Category Archives: Culture

Culture

Driving the Wrong Way?

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Overheard in my office today:

I’m italian…I have rage, I’m going to end up in trouble some day. You should hear me when I drive, I curse like a sailor.

This matronly woman (in age and appearance, not behavior), proceded to justify her attitude toward other drivers and to recount with glee the tactics she utilizes to prevent other cars from merging into her lane. If it isn’t perfectly clear already, the tone of her monologue was boastful, not remorseful.

C.S. Lewis once said:

Human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and can’t really get rid of it.

I wonder if we, as a society, are starting to shed that little voice.

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Culture, Marriage & Parenting

The Best Way to Ensure Your Children’s Success

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There is no shortage of advice on what it takes to be a good parent and, specifically, on how to help your child be “successful.”  For example, a quick Google search for the phrase “being the best parent” revealed the following tips:

  • “Give lots of hugs and some kisses.”[1]
  •  “[A]llow ourselves to be the parent we inherently need to be.”[2]
  • “Be involved in your child’s life.”[3]

Admittedly, this is not exactly earth-shattering in terms of its insightfulness.  Nonetheless, it is advice we welcome, because it is vague and simple enough to not expose any of our shortcomings or selfishness.
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Culture

Black Friday

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People are already talking about Black Friday at the office, or as I like to call it, “The Dark Day After The Thankful Day Where We Wait In Long Lines Push People Out Of The Way And Spend Without Conscience, Often Using Money We Either Don’t Have Or Could Better Use, All In An Effort To Try And Synthesize Happiness Instead Of Focusing On The Blessings All Around Us.”

Disclaimer/Explanation:  And yes, I get that it is possible to find some great deals and that there are sometimes good, and even financially sound, reasons for hunting for the Black Friday deals, and I admit that I have definitely taken advantage of such deals, BUT I also think that is often not the case and it is often just an excuse to satisfy our wants. In other words, it often is not – “oh, I’ve been planning on getting a such-and-such and I can get it for 50% off”, but rather, “let’s go out and buy a bunch of crap – after all, it’s on sale!”

The sad reality is that the day AFTER Thanksgiving has–for many–become the most important day of that weekend, at the expense of Thanksgiving and the attitude of gratitude that it is meant to cultivate.   (Similarly to how Christmas has in many ways become more about “what am I gonna get” or even “what am I gonna give” instead of commemorating and celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, but that’s a topic for a different post in about a month!)

Disclaimer/Explanation 2:  Yes, I realize the disclaimer/explanation part was longer than the substance of the post.