Month: September 2013

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Lost

“If you’re following me, you’re lost too.” – phrase read off the bumper sticker on an SUV. I almost followed it after reading those words. Everyone gets lost once in a while, and some are lost more often than not. We’ve all heard tales of men who refuse to ask for directions, and of women … Continue reading Lost

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Spare the Rod

I am partial to spanking. Please don’t hit me for saying that, but it’s true. I mean, you know as well as I do that most people are forgetful, especially when it comes to things they don’t want to remember, especially kids. So, why not use the method most likely to get them to remember: the physical reminder? I learned from an early age to equate getting hit with having done something bad.

My childhood was memorable for many reasons, not the least of which were the spankings I received quickly and often. Both of my parents grew up in the school of “spare the rod and spoil the child.” In fact, I heard that exact phrase more times than I would care to admit. Of course, even when they weren’t beating me and I was well-behaved (admittedly not that often), I don’t think anyone would have classified my existence as spoiled. So, to me that didn’t fly, but it didn’t stop them from spanking me when I was bad.

There was a special science to spanking me, too. Continue reading “Spare the Rod”

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Happy Endings

Or do they?

“All this time you were pretending. So much for my happy ending.” – Avril Lavigne

Do we honestly still believe in happy endings, in this world full of so many that go the opposite way? I think about all the young people who die before their time, in house fires set by smoking parents, in the line of fire during a gang shooting, in a car driven by another young person going way too fast, or even by taking their own lives. And I am also reminded of the high number of relationships that go bad and devastate both people who had a huge stake in them, of the drug users who waste away their lives as addicts, and of the natural disasters that destroy families and their possessions, forcing them to try and recover or to completely give up. And yet, despite all of these examples to the negative, and in spite of statistics that say otherwise, I still believe in happy endings.

And you ask me why. Continue reading “Happy Endings”