never give up. Never surrender.
1. Superman’s not brave. You can’t be brave if you’re indestructible. It’s every day people, like you and me, that are brave knowing we could easily be defeated but still continue forward. — Unknown
2. No horse gets anywhere until he is harnessed. No stream or gas ever drives anything until it is confined. No Niagara ever turned light and power until it is tunneled. No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined. –Harry Emerson Fosdick
3. People are hungry for messages of hope and life. What are you broadcasting? — Morgan Brittany
4. Whoever you are, there is some younger person who thinks you are perfect. There is some work that will never be done if you don’t do it. there is someone who would miss you if you were gone. There is a place that you alone can fill. –Jacob M. Braude
5. Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. –Thomas Edison
6. Shame is guilt in overdrive. If it helps, think of the difference between shame and guilt as this: shame says “I’m bad, I’m flawed,” and guilt says “What I did was harmful to myself and/or others, and I can do better than that.” Thoughts of healthy, unbiased guilt are how you converse with your conscience, while feelings of shame don’t even let the conversation begin. — Renee Bledsoe
7. Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all. — Dale Carnegie
8. Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget about everything except what you’re going to do now – and do it. — William Durant
9. If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves. –Thomas Edison
10. You don’t have to control your thoughts; you just have to stop letting them control you. — Dan Millman
11. Ninety percent of the world’s woe comes from people not knowing themselves, their abilities, their frailities, and even their real virtues. Most of us go almost all the way through life as complete strangers to ourselves. — Sydney J. Harris
12. If you are aware of your weaknesses and you are constantly learning, your potential is virtually limitless. — Jay Sidhu
13. You can come out of the furnace of trouble two ways: if you let it consume you, you come out a cinder, but there is a kind of metal which refuses to be consumed, and comes out a star. — Jean Church
14. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time. — Og Mandino
15. Facing it, always facing it; that’s the way to get through. Face it. — Joseph Conrad
16. Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending. — Carl Bard
17. Life is very interesting. In the end, some of your greatest pains become your greatest strengths. — Drew Barrymore
18. Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. — Ambrose Redmoon
19. Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life, as by the obstacles one has overcome trying to succeed. — Booker T. Washington
20. You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it. — Margaret Thatcher
21. Determination, patience and courage are the only things needed to improve any situation. — Peter Sinclair
22. Always bear in mind that your own resolution to success is more important than any other one thing. — Abraham Lincoln
23. Fall seven times, stand up eight. — Japanese proverb
24. Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new. — Brian Tracy
25. It’s never too late to be what you might have been. — George Eliot
26. We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope. — Martin Luther King Jr.
27. Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think, there are no little things. — Bruce Barton
28. Don’t let life discourage you; everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was. — Richard L. Evans
29. Just cause you got the monkey off your back doesn’t mean the circus has left town. — George Carlin
30. How lovely to think that no one need wait a moment, we can start now, start slowly changing the world! How lovely that everyone, great and small, can make their contribution toward introducing justice straightaway. And you can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness! — Anne Frank
31. Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born. — Helen Keller
32. Just as despair can come to one only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings. — Elie Weisel
33. To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe. — Anatole France
34. When everything seems like an uphill struggle, just think of the view from the top. — Unknown
35. He who has hope has everything. — Arabian proverb
36. Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it. — Bill Cosby
37. History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again. — Maya Angelou
38. When you’re going through hell, keep going. — Winston Churchill
39. Even if happiness forgets you a little bit, never completely forget about it. — Jacques Prevert
40. Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stages of drudgery and triumph; a beginning, a struggle, and a victory. — Ghandi
41. Real heroes are men who fall and fail and are flawed, but win out in the end because they’ve stayed true to their ideals and beliefs and commitments. — Kevin Costner
42. It is one of the most beautiful compensations in life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
43. What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other? — George Elliot
44. A life isn’t significant except for its impact on other lives. — Jackie Robinson
45. The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you. -–John E. Southard
46. In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.–-Albert Schweitzer
47. No one is as capable of gratitude as one who has emerged from the kingdom of night.–-Elie Wiesel
48. Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. — Calvin Coolidge
49. When life knocks you down you have two choices- stay down or get up. — Tom Krause
50. Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain. — Unknown
* Bonus points if you know the source. Kudos, too, because it’s a cool source.
My Killer Instinct vs. My Safe & Even Useful Outlet
Mamacita says: I own a pair of gardening gloves. Really, I do. I bought them after the ripping-poison-ivy-out-with-cloth-gloves-and-getting-resin-all-over-my-hands incident of a few weeks ago. They’re very pretty, and still in the package.
The thing is, I don’t schedule my ventures into the savannah that is my yard. I start ripping into the weeds at random moments, and I never have those gloves with me when the mood strikes.
I’ll be walking from the car to the door and I’ll be seized with a desire to RIP those confounded * weeds OUT of the GROUND by the ROOTS before I so much as take another BREATH.
And I start tearing at them with my bare hands. And I don’t stop until they’re gone. Until they’re DEAD. DEAD, uprooted. Piled in the driveway with one end a foot higher than the other because I ripped them out by the ROOTS.
Ahem. I’m fine now.
Well, except for the fact that, as always, my hands are covered with blisters and splinters and cuts, one of which might need a stitch, and the itch, it is beginning. We’ll see. In the meantime, ouch, and bring on the bandaids.
But the weeds? They are no more.
* Coot-talk for “damn.” Really, it should be “damned,” but who’s scoring grammar for cussing? Besides me, I mean.
