PSoTD

One of the things I've noticed about the Bush years is how it is stifling political discussion in my family. With some of my family members, I can discuss how we disapprove of so many of the things that Bush has done. With others, we get an argument as to whether Bush is wrong, or the anti-Iraq-War majority is wrong. But either way, the pressure and temper builds up so quickly that everyone backs away before it gets to the edge, and there's very, very little room for actual discussion about how to improve the world, politically.

I guess it's political burnout, and I would guess that it's commonplace throughout the country, existing in almost every family. It seems to me to be a gaping void of communication, one that politicians of today benefit from as we fail, as families and friends, to discuss the issues because we've become so polarized - polarized by the very issues that these politicians embrace. How will we ever fix health care, or energy issues, or poverty, if we don't sit at the dinner table and discuss it among ourselves? Depend on the politicians to do this work? How could anyone responsibly believe that is an option. Pin ourselves on the hope that science and inventive genius will somehow resolve these issues? Maybe the odds are better there, but again, not responsible.

Our government has told us to be afraid, and politically, we seem to be complying. Nationally, we've known that for a while. At the dinner table, perhaps it is time to face up to this as well.

I'm starting to get into that vacation frame of mind. Here's a few interesting posts I've found about Sedona, Arizona... I'll let you know in a few weeks if I have anything in addition to say about any of them...

Sedona’s Sensual, Metaphysical, Spiritual Experiences

THEY ATE RATTLESNAKE, AND LIVED!!!!!

As a parent, one of the things that you find kids talk about are bedtimes during summer. Our ten-year-old daughter probably knows the bedtime of most every one of the kids of our family friends - the kids that are here when we have get-togethers. And from that learning, our 6-year-old learns as well.

This knowledge tends to stir some debate at the beginning of summer - when should their bedtime be? It's not a debate as far as my wife and I are concerned - we believe in a lot of activity and a little television, and that includes during the summer, and so they only get a half hour later bedtime during the summer than they do during school. Of course, they have friends that go to bed at 10 PM, or in some cases 11 PM, and from time to time that fact is raised.

That doesn't fit into our philosophy as a general rule. We want them up relatively early, we want them energized and active during the day, and we want the television time to be the wind-down to bedtime if there's to be television at all. We don't always get what we want, but that's no reason to change our goals, and the kids understand the rules if not the reasoning. The unspoken, of course, is that my wife and I also want that 90 minutes or two hours of time in the evening where we can talk without kids overhearing, or pay the bills, or fix the birdfeeder, or whatever else we have or want to do.

Sometimes I wonder if other parents think we're too strict in the summer on bedtimes. Our kids do seem to go to bed earlier than a lot of our friends' kids. But it works for all of us, so we're in no need of changing right now.