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Friday, October 17, 2008

teachable season

I talk to my 13-year-old son almost every day about temperament, self-restraint, self-control and yada yada but never have I come across a teaching aid like this week's TV split-screen images during the debates.

We were driving to his middle school today when he casually mentioned he's getting a lunch detention for calling a classmate a "bitch."

"I don't think it's fair," he said.

I took a breath and asked him if he'd noticed the difference between Sen.s Obama and McCain during the debate -- specifically Obama's cool composure compared to McCain's impulsive, irritable, blinking and blurting.

"Which one looked better to you?" I asked, deciding on the spot I probably didn't need to go into the details about how McCain has been overheard calling his own wife the c-word. "Which one would you rather be like?"

He looked like it was actually sinking in. Which kept me smiling all morning. Along with the powerful subcontext of our conversation, which is that maybe, oh maybe, the guy with the good character is actually, finally going to win.

For more context on the character issue, make sure to read the amazing recent Rolling Stone profile on McCain.

And don't forget to vote. And help call swingstate voters if you can! It's for our children's future, in so many, many ways...

p.s. "The Mommy Brain" was recently referenced in a column in The Washington Times . The columnist, with whom I'd exchanged a couple brief emails, suggested I thought Sarah Palin was smarter for having all those kids. To quote T.S. Eliot, "That is not what I meant at all. That is not it, at all..."

1 Comments:

Blogger katie said...

Ha ha! That's hilarious! ;)

I've had "The Mommy Brain" on my to-read list for awhile now...I was just getting online to find it either at the library or on amazon, and I found your blog. It's great!

7:49 PM  

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