Separate but equal? ~ #MondayBlogs

What about family?  Family time - family togetherness - simply FAMILY.

Cable companies hawk subscriber packages that permit you to watch different channels (or even the same) on different TVs throughout your home. One fairly recent commercial mocks peace talks and by the end of the ad shows two adolescents watching television programs in two different but neighboring rooms; mom is ecstatic that there are no more quarrels between brother and sister over which program to watch.

Come on people! If the individual TV shows are so very important, the great technology being offered by these same cable stations includes the ability to record a show and watch it later - so take turns who gets to watch now and who gets to watch later. 

By Evert F. Baumgardner [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The marvel of cell phones is supposedly the ability to stay connected without having to sit by your home phone — an excellent idea! Excellent except when you can't even hold a conversation with someone in the same room because you are too busy exchanging text messages with someone you have never even met in person ?*%! Put DOWN your cell phones and stay connected in real time. I understand the reluctance to turn your phone off, I don't either, but I only answer it in an urgent situation if it means I am otherwise engaged in conversation with real LIVE people.

Finally while I am on this rant, families should be more concerned with spending FAMILY TIME with each other while the children are growing (and hopefully beyond) than keeping busy with the zillion-and-one separate activities and programs parents are so busy chauffeuring their children to. It may be wonderful for a child to play sports but if their parents don't even have the time to sit in the stands to cheer them on the emotional benefits may very well be lacking. 

Find activities you can do together (even if it just means providing a cheering section once in a while), things you can share, things you can talk during... Take walks together. Play board games together. Visit museums together. Dine together. Read to each other. Even watch TV together. There is so much you can do TOGETHER and many activities don't require depleting your wallet.

By George Burns, 1896-1996, Photographer (NARA record: 1340567)
(U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Enjoy your family; children grow up, people move away... life changes. Hold on to what you have, the memories you create will be yours for a lifetime.

#MondayBlogs ~ We don’t all speak the same language

I’m not speaking about different world languages like French, Spanish, German, or more. There is miscommunication between English speaking individuals.

Perception, context, body language, humor, and personal emotions can all change the same words into many different meanings. The person who is scared of “failing” may talk of themselves doing just that — to one person that statement sounds like a pitiable cry for help while another hears it as a purposeful plan. The tale gets carried and the second-hand message gets warped reminiscent of a childhood Telephone Game. Most people don’t even realize that they are distorting the message and in most cases there is no maliciousness intended.

There is an adage, actually several versions of it, one of them goes like this: “Ask 2 doctors, get 3 opinions.” No two people will ever hear the exact same thing whether far or near. What do we do with these interpretations? If you like what you “heard” then maybe you should be willing not to delve any deeper; however if you didn’t like…

While public speeches at mass gatherings may not provide an opportunity for clarification, in our personal lives we don’t have to accept any sour taste we’ve been left with. Without accusation and without anger, speak to the person — the very person who allegedly misspoke — he or she should be the one to explain, rectify, or defend a statement that causes you qualms. You should be the one who thinks for yourself what you are to believe and accept.

We can make beautiful music if we just talk with each other.