Parental pride

Tags

bragging, child, College, parent, postaday2012, pride

Before sitting down to write this post, I checked in with the baby girl to ask for permission  to brag about her grades from her very first semester at college. She said “brag away Maman, brag away”. I am so very proud of her and all of her hard work this semester. She did exceptionally well taking initiative on her own when it came to seeking help when she needed it and made sure to take advantage of all the tools and homework services that the college made available for the students. She didn’t get carried away with abrupt and often overwhelming feeling of complete “freedom” from the usual household rules. She behaved very responsibly and showed us a lot of maturity her first semester away from home.

What makes me especially happy is that she is proud of herself and now has concrete proof that there is nothing that she can’t accomplish if she puts her mind to it. She came into my room and announced that she had gotten an A+ in Psychology, an A in Art History, a B in English, an A in College Algaebra and an A in First Year Experience.

As a parent, one always worries about their child no matter what age they are; when your child passes a special threshold and does it with such success, the happiness that you feel over their hard work, their accomplishment and their increasing signs of independence is something that warms your heart and lifts your spirits.

Freedom of speech

What would I say to the Evil Censorship Police if they tried to shut me down? Why is my voice so important in the grand scheme of things if it was silenced from the blogosphere?

My first question would be where do the Evil Censorship Police get their mandate and power? Secondly, I would argue that wherever there is censorship, there is too much power concentrated in too few hands. Forceful exercise of power and control masks deep fear of being overthrown out of power.

I know that my blog is merely a small reflection of me and my life in my small town, in my travels and in my family. I couldn't imagine my blog ever becoming a threat to the powers that be, my simple life made up of dog loving and cooking wouldn't topple any seats of power, that's for certain.

My political blog may be another story. I use that blog to write about my thoughts and ideas as to why we need to focus our energies on preserving our environment, investing in our educational system, our infrastructure and our green energy technology. All of my posts are comments that I make to articles I read in the Huffington Post and cross post to WordPress. I often criticize the Republican Party for their obsessive compulsion to further cut taxes on the wealthy and cut much needed social insurance programs and poverty fighting programs. I strongly feel that our society can only be, the best it can be, if we stand by our goal to sustain the American Dream of economic and social mobility for everyone from the ground up, not the top on down. I am not an agitator but I am relentless in my criticisms. I, however feel that our democracy needs dissenting voices, without those naysayers, how can we adjust our policy if it isn't serving as well as it should?

I hope that I never meet the Evil Censorship Police. I love having my voice heard throughout the blogosphere.