Miracle Worker

My daughter has been watching a dvd she borrowed from the library called "Miracle Worker". It's about Hellen Keller and Ann Sullivan. My daughter, 8, has probably watched it about 4 times now. For some reason it has really caught her fancy, despite being an older, black and white film.

I can't imagine that she can grasp the concept of the complexity of it - living in the world as both a deaf and blind person, of the limits in resources for people with disabilities during those times.

How much mind sets have changed since then! Then, nothing was expected of someone in Hellen's "condition". Now? Everyone, disabilities or no, are expected to reach their maximum potential. And those potentials are measured against people of legend. Such as Hellen Keller.

What Hellen, and Ann, accomplished is mind boggling to me. Miraculous. I wonder if even Ann was surprised, in the end, by what Hellen accomplished. Was Hellen meeting expectations, or exceeding them? Don't forget, Hellen read lips - and she was blind!

For all that Hellen accomplished, I think it's important to remember that she didn't do it alone. Ann played an enormous roll in the extent of Hellen's accomplishments. Ann didn't sit back and expect Hellen to excel. Ann actually bled to see Hellen succeed.

My point I suppose is that for every person who expects someone else to be a Hellen Keller, they need first to be willing to be an Ann.

Married Minority

Man, sometimes I feel like I'm in the married minority. Everyone around me is divorced or getting divorced. I know, sometimes, it just doesn't work out. But that "sometimes" has turned into a large scale number!

Our neighbors just got a divorce. They have a girl my kids' age. She didn't seem to think twice about it. Neither did my kids. It was not the type of situation I wanted them to experience. They now have a "no big deal" second hand experience with divorce. That makes for an impression that is hard to override with words from me. They didn't see sad, suffering kids, scandal and embarrassment, worlds falling apart. They saw kids saying "meh" not caring if dad moved out - it's not like they'd never see him. They saw mom and dad getting a boyfriend and girlfriend. Which, to them at their age, having a boyfriend/girlfriend, is giggle, giggle cool. What kind of a message is that?!

Worse, it's not just our neighbor, it's this friend and that friend, this aunt and that cousin. What the H E double hockey sticks? What's a mom to do? How convincing is "the talk" if the proof that it's "no big deal" is bombarding them left and right, especially among their influential peers?

I sat with a group of women at a game last season. I realized as I was sitting there, that of the 6 of us, I was the only one still married. When I mentioned this, one of the girls started talking about the reasons she left her husband. I was like, my husband, he did all of that too. He had, to some degree, all the same faults she'd divorced her husband for. Doubtless my husband could come up with a nice fat list for me as well. Divorce has just become an easy out. And I hate the impression that leaves on my kids.

Now Playing/Coming Soon

There are some new movies coming up that I would like to go see. Not that I will go see all of them, since paying movie theatre prices makes me physically ill. Or maybe it's the oil they pass off as melted butter. Anyway, I'm interested in:

Wolverine
Yes, I'm one of those X-men lovers. And who can resist Mr. Jackman?

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
Matthew McConaughey, need I saw more?

17 Again
I'm not dying to see it, but it might be good...

Night At The Museum 2
Very likely that I will go see this one. Loved the first one. Probably take the kids.

Transformers 2
I know. I'm sorry.

Ice Age like 3 or something
Doesn't look as good as the first two, but what can you do? It's like a mommy requirement or something.

Harry Potter HBP
Read all the books, movies are a necessary evil.


That's it for now folks. That takes me to Julyish.

The Right Side of the Fence

What must it have been like to be a regular German person during WW2. I recently read "The Boy Who Dared". It is intended, I believe, for young readers, but fine for adults as well. The story was about an adolescent who was discontent with the Hitler reign. It sounded as though many of the average citizens were unaware of many of the atrocities being commited. Surely though, some were aware. Some indeed, took action, hiding refugees and the like.

I wonder about those who did have an inkling. An idea that something horrible was going on. It's so easy to look back on history with all the facts and awareness and know, just know, how we would have reacted. And yet, for the women, for the children, at the times, was it really all that clear, that cut and dried?

I imagine disbelief. Confusion. To be raised to honor and be proud of your country. Who really could believe the truth of such horrors? If indeed you even heard of them. It's my understanding that many of the average citizen were lied to about the reality of what was happening with the jews. Add to that that people you know and love are also being killed in the war. Bombings killing soldiers and innocent alike.

The plight of the Jews is one of the most gut wrenching horrors I have ever known. It is an undescribable horror. I would never suggest otherwise. It is simply that there are more stories that I'd not considered.

It would be interesting, I think, to know the thoughts of those who were on the right side of the fence, but knew in their hearts that it was wrong.

Finally

Finally! Some warm weather! I am so ready for nice, temporate days. It never happens soon enough and never lasts long enough. But these are the days of inspiration. Well, maybe the days of motivation. All kinds of projects and wishes come to mind. All of a sudden, a clean house seems almost achievable. Corners obscured by piled miscellaneous seem clearable. An empty laundry pile seems obtainable. Is there anything that can't happen on the onset of lovely weather? And oh my gosh, the outdoor projects.

All of a sudden I want to buy tubs and various containers. Sorting and organizing looks like ambrosia. Plants beckon me to take them home and find them a beautiful space to spread their roots. Stained glass pieces beg to be placed in my garden where the can catch the sun. My landscaping projects illusions of raised beds with new stone borders.

Bring on the sun!

Writing and Laptops

Writing

I have a writing fantasy. I used to produce decent short pieces that my college professors deemed skillfull. (Which dates my "used to" to a time frame that hails from over a decade ago). I still think I could write decently in short form. I've dreamed of writing something more novel or novella though. The problem is, writing is too hard. Lol. At least, succeeding at it is. I think I would lose the dream trying to reach the reality. Authors put in so much work. And then there is all the technicality to it. How things have to be to be deemed publishable. It seems to me a story should just be what pours from the authors thoughts, imagination. But then it has to be twisted to meet dialogue requirements. Appropriate cut ins for sub plots. Sentence "art" as I call it such as Bringing Bumbling Bees Bountiful Bouquets. Accommodating for all this Bumps my creativity off its Block. So it's unlikely I'll ever see my name printed down a literary spine. But a girl can still dream.

Laptops

Man, I wish I had a laptop. I might actually try my hand at writing - very, very, slowly - something of interest. At the very least I would create characters worth writing about. But it doesn't work inside my home. My home houses real life. But right outside my door? Freedom. Thought. Boundless possibilities. But no computer.

Explaining Egypt

Some things are particularly hard to explain to children. My daughter likes the animated movie "Prince of Egypt" which covers the dealings of Moses with the Pharoah as told in Exodus. My daughter is also extremely sensitive, particularly with babies, moms, and with anything dying.

The beginning of the movie, I was able to cover explaining the bad guys killing all the babies. It upset her but at least the concept of bad guys doing bad things makes sense to her. Harder to explain was the punishments set forth from God, and especially of course, the death of all the first borns. How do you explain that? Even understanding it, it is a painful thing to watch played out.

In other news, this is my third attempt at publishing a post. Been having connection problems but hopefully that has been resolved. It's also kept me from posting comments though too so I've been a bit out of touch.