So simple even a child

By the time I was standing up in school to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, the straight-arm salute had been dropped, the hand-over-the-heart had been substituted, and the Pledge already included the words "under God" that were added in 1954. As a child, I did not give it much thought. I thought more about horses, and why the teacher was always so mean, and how much time was left before I could go home and read my book.

But I was also thinking about politics - in a little kid sort of way, of course -  and I had ideas. A platform of sorts, or a manifesto, that was something like this:

1. Sometimes it's the grownup who is wrong, and so the child shouldn't always be the one who has to apologize.
2.No hitting. No making fun. No being mean, and no leaving other people out. Some people can catch a ball, some people can spell big words (I got my first concussion in second grade, courtesy of a baseball. Guess which group I was in). But everybody belongs, even when they are different.
3. Share, and be fair. The person who gets to cut the cake into slices chooses last.
4. Stop worrying so much about the Communists. All we have to do is really be what we say we are, the land of the free, the home of the brave, one nation under God, the best country on earth, and then everyone will want to be like us and to be our friends. Even the Communists.

Simple. Now let's have cookies and milk!

It still seems simple, and I don't see much reason to change it. For grownup, read powerful, any kind of powerful. For child, read deprived of power. For Communists, read the name of the current ideological foe, the perceived, or invented, threat, i.e. [your fear inserted here]. The rest is pretty straightforward, I think. But then, I also think Jesus' words are pretty straightforward. Love. Share. Take care of each other. Rejoice when the lost are found.

And, well, hey, kids! Let's try that. Because I don't think we really have, not as a nation, not lately.

There is one more plank in my platform. Parents who promise a pony for good grades should, when excellent report cards are forthcoming, deliver the pony as promised.

I am Laurel Massé, and I approve this message.

Comments

[Linnie in Dayton]

I'm mostly there with you - and I, like you, was the big-word-speller and bad-ball-catcher (I may have had some advantage over you in the "ducking" department!) However, I fear that no matter how good you are, not everyone will like you.

I was a good student and disgustingly well-behaved. (My greatest transgression one year was getting caught, during read-aloud time in Language Arts, skipping WAY ahead because I'd discovered a story about Louisa May Alcott further back in the book!) My reward for good grades and good behavior was all too often to be picked on by less compliant classmates. No matter what, not everyone will like you, and some people are just mean, for whatever reason.

This, though, is very important: the way to deal with this unavoidable animosity is to mind one's own business and to avoid confrontations as a general rule, especially if you lack the means or will to do what would need to be done to prevail. There are exceptions, of course, but one should default to a "non-aggression" principle" unless seriously extenuating circumstances dictate otherwise!

I also think that if everyone who'd ever been promised a pony had received one, we wouldn't be nearly so dependent on foreign oil because none of us would have - or want - cars! : )

[Kevin Ainsworth]

"Some people can catch a ball, some people can spell big words (I got my first concussion in second grade, courtesy of a baseball. Guess which group I was in)." - hmmmm, somebody shouted "Catch!" and you replied "c-a-t-OUCH!!!"...?

If I was American then I would vote for your manifesto. Life is really rather simple but it's the politicians who complicate it. As my Nan would say "They are too clever by half and not half as clever as they think they are!"

I grew up in a meritocratic education system where I passed my 11 Plus exam and went to a Grammar School. The system recognised that all people were different and each person had his or her talents which should be encouraged. It did not matter what the social background of the child was as they all had equal opportunities and were treated equally. Politicians screamed that it was not fair that children were deemed failures at 11 by "failing" the selection exam so only a few Counties now have a Grammar School system. It is really sad what has happened and all because some politicians thought that all children were equal academically and there were no differences between them.

"But then, I also think Jesus' words are pretty straightforward. Love. Share. Take care of each other. Rejoice when the lost are found." - I was taught the Golden Rule at school "Do unto others what you would have them do unto you" but I wonder if that is still being taught?

"There is one more plank in my platform. Parents who promise a pony for good grades should, when excellent report cards are forthcoming, deliver the pony as promised." - In London cockney rhyming slang a pony is £25 worth of money. So I hope that promise was made in America.....

I am Kevin Ainsworth, and I send warmest regards with this message.

[Laurel Massé]

I wasn't all that confrontational in second grade, which is when the book incident happened. Unless being very good at something - reading, in this case - is confrontational.

I understand what you are saying, though, and wrestle with these decisions, superficially comfortable as I am. "Minding one's own business" can keep one safer, but it can also allow something wrong that could have been fixed to slip into a deeper wrongness, and to everything getting much, much worse for everybody. Because of that, minding one's own business is not enough. We must of course be discerning - I think this is part of what you are saying - and our discernment of what to do, and when to do it may be flawed. But in the end, the troubles we seek to avoid will come to us, and likely in an intensified form.

There was a moment when Frodo could have stayed home. But he didn't.

Blessings, Laurel

[Laurel Massé]

Hi, Kevin -

Thanks for your vote!

Given the tiny size of my current apartment (about 29.5 sq metres), I think I'll take the cash.

And with that last phrase, I guess I'm now a politician...

Blessings, Laurel

[Kevin Ainsworth]

If Mrs Peel is lobbying you for her dinner then you really are a politician....

Warmest regards,

Kevin Ainsworth.