Nightingale,
- A portion of your post made me recall a very enlightening story from my childhood, and also won of my favourite songs ! :
Quote:
Yes, and Thank You Char for keeping all the yahoo's in line around here...lol
Only a woman with a tattoo could manage that, don't cha know
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Quote:
- and coupled with you signature:
Time has been wastin' away...You know time doesn't wait for nobody to find what they're after
It just keeps on rolling down the deep canyons
And through the green meadows
into the broad ocean..."
G. Lightfoot "Tattoo"
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Made me
pretty sure you are the proud owner of a tattoo, or two, too, to proudly wear to where ever you go to, you and your tattoo, or two. -sigh- -I fear I've read too much Dr. Seuss to my daughter, Mamie ! She loves (loVed ; she's now 26!) them ! - I sort of encouraged her appreciation of the North-Going Zax versus the South-Going zax; then there were the Star-bellied sneeches versus the sneeches with no stars on their bellies, all such great metaphors for teaching children the ingnorance-and-fear basis of prejudice, and how it can be overcome.
Then, these two stories even addressed the breaking of the cycle of the third element of prejudice in this very commonly-held belief of the sad cycles of prejudism, learned behaviour from parents, role models, and authority figures.
The words are black; the page is white; together we learn to read and write.... who was that group, ahead of its time "Blood, Sweat, and Tears?" - The lead singer sounds like it too me.
Reason I thought of this seemingly unrelated subject - Dr Seuss, Prejudice, it all actually ties together with the otherwise lighthearted brief casual mention of tattoos in the thread that made me think of it.
I think tattoos are cool, if tasteful, of course that's subjective - all art is. But self expression ought not be guided by a desire to please others and strictly avoid offending their sensibilities; with a modicum of good taste in mind and reasonable limits, its intended to be a great release of self-expression, isn't it ?
So I admire it, and had to overcome a mild case of almost learned prejudice of it when I was a young teenager around 13 or so. I had a friend I wanted to have for a sleep-over, but he had a tattoo. He was encouaged to get it by his parents, who had tasteful, artistic ones too. At least I thought so at 13 ! On the kid, my friend, it was a simple tattoo of a dirt-bike - the aspirations of the boy at that age. Cool, I thought.
And I told him, when he expressed his apprehension over my parents and what they might think, naw man, my parents are totally cool in THAT area (laugh) - My Mom is Still in college and gonna be a shrink; her and dad are real newthinkers, or somethin like that.
Dad said "NOT Liberal (harrumph), just not stupid ! We don't hold with things based on ignorance and fear (or something like that!) - and they were almost rabid anti-racism neo-activists - mom would hold cook-outs for her psych sorority or whatever it was, and ake a point of filling the yard with every color on the big guys pallette.This, all for the neigborhood we were to see in full color , in that had some real dangerous racists in their 'Middle-Class Neighborhhod". Mom and Dad would
not attend the racist neighbors "meetings: when a "questionable family was going to move in"
Dad would smoke his piipe and smile approvingly, so many of his work colleagues, scientists, engineers, were people of all colors in the rainbow. What matterred to Dad was could they, incuding the white folks, do the job, and with good values, character, and integrity. Thats all that mattered, he said. Not what color they were, or other words I didn't understand that he said had to do with religions other than ours; different ethinc ways if life, and creeds.
Then my Mom saw it (the tattoo on the boy I wanted to be in the sleep over) and unbelievably: an educated, intelligent, poised and open minded woman who vehemently taught that prejudice was terrible, and all forms of it were based on ignorance and fear, and learned behaviour in cycles, too. Yet, she did not want this boy to sleep over; thought he'd have a bad influence on me ! I was flabbergasted ! It was against every grain of tolerance and clear-thinking her and Dad held with, and taught me.
DAD, however, listened to Mom telling me this in almost another voice I had not heard; it was apparently the learned behaviour from her grandmother, who held with an old prejudice that tattood people in the turn of the century were marked in the old country for crimes committed, branded in verious manners of transgressions revealed.
Dad calmly read his paper, smoked his pipe, and a said to mom; I'll never forget it: 'Lois, we've spent 13 years teaching Steve to think for himself and also embrace our core values, which include zero tolerance for prejudism. And in 5 minutes , you've almost undone all of that in one fell swoop. Do you think perhaps its your Grandmother's childhood fears and norms coming out in you ? I thought you despised her thinking ! And now I hear it in you ! Teaching it to our son ! . I had NEVER heard mom and dad argue before. It was more of a lecture by dad.
Mom allowed as how Dad was right after thinking about it; told me so, and why, and Dad openly praised her. I had the sleep over. Jeez, nowdays thats nothing ! A tatoo !.. Gordon has/had that cool rose tattoo in one of my favourite songs, as in your signature ! Well, Mom replied afterwards to dad, and rightly so, that one value, or lack thereof she did not want her and dad to teach me was open argument in front of the children.
Dad responded: "how are Steve and Bill ever going to know its OK to argue, and get over it in front of them too, so they know its not the end of the wolld when it happens in their relationships when they love a woman and have children ?. IT HAPPENS. What do you think ? She said : -sigh- you got me again, Russ. Boy my grandparents really affected me more than I ever knew. Something like that anyway(best of my memory for the whole thing; really).
Tattoos are cool. My dad taught me and my mom that.... funny how breaking cycles can go right.