Saturday, January 26, 2008

And Now Let's Break for Adulthood

Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles.

I had lunch with a friend a few days ago. (That's not the miraculous part. In fact, it's a fairly commonplace occurrence between me and this particular friend!) This friend also has a young baby.

We actually had an adult conversation that did not involve poopy diapers, naptimes, what new foods our children have eaten and their newest accomplishments. (Although Lance recently ate the chicken mixture I made for enchiladas the other night, which was seasoned with chili powder, cumin, and even had some chipotle chilis in adobo sauce. And did I mention that Lance can say a few new words, and he will remain sitting in the bathtub when asked to do so?)

We discussed politics. We discussed stuff happening at our church. We bounced ideas off each other for a girls-only camping trip. We threw around words and phrases like "demographics" and "standardized testing" and "environmental policies."

We debated whether or not it was the place of government to enforce moral issues. We tried to decide which was more important: does the leader of the free world need to share our religion and ethical ideas, or can those be set aside in favor of things like the economy, education, and national security? (Because to me it seems like there is not a candidate that matches me both in religious/ethical ideas and all the other stuff. Please correct me if I'm wrong!)

We didn't really come to any conclusions, but let me just tell you it was nice to use words with more than two syllables on a regular basis!

Of course we're having this discussion in between singing silly songs to our kids to keep them quiet and happy and rescuing bits of food that were "liberated" from our children's plates onto the floor.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I watched the Republican presidential debate on television last night. It was very educational! I want to encourage all of my U.S. readers to get yourselves informed about the presidential candidates and the issues facing our nation today. A few days ago I posted about how I was woefully unprepared regarding current politics. I've been doing some reading, been watching the news and most recently, the debate, and I now feel pretty caught up. After watching the debate, I found myself changing my mind about some things. As the candidates explained the ramifications of particular decisions, it helped to open my eyes.

Whether you are Republican, Democrat, Independent, or something else entirely, it is so important to be a well-informed voter.

I can recall hearing a statistic that more people tuned in to watch the American Idol finale than turned out to vote in a recent election. That saddened me. (I was one of those people at the time, I'm sad to say. It was pure laziness on my part.)

Enough of my political soapbox. I don't intend for this blog to become a political forum by any means. It's just a current interest of mine, so you may see a post here and there regarding something of a political nature! I also don't want to alienate anyone. I know that people have lots of different ideas regarding politics and the running of the country, and I certainly don't want any bad blood here. Feel free to share your ideas (nicely, please!) because the only way to learn about the political scene is to really get into it, to ask questions, and learn from others.

Have a great day!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, yeah, you know that everyone looks to you for a stance on the issues. ;)

For me, the hard part about political stuff is separating the wheat from the chaff. I don't trust politicians, so I don't feel I can take their word on anything -- I need hard evidence to back things up. And it can be hard to find that evidence.

Anonymous said...

You're so right about that. During the debate, Mitt Romney was the only one who was pointing to a substantial record of things he had done in his own state. That really impressed me. The others said, "we need to do thus-and-such" but they never said HOW they would do it. Still not sure, though!

Anonymous said...

I know what you mean about the wonders of adult conversation. I am alone with my seven month old most of the day...I very often find myself toting him upstairs to visit my neighbor; her two year old entertains my son, and we can chat. :)

Anonymous said...

We were talking politics at school the other day...and I found myself pretty engrossed in it. I simply don't usually get into these discussions.

What I DO know is the joy of sitting and talking with a friend and NOT discussing the "norm" (be it poopy diapers or teeth or anything else toddler). Glad you did that. It's SO IMPORTANT!!

Hugs,

Susan