To all the people who ridiculed me in grade school for taking what you called the “retard bus.” To people who thought I was dumb. To the “popular girls” who didn’t like me. To the boys who didn’t like me beating them at ping pong or brain games. Thank you.
Taking all that and college and work and marriage in tow, I’ve gained some wisdom and can weigh in on issues as I see fit. No, I’m not preaching from the chior, just letting things settle in. If one is fully committed to his/her principles and they only lie in political terms, i.e. Republican vs. Democrat, that’s not enough.
Living through and working through some of these debates, I’ve learned that not much is personal and I can see both sides. Sometimes I can even mediate. I guess that degree got me somewhere.
Now people online just say nasty things about each other and have no real debating skills. I ask that when you weigh in on issues you care about, you see both sides and use your intellect, a game of thrust and parry, and not go into personal attacks.
Wisdom is hard-fought, and learned by courage, mistakes, and learning from those errors. Sadly, young people don’t want to learn but will after they marry and have children.
As to the people in my home town many have stayed, some have left as we did when I was in Junior High. I love the fact that my aunt taught at the high school and helped many students yearn for something other than the local fast food outlet. She taught Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet in Freshman year and the best students went on a field trip to a nearby Shakespeare Festival.
There is a way out, and it’s education. I was a smart girl and got good grades but it wasn’t popular at the time so I didn’t want anyone to know about it. I got into sports and knew my team was always there for me as I was for them as their captain. Elected by my team, two years in a row. How about that.
Years ago I entered into a leadership post with knowledge, but not wisdom. Today that game would have been played differently, and we would have won. The sad thing is that our opponents at the time were few and all they did was throw a couple hundred dollars to politicians so they won against 2,500 opponents who fought a good fight. We had $200 and more but chose not to bribe the city council. Learning curve for all, Dee
Cooking with Dee 