A few weeks ago I had an eye doctor appointment. I received wonderful news in that I can actually see better then the computer measured results. The doctor stated that based on his printout I should not be able to read the eye chart as well as I did. It’s a miracle! Well, maybe not, but I walked out of the office with a normal pair of glasses versus the oh, so, un-sexy coke-bottle aww, dayum frames.
The American Optometic Association defines Astigmatism as a vision condition that causes blurred vision due either to the irregular shape of the cornea, the clear front cover of the eye, or sometimes the curvature of the lens inside the eye. An irregular shaped cornea or lens prevents light from focusing properly on the retina, the light sensitive surface at the back of the eye. As a result, vision becomes blurred at any distance. One week after my appointment I realized that I did have a-stigma-tism, but eye glasses were not what I needed to correct the condition.
I was driving and looking for a building address. Why do buildings go from number 26 to number 82? Just ridiculous! Although I was in the vicinity, I became frustrated when there was no place to park, so I could get out and ask for directions. Didn’t the world know that I was in desperate search of building number 47? I’m going to call my State Senator and complain; that’s if he isn’t to busy getting his freak on from a call that he made…to forgive is divine.
Well, I pulled up to the entrance of a parking garage and proceeded to take the directions out and explain them to the attendant. While I was halfway through my sentence I asked the attendant did he speak English. Rude, WandaLuv, just rude! Frustration makes you say some stupid shit, but degrading someone is simply ignorant. My entire tone with the foreigner was uncalled for. My assumption = a-stigma-tism in my mind.
See, I grouped the attendant with “his kind.” Can speak limited English and only knew how to direct cars up and down the ramp of the parking garage. Everybody has a story to tell; maybe I will read about his in the news one day. He may become the inventor of a device that pinpoints your exact location with picture detail, tells you where to park your car, and when to shut your mouth before you say something rude.
I did use the garage to park my car and when I retrieved it I made sure that I thanked him for directing me, and apologized for giving him a hard time. He smiled, said thank you, and probably muttered I get your kind all the time.
The word stigma means the mark of disgrace or discredit. Do you group people together as a whole, or do you see them as an individual? If you’ve seen one have you seen them all, or have you ever really noticed that one exists?
I kind of thought it was me, but realized it wasn’t after attending my daughter’s school last week for an after school program. My daughter’s first grade teacher sometimes talks to me with a hint of doubt in her voice. As if she’s telling me to do this for my child, but none of the parents ever do, so she knew that I wouldn’t either. It’s like she’s brushing me off; like I’m the same as each parent that sends their child to school unprepared. Maybe she does it and doesn’t know. Is that ignorance or adapted behavior? Hmmm…
At the school I had a chance to see a small percentage of the students and some of the parents. Was it my a-stigma-tism or were the parents classed as those kinds of people?
While deciding to write this post I thought about times that I have had a-stigma-tism. Once when riding the train in New York City my CD batteries went dead. My eyes scanned the car looking for an Asian person that my have batteries to sell. There was one woman seated a few feet away. I actually thought about going to ask her for batteries. Hey, I wanted the remainder of my ride to be musically filled. Rude, but a-stigma-tism clouds not only your vision, but your mind.
Is it a natural reaction to group races together? Is it a learned behavior? Can you get to know an individual without attaching the history of their nationality to them? Can we talk to someone of a different race about who we are without bringing up our history?
Astigmatism of the eye can be corrected. A-Stigma-Tism of the mind? Hmmm…
I luv yah’ll
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
In With the Old, Out With the New....
Confusing title? At first glance sure, but keep reading. A new year means another chance to change everything that you didn’t quite seem to get to last year. Was one of those changes buying a new cell phone? What was wrong with the old one? Did it make phone calls like it was intended to do? Maybe you wanted to upgrade to a new phone because of the text messaging feature, the camera, the email alerts, or the fifty-trillion applications that you never use.
Buying a new car is always a blessing. Why did you buy one? Was it to get the new model that looks and drives like the old model, but costs ten thousand dollars more? The ten thousand dollars amount – exaggerated I know - is for the added comfort of two extra cup holders on the doors, just in case the four in the center aren’t enough.
The old way of wearing clothes seemed fine. You put on a shirt to cover the top portion of your body, and pants or skirts to cover the lower. The new way to wear clothing is to show as much titty and ass-crack allowed by law. Isn’t there an old law for indecent exposure?
Sneakers that light up so kids can see themselves when they’re outside playing at night. Uh, the old way was to have your ass in the house before it got dark.
A savings bank between your mattresses may not gain interest but taking it into the bank opens up a whole new world. It is the avenue for a pleasant exchange with the teller, and it provides security and light chatter to get the teller through the work day. The new – online banking, ATMs, and hidden fees that show up when you have no money to pay them. Overdraft!
Respect. What has happened to teaching our children about or adults living in respect? Adults are not supposed to swear, but we do. In the old days children would sneak and swear when adults weren’t around. The new children? Awww, Lawd! Somebody wash that child’s mouth out with bleach! They don’t use the proper salutation when addressing us either. Somewhere Miss, Mr. and Mrs. was replaced with whatever they felt like saying at the time.
Who decides to keep changing technology? Who are we keeping up with? What is happening to the technology of your family? When a fifteen year old boy texts his mother to tell her that he got his girlfriend pregnant we have gone too far! Sex and texting? Awww, Lawd! Sitting at the dinner table eating as a family isn’t the same when everyone is checking their Blackberry. We really did leave having dinner as a family to Beaver
An old saying that has been around for centuries is to never burn a bridge, because you never know when you might have to cross back over it. How many bridges have you burned to keep up with the new? Understandably old may not have a place in your life. You may have gained so much new weight that your old clothes don’t fit. You may have made decisions that changed the outlook on your life, and old relationships have to remain as is.
Life is forward motion. Standing still or living in the past is coffin fodder. We have to embrace change if we want to stay in the know. Record album, 8-Track, cassette tape, CD and MP3. The joy of going into the fast-food restaurant has been reduced to sitting in a line full of exhaust to receive a bag from the drive-thru. One window for orders; the next your edible delights. Get the product to the consumer as quickly and as compact as possible. Choke and go.
I love new. The internet and blogging, new shoes, new opportunities, you know, the new positive stuff. New is wonderful, familiar is comfortable, but old has always been reliable and reassuring. Can new become old and have lasting value, or is it new for such a short period of time that it fades away without a memory?
We decide what is best for our lives. If new is causing your decision-making process chaos to your megabyte memory storage files, press ctrl+alt+delete and save out with the new and in with the old.
I luv yah'll
Buying a new car is always a blessing. Why did you buy one? Was it to get the new model that looks and drives like the old model, but costs ten thousand dollars more? The ten thousand dollars amount – exaggerated I know - is for the added comfort of two extra cup holders on the doors, just in case the four in the center aren’t enough.
The old way of wearing clothes seemed fine. You put on a shirt to cover the top portion of your body, and pants or skirts to cover the lower. The new way to wear clothing is to show as much titty and ass-crack allowed by law. Isn’t there an old law for indecent exposure?
Sneakers that light up so kids can see themselves when they’re outside playing at night. Uh, the old way was to have your ass in the house before it got dark.
A savings bank between your mattresses may not gain interest but taking it into the bank opens up a whole new world. It is the avenue for a pleasant exchange with the teller, and it provides security and light chatter to get the teller through the work day. The new – online banking, ATMs, and hidden fees that show up when you have no money to pay them. Overdraft!
Respect. What has happened to teaching our children about or adults living in respect? Adults are not supposed to swear, but we do. In the old days children would sneak and swear when adults weren’t around. The new children? Awww, Lawd! Somebody wash that child’s mouth out with bleach! They don’t use the proper salutation when addressing us either. Somewhere Miss, Mr. and Mrs. was replaced with whatever they felt like saying at the time.
Who decides to keep changing technology? Who are we keeping up with? What is happening to the technology of your family? When a fifteen year old boy texts his mother to tell her that he got his girlfriend pregnant we have gone too far! Sex and texting? Awww, Lawd! Sitting at the dinner table eating as a family isn’t the same when everyone is checking their Blackberry. We really did leave having dinner as a family to Beaver
An old saying that has been around for centuries is to never burn a bridge, because you never know when you might have to cross back over it. How many bridges have you burned to keep up with the new? Understandably old may not have a place in your life. You may have gained so much new weight that your old clothes don’t fit. You may have made decisions that changed the outlook on your life, and old relationships have to remain as is.
Life is forward motion. Standing still or living in the past is coffin fodder. We have to embrace change if we want to stay in the know. Record album, 8-Track, cassette tape, CD and MP3. The joy of going into the fast-food restaurant has been reduced to sitting in a line full of exhaust to receive a bag from the drive-thru. One window for orders; the next your edible delights. Get the product to the consumer as quickly and as compact as possible. Choke and go.
I love new. The internet and blogging, new shoes, new opportunities, you know, the new positive stuff. New is wonderful, familiar is comfortable, but old has always been reliable and reassuring. Can new become old and have lasting value, or is it new for such a short period of time that it fades away without a memory?
We decide what is best for our lives. If new is causing your decision-making process chaos to your megabyte memory storage files, press ctrl+alt+delete and save out with the new and in with the old.
I luv yah'll
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Friday, January 01, 2010
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