Opinions

It's always funny to notice the conflicting attitudes people can hold within themselves.

In the midst of DH and I bantering back and forth with each other at his parents' house, I had a head-scratching moment. DH was teasing me while getting drinks for everyone for dinner. I told him, before he had actually asked me, that I thought I would like a Coke with my meal. Pretending to be put upon by my anticipatory answer, he declared that he wouldn't want to get it for me and risk offending my feminist ideals by implying that I needed a man to get my drink for me.

I laughed and sarcastically thanked him for being so thoughtful and respectful of my intrinsic equality with men.

His mother asked querulously,"Oh...are you a women's libber?", with an obvious tone of disapproval.

Stifling a giggle at the archaic term, I asked, "Why do you ask?"

DH strode the fence and jumped in, "I doubt she would fit into a specific box, or label."

Trying to answer my mother-in-law, I declared,"I would probably call myself a mild feminist. I don't know if I would fall in line with everything that stereotypical feminists promote, but I believe in the absolute equality of women with men and don't think there should be any barriers preventing women from participating in any realm of our society."

"Oh, I don't think so either," said my mother-in-law quickly, seemingly worried that she might have offended me. She talked for a few minutes about a friend and her daughter's radical feminism with a knowing smile meant to acknowledge how ridiculous the daughter was being. Then, after communicating the subtle dislike of feminism, she shocked me by saying:

"Actually, I think women are stronger than men anyway. Things that would crush a man are handled all the time by women."

I let out a snort of laughter and teased her. "So what you're saying is that women are not equal to men...they are superior! We shouldn't be fighting for equality, but instead should be focusing on domination of the world by the properly superior sex!"

We all laughed together.

People are funny.

Selling Points

at a local post office near you

"Hi. I'd like to mail this envelope by Priority Mail and these two boxes through the regular mail."

"OK....Are you sure you don't want to send the boxes through Priority?"

"What's the price difference?"

clerk types into her computer

"Priority will be $4.00 extra on the first box and $6.00 extra on the second."

"That's OK. There's no rush on those."

"Are you sure? If you send it parcel post it could sit on a truck for weeks, until they decide to get around to it. Priority will get it there faster."

looking at the clerk doubtfully

"No...that's OK....there's no rush on those boxes." .

"Well, what about insurance and tracking for your boxes? I know one lady had a box missing since November. I had to tell her we couldn't help her because she didn't pay for tracking."

"No....that's OK...everything will be fine."

"No insurance either? Things can get tossed around and broken. I've seen some boxes falling apart."

"That's OK. I packed it really well."

"Is this for family or e-bay?"

starting to get irritated

"It's personal mail...." I hint, wondering why this woman feels the need to probe so deeply into my mailing needs.

"Well....you know some of those e-bayers don't care about how it's mailed. If it's for family I always send it through Priority--that way I know it won't get lost, crushed, or abused."

"That's OK......Please send it parcel post."

"Oh....OK. Hopefully it won't have any problems."

The United States Post Office--marketing their complete incompetence as a selling point for their services.

Marriage Advice

For all those singles out there:

"If you find a girl you like, ask her to marry you. But she has to like you too. They won't let you marry her if she doesn't like you. You'll have to go with your second choice."

--The Rationalist, age 7

Caretakers Of The Earth

wherein a stream-of-consciousness conversation with a seven and five-year-old has fresh insights...

The Rationalist: "Why does soda have bubbles in it? The bubbles are a gas, right?"

"Yes, they're made from carbon dioxide."

The Rationalist: "That's the same gas we breathe out!"

"mmmhmmm"

The Rationalist: "We breathe in Oxygen and breathe out Carbon Dioxide. The plants breathe the Carbon Dioxide in and breathe out Oxygen. Why do plants breathe Carbon Dioxide and not Oxygen?"

"Well, what do you think would happen if they didn't breathe carbon dioxide and breathed oxygen like us?"

pause

The Rationalist: "I guess we would all die after a while."

"yep...isn't it cool that God designed plants to provide what we needed? He made things to be self-sustaining, like the water cycle. It rains, helps plants grow, evaporates and eventually re-forms a new rain cloud. It is a cycle. Neat, huh?"

Intuitive Monkey: "Yeah....and there is another cycle. People are always having babies, so that they can be farmers to grow food, so we can grow and breathe out carbon dioxide and keep the plants alive!"




That's how you get from soda to God in less than 30 seconds.

I love these cute boys!