The beginning of guilt

I watched an episode of Wagon Train this morning about a mother with a past history as a saloon hussy.  They never called her a hussy on the show.  They never called her anything.  They just danced around the truth.  I think because she was a mother they were trying to be nice about it.

They never said, but the viewer was given the impression that she had to do 'whateve it took' as a "saloon hussy" to make enough money to feed her son and handicapped husband.  When she got tired of taking care of her husband, she stopped helping him live.  That's what she called it.

In trying to teach her son, Matthew, to be a strong man, she tried to teach him that love was bad.  That a "real man" would take but never give, would never cry, would never grieve.  When their horses were attacked by a wounded mountain lion, the boy shot at the lion but hit his beloved dog, Happy.  The mother tried to make Matthew shoot the dog to put it out of its misery, and when he wouldn't do it, she killed the dog herself.  This stirred up a turmoil in the boy's mind as well as his heart.

There was a philosopher on the train who was intrigued by the mother and son.  He felt the pain that they both harbored without knowing the cause of it.  In one scene he discussed the wounding and killing of the dog with the boy.  Whose fault was it that the dog died?  The mother killed the dog, but the boy wounded it, he wouldn't have wounded it if the dog hadn't tried to protect the horses from the mountain lion, the lion wouldn't have attacked the horses if someone or something hadn't wounded it first. 

Only God knows where the guilt begins.

What Day Is It?

This is my third day of vacation and already I've forgotten what day it is.  I had to look at the calendar to see if it was Sunday or Monday.  (Just in case you don't know either, it's Monday.)

Luckily I don't have anything planned specifically, I mean for a specific time.  There are things I want to do, but I don't have to do them today or tomorrow or even the next day.  So I don't have to know what day it is till it's the day I need to return to work.

And I'm not going to think about that till tomorrow.

Whenever that is.

What I learned from watching westerns

I like watching western TV shows and old movies.  Except for the violence.  That bothers me sometimes.  But I read once that watching TV violence helps purge people of their innate violent tendencies.  I also read that it encourages people to act on those tendencies.  

I like to think that westerns offset their violence with redeeming qualities that teach people valuable life-lessons.  Here are a dozen plus one lessons I've learned from Westerns that can be applied to the more modern world, in one way or another, if you just think about them in the right way.

1. Work hard, play hard.  It's the real cowboy way.
2. Take care of your horse, and your horse will take care of you.
3. Just about anybody can be a hero.
4. Accept and respect those who are different from you
5. Don't tolerate bigotry, dishonesty, or cruelty.
6. Don't lie, cheat, or steal.
7. Nobody likes a back-shooter.
8. Make friends with the sheriff, the minister (or pastor or priest), the store keeper, the bartender (or cook), and the school marm. And the stable hand, and the street urchin, and the town drunk, and the banker. And the ranch foreman, the ranch owner's daughter, the ranch owner's son, and the ranch owner. And the wagon master, the Indian scout, and the Indians. And the lady that runs the boarding house and the hotel clerk.
9. Know when to be kind and gentle, and when to get tough.
10. Don't draw a weapon if you don't intend to use it. And don't say anything you aren't prepared to back up.
11. If somebody is shooting at you, DUCK! Before you shoot back, before you stop to see who's shooting at you - for heaven sakes, DUCK!
12. Good guys don't always win, but they're always winners.
13. And never, ever get engaged to a Cartwright.

Zero Robotics

When I was growing up, girls in my neck of the woods never got to do fun stuff.  They were discouraged from taking math and science classes and from having ambitions to be anything but nurses, secretaries, or teachers.   Now, I have nothing against those occupations.  I was a practicing nurse myself for 20 years, I wouldn't be where I am today without teachers, and I always say if you want to know something, ask the secretary (or administrative assistant now-a-days) because they know as much or more than the boss.

What I'm saying is that girls should have had the opportunity to be anything they wanted to be.  There shouldn't have been a limit on their talents, intelligence, ambitions, and contributions.  And the sad truth is that sometimes in the United States it hasn't got any better.  When I was in high school in 1968, I was one of 2 girls in the senior math class.  When I graduated from college in 1990 with a degree in math I was frequently the only woman in the math and computer classes.  That was 20 years ago and I really hope it's changed, but I still see a lot of young women who's only ambition is to have a baby and a boyfriend.   And that's OK with their mothers.

A lot of brain power is wasted by not encouraging girls to take advantage of their intelligence.

That's why I'm telling you about a competition called Zero Robotics Zero Robotics.  (Yes I got on my soap box before I got around to telling you about it, but "Girl Power" is a subject near and dear to my heart.)

"Zero Robotics is a student competition [run by MIT and NASA] that takes "arena robotics" to new heights, literally. The robots are miniature satellites called SPHERES, and the finals are aboard the International Space Station!"

This looks like so much fun, but I'll never know.  It's too late for me.  So I'm encouraging you to pass this information on to girls and boys in high school (but especially tell the girls).  Even if they don't participate in the competition it might inspire them to learn and enjoy more math and science. 

Send them here: http://zerorobotics.mit.edu/index.php/zr2011 for more information on the 2011 competition.  It may be too late for them to get involved in this year's competition, but if they start now they'll be ready for 2012!

My Plate

Did you know the USDA's Food Pyramid was now a Plate?  How much more appropriate!  Actually, it's My Plate.  I learned about it from the  Tough and Bluff blog of which I wrote yesterday.  

According to the web site, "MyPlate is the "new generation" food icon to prompt consumers to think differntly about their food choices.  ChooseMyPlate.gov  contains a wealth of resources based on the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans to help individuals meet nutrient and calorie needs and make positive eating choices."

Check it out and don't miss the breakfast desert, Rise and Shine Cobbler.