Last night I was playing on the floor with my little nephew and he momentarily forgot the rules of play with Auntie- you know the ones where we don't hit or throw things. He got so excited over the game we were playing where he pit a rubbermaid pitcher on his head that he waved his arms wildly and threw the pitcher make dead on contact with my nose. I don't think I have to tell any of you just how much that REALLY hurt. That old expression about seeing stars? Yeah, its true.
As I sat on the living room floor too dazed to move, my husband brought me a frozen water bottle (beach ice pack!) to hold on my already swelling nose. My little nephew, not even a year and half old was so concerned he kept circling me where I sat and stopping to hug me every few seconds. One time he even kissed my nose and said "sorry"- something I had never heard him say. The best part though was when he observed me holding the frozen bottle to my nose and he went off to search the house returning with another empty bottle fromt he recycling that he held up to the other side of my nose!
This morning my nose hurts like hell and it is red and swollen but I keep thinking about the sweet innocence of little man as held the empty bottle against my face.
Already he is capable of feeling remorse.
I can't tell you how much hope this gives me for the world that we live in!!
In a world where people can kill their children with no remorse and little punishment, I wonder sometimes what has become of the moral fiber of human beings in general.
Is it a product of upbringing? Or a genetic defect?
When a student tells a teacher to F--- Off, I have to wonder where in their teenage minds did they decide that it was OK for them to say that to an adult- or anyone for that matter.
I used to say I would never bring a child into this world. It actually frightened me to consider raising a baby in a place where I can not even let them play inthe yard without fear of some one taking them from me. When we moved into our current neighborhood, my husband ever the cop ran a sex registry check on some public access site on the internet. Imagine my surprise when there were five registered sex offenders with a couple of miles of here. Of course, sex offender might just mean a ticket for urinating in public but still- it is unnerving.
The Casey Anthony trial had most of the country on the edge of their seats anticpating her guilty verdict yet somehow she was pronounced innocent. A woman's child is missing for days and she delays reporting it when I go into a panic if I can't see my kids in the backyard because the pool is in the way?
Every night my husband and his colleagues hit the city streets only to find two yearsolds playing in the street at 2 am. Really? My kids have been asleep for 6 six hours by two in the morning!
Last night's news mentioned a man who actually packed a loaded gun into a suitcase and attempted to get on a plane yesterday. In these post 911 days did he REALLY think he would make it through x-ray machines and metal detectors with even a heavy belt buckle on? IS it really such a great idea to test the FAA like that?
And what about homegrown terrorists? Is the United States really such a terrible place to live? I mean, despite the debt ceiling and bipartisan disagreements that almost threw us into default over politcal agendas?
Even worse, I think I might have even heard that one of our own elected officials may have called Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords a member of the cracked heads club or something to that effect. The woman was shot in the head by a deranged sniper at a community gathering. I don't care who you are or what party you belong to- her recovery has been miraculous and her trip to congress on the day the debt deal was voted on was monumental. I watched the videos, I shed a few tears of my own. That is one strong woman and I can only hope to match her strength of character and determination.
I am not a political fiend. Sometimes I can not even watch the news for weeks at a time because I like living in a sheltered state of denial. I am, however, as I have stated many times before, fiercely patriotic, a big believer in our freedoms and a die hard supporter of our military.
I am also a bit of a dreamer- I am holding out hope that there is still enough good out there, enough remorse even, to get our nation and the rest of the world back on track The military knows that there is strength in numbers. Perhaps instead of being constatnly divided on so many issues, the people of America should finally band together on the important stuff and set the example we have always been so proud to be.
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