Showing posts with label big questions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label big questions. Show all posts

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Of School and Work and Music

"Mom, mom, mom!"  #2 Son ran into the kitchen.  "Guess what!  I have a job interview!  Finally!"

Good for you, i said, knowing he's been applying at a lot of different places.

"Yeah!  The fast food place on the corner called.  It's not the best work in the world, but no one wants to hire you if you haven't had a job before.  I just need a break, so if I get this, in a few months I might be able to get something better!  Now, where is my good suit?"

Hanging up where it belongs, of course, i noted.  What time is the interview?

"This afternoon at 3."

Good, you will still have time to go to school after that.

"Yeah, I know."

"Where is he going?" Bigger Girl asked, coming down from her room.

"Job interview," he answered.

"What if they want you to cut your hair?" she asked.

"I'll tell them I'll shave my head for a job!" he answered.

As he left to find his good suit and put it on, Bigger Girl began to talk about a school assignment.

"Mom, I have an assignment for Music Appreciation class.  I'm supposed to ask three questions about music that I'd like to explore further.  What do you think of these?

"First, Where does noise end and music begin?


"Second, is there any modern music, such as pop or rock or anything, that will have the same kind of lasting effect on culture and music that classical music has had?

"And third, is does it's music say more about what a culture is, or what a culture isn't?"

Those are certainly good questions, i noted.  Your teacher may have gotten more than she bargained for!

"She's up to it," Bigger Girl said.  "After all, any teacher who would come into class, take her shoes off, sit down and start playing her sitar for us, then let the one blind student in the class come up to touch the instrument because he'd never 'seen' one with his hands before, is a good teacher."

Yes, she sounds like it, i said.

"Mom, can you help me get the lint off my collar?"  #2 Son came in, wearing his suit and tie, and handed me the tape that we keep around for just such a purpose.  When you have a lot of cats in the house, you have lint and bits of fur that stick to everything.

After looking him over, his sister asked, "Why the baseball cap?"

"Well, I was going to wear the Fedora, but I have to represent my team, and this has the team logo.  They need to know who I'm pulling for!" he said, then headed out.

Good luck! i called.

Later, as is common around here, a good bit happened at once.  Little Girl had come home from school by then, and Sweetie was just arriving.

"I got it!" #2 Son called out as he came in.  "I go to training on Saturday, and start next week, the morning shift!"

So you can still go to school at night! i said with a smile.

"Yes, that, too!" he said, as Little Girl ran in yelling, "I liberated it!  I liberated it!  Here!"

What did you liberate? i asked, but that was answered as she tossed the mail to me.

"Dad almost had it, but I liberated the mail!" she laughed, and so did Sweetie, who came in after her and heard her saying it.  It's a running gag about who gets the mail.

"And I have a job!' #2 Son was still gloating, as he went to take off his good suit and head to school.




Today is:

Aldus Day -- death anniversary of Aldus Manutius, inventor of italics

Asahikawa Winter Festival -- Asahikawa, Japan (through the 11th)

Bob Marley Day -- Jamaica (birth anniversary)

Berlin International Film Festival -- Berlin, Germany (a premier international film festivall; through the 16th)

Calgary Boat and Sportsmen's Show -- Calgary, AB, Canada (through Sunday)

Festival au Desert -- Segou, Mali (final night of the most remote music festival in the world, the Great Night For Peace, cohosted by the Festival Sur le Niger)

Gamelia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (anniversary celebration of the marriage of Zeus and Hera; date approximate)

International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation -- United Nations

Lame Duck Day -- US, on the anniversary of the passage of the 20th Amendment to the US Constitution; a day to recognize those whose tenure is running out

National Chopsticks Day

Oto Matsuri -- Shingu, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan (fire festival)

Pay-A-Compliment Day

Reggae Day -- Bob Marley birth anniversary

Rubik-Cube Muddling Championships -- Fairy Calendar

Sami National Day -- Finland, Norway, Russian, and Sweden

St. Dorothy of Caesarea's Day (Patron of brewers, brides, florists, gardeners, midwives, newlyweds; Pescia, Italy)

St. Peter Baptist's Day (Patron of Caceres, Philippines; Japan)

Waitangi Day -- Maori, New Zealand and Niue (treaty with Britain, 1840; also considered National Day)


Anniversaries Today:

Accession of Queen Elizabeth II, 1952 (upon the death of her father, George VI)
Massachusetts becomes the 6th US State, 1788
The College of William and Mary in Virginia is founded by royal charter, 1693


Birthdays Today:

Axl Rose, 1962
Barry Miller, 1958
Kathy Najimy, 1957
Robert Townsend, 1957
Natalie Cole, 1950
Bob Marley, 1945
Michael Tucker, 1944
Fabian, 1943
Gayle Hunnicutt, 1943
Gigi Perreau, 1941
Tom Brokaw, 1940
Mike Farrell, 1939
Francois Truffant, 1932
Rip Torn, 1931
Mamie Van Doren, 1931
Zsa Zsa Gabor, 1919
Mary Leakey, 1913
Ronald Reagan, 1911
Babe Ruth, 1895
Aaron Burr, 1756
Nicolaus II Bernoulli, 1695
Chongzhen, Emperor of China, 1611
Christopher Marlowe, 1564


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Masque of Kings"(Play), 1936
"Rhenisch"(Schumann's 3rd Symphony), 1851


Today in History:

The United States signs its first treaty, in which France recognizes the US and promises aid, 1778
New Jersey issues the first US railroad charter to John Stevens, 1815
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles founds Singapore, 1819
The first 86 African American immigrants sponsored by the American Colonization Society started a settlement in present-day Liberia, 1820
Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, establishing New Zealand as a British colony, 1840
Harper's Weekly publishes the first picture of Uncle Sam with chin whiskers, 1869
The international arbitration court at The Hague is created when the Netherlands' Senate ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree, 1900
The Young Women's Hebrew Association organizes in NYC, 1902
The "Monopoly" board game goes on sale for the first time, 1935
Turkey holds its first election in which women can vote, 1935
K Elizabeth Ohi becomes the first Japanese-US female lawyer, 1937
Elizabeth II becomes the first Queen regnant of the United Kingdom and several other realms since Queen Victoria, upon the death of her father, George VI, 1952
Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments files the first patent for an integrated circuit, 1959
Justice Mary Gaudron is appointed to the High Court of Australia, the first woman to be appointed, 1987
The Round Table Talks start in Poland, thus marking the beginning of overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe, 1989
Russia captures Grozny, Chechnya, forcing the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria government into exile, 2000
A magnitude 8.0 earthquake causes significant damage to villages along the coast of the Solomon Islands, 2013

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Social Conscience

My heart is torn these days by a couple of burning questions.

Which is more socially responsible: To buy from BigBox Store, and thus save the family budget, keep your own spending in check, and thus support the policies that some say are so bad for their employees and the environment? Or to buy at more expensive places, items that are supposed to be better for the environment and from more socially responsible retailers, but spending more than you can truly afford?

Which is better: To buy products made cheaply in countries where dictators rule the people, or to eschew those products and only buy from places where there is more freedom for the people who produce the goods?

I ask because I do not know. I spoke to a man who is an American living in China, and asked his opinion about the "don't buy 'Made in China' movement." He told me the people of China have a saying, "The government is the government and the people are the people," and I have said the same thing when our government has pulled lame brained stunts. He further told me that the recession has hit China, and rural people are losing their jobs because the companies they work for are not selling quite as many goods as they used to.

Which is better: The so-called "hypermiler" driver, one who drives in such a way as to squeeze every mile possible out of every gallon of gas, but who gets in the way of countless others who then use more gas to get around the guy, or to drive as conservatively as one can while not hindering traffic?

In our house, as Dave Ramsey says, the money comes in, the money goes out, and only the names are changed to protect the guilty. Every month another major need or crisis or oil change or back to school or something that drains the money so fast we wonder how we will eat that month.

Then I see Made in China on the label, and remember the pictures of the church pastor bleeding in the street with the police standing over him, still beating him as he lies there. I hear my friends who work at BigBox Store talk about how their hours have been cut. I watch some hypermiler going so slowly on the interstate that everyone else is wasting gas trying to get around him.

I see and hear and observe and wonder what I am supposed to do in all of this.

I know my role is first and foremost to love. To love God, and to show that love by actively being the eyes and ears and hands and feet of Him and show true love to others, by serving others.

How is this best expressed?

I ask because I really do not know.

Then I get up on Saturday morning and go to BigBox Store and try to buy only just enough to put food on the table and still meet all of our other obligations.

I just really do not know, how is a social conscience best expressed these days?


Today is:

Bonza Bottler Day

Burryman Festival, Scotland

Dollar Day

Independence Day, Bhutan

International Character Day

Finest Fairy Finals -- Fairy Calendar (Do only the finest fairies take finals? How do the others get a final grade? :D )

Fourteen Holy Helpers' Day

Happiness Happens Day

Nudist Convention (Nobody sees these spider veins, sorry.)

National Frozen Custard Day

National Garage Sale Day

Odie Day (Garfield's pal Odie.)

Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Night (Please, I love the stuff but can't grow plants to save my life, I'll leave the porch light on for you!)

St. Cyriacus' Day

St. Dominic's Day

The Date To Create

Victory Day, Rhode Island


Birthdays Today:

Keith Carradine, 1949
Connie Stevens, 1938
Dustin Hoffman, 1937
Mel Tillis, 1932
Esther Williams, 1923
Rory Calhoun, 1922
Dino De Laurentis, 1919
Matthew Henson, 1866
Emperor Horikawa of Japan, 1079


Today in History:

The Romans destroy the Tower of Antonia, 70
Otto I (The Great) crowned German king, 936
Vijayanagara Empire is rebegun with the crowning of emperor Krishnadeva Raya, 1509
The first known ascent (indoors) of a hot-air ballon by Bartolomeu de Gusamao, 1709
US Congress adopts the Silver Dollar and a decimal monetary system, 1786
Metal bullet cartridges are patented by Smith and Wesson, 1854
Mimeograph is patented by Thomas Edison, 1876