Father, Where Are Thou?

For some time now, I have been following a group on Facebook.  It all started innocently enough.  They were discussing the inequities of pay scale between men and women for the exact same job, and how far women are lagging behind in the income for the same work.  The cause is one of justice, and it caught my attention, because it is not only unfair, it is wrong.

But since then, the site has gone far afield on the subject of women's "rights."  I haven't yet unliked them, (although I probably will soon,) because it sort of fascinates me to see how other people think.  In this case, I think they have totally missed the point.  They are like a drowning swimmer, flailing around in the shallow water, foolishly missing the opportunity to simply put their feet on the bottom and stand up.  It is disturbing.

Resting in the peace that passes all understanding....

Great parents have one quality in common.  They have great children.  It is easy to look good when your children are easy, or at least not really difficult.  They may get up to the usual childhood shenanigans, but ultimately, they want to do the right thing.  Although it makes you look good, it isn't really about your parenting as much as it is about their basic personality.

Unconventional harmony....

An obituary is never satisfying for me, because when I read it, there is so much left unsaid.  Although it gives a few facts, there is always so much more that I want to know.  How did they feel?  What did they think?  Who did they love?  A person is not the sum of the years they lived, where they grew up or even where they ended up.  That leaves so much out about who they were inside.  But I think, ultimately, the problem in writing an obituary is that every relationship is different, and no one ever knows another person in their totality.  It is hard to sum up a life that you didn't ever fully know.

Getting testy....

Back in the day, when I was a youngster, girls read magazines aimed at self-improvement.  (Maybe boys did too, but if they did, I didn't know about it.)  They had catchy names like Seventeen and Glamour, and their sole purpose, as far as I can tell, aside from bringing in advertiser dollars, was to convince young women that they were not good enough to exist as is, requiring them to engage in all sorts of self-improvement.  Lo and behold, most of that self-improvement came directly to them in the form of the aforementioned advertisers' products, which I know will come as a shock to all.  But indeed, these quizzes routinely identified problems and provided solutions all at the same time.  It was a service, really, from their point of view.

Sarah... Princess... It's all the same to me...

I realize I risk being accused of cashing in on the media circus, (although I don't see why I shouldn't, since everyone else has, except, ironically, her own family, who have proven to be rather camera shy, considering their royal status,) but here goes anyway.   It may surprise people to find out that I actually have quite a lot in common with Princess Diana, that so called Queen of Hearts who died 16 years and one day ago in a Paris hospital after a deadly car crash.  I realize that I am lacking the blond hair and brilliant blue eyes, and I don't have that shy smile quite captured, and I will certainly never be famous, (infamous in my own family, perhaps, but that's about it.)  But I do have a few other things in common that make me think we were sisters under the skin.