Parenting, Pessimism, Passion

For Adam: I feel that lecturing of any kind can be burdensome and boring; it makes us feel guilty and then tired. What is more interesting is to look at the pollution and the deadness inside of ourselves, and to try to begin to get personal ways to feel connected to particular issues. We have gotten so used to hearing repeated warnings and lectures that we turn off and don't stop to realize: Just because something is communicated a certain way doesn't mean it's the only way. Do you remember when all the anti-smoking ads didn't begin to compete with the image of the Marlboro Man who was a "real" man--a cowboy who had a macho air which contained the smoke that made him a "manly" man? We need to talk about the distraction that lecturing causes...we need more people to talk...over coffee, tea, wine, or cyberspace. You are certainly not alone in wanting to avoid yet another "cause". In fact the sorry thing is that they're all connected anyway so it would make sense not to make it all so separate.

Diane, nice to have you aboard, welcome. What you say resonates with me a great deal. I remember so many times when people would talk about how sad the world is for the "children of today". And even if there is danger and dullness in many places, there is a vastness and passion of a sense of creating one's life and choices--at least for some of our young people and hopefully this will spread.
I have always thought my own kids had so many more choices and a firmer center: their optimism was based on a more solid and impassioned sense of their insides than I had at their age. I hope that we can support them--our kids-- and let them help us get informed; I hope we don't need to stay cynical and critical and completely lose our own passion and optimism.

Is it Obama himself or our hunger for real idealism, ideals and a reason for conviction? I personally plan to do a lot of investigating before the coming Tuesday. I confess to being confused, but then I remember a graduate professor who practically jumped up and down when anyone said he/she was confused. He used to say, "Great, confusion is always a beginning to learning anything". It seems better than deadness or complacency. Best, Carol