We needed tough lessons as children. An occasional playground fight was expected as the norm, and if we complained to our mother that we were being teased, we were treated to this glorious aphorism: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” My mom used to say that all the time, one of the seemingly endless adages she had at her disposal to deal with any of life’s problems. To this day I think long and hard about the practical application that dogma had on my life.
The idea that you could actually choose whether or not to be hurt by words: that was huge for me. Even though it has been repeated ad nauseam for generations, “sticks and stones” really is a powerful bit of philosophy to a kid. That’s one of the great things about being a parent: you can spout nothing but clichés, and yet, to your child, you come off as one of the great thinkers in Western culture.
–from MEAN DADS FOR A BETTER AMERICA, by Tom Shillue
I was about to post this on social media and then I realized maybe Fox doesn’t want to promote it yet. But I’ll post it on here!
Thank you for reminding me. I wanted to talk about our post-show hangout in Memphis and here it is:
“Christkindl Market”
A traditional German style Christmas market.
The 11 of us went to the market, it was a little chilly, and very crowded, as it was opening day.
Mostly food booths and some crafts, with a large German ornament tent.
A few children were heard asking “Do you think that’s the real Santa?”
I of course looked at them, gave them a wink, and put my index finger to my lips, as if it were ‘our secret’.
There were several men walking about dressed as the ‘Christmas Elf’. Although, they were sporting fairly sad, thin beards.
I do need to get a custom outfit.
