What? I am against reading? Yep, I am. Not all reading mind you. but over indulged in, mindless reading. Reading gets an exalted place in our western world, at least among the intelligentsia and wannabees (that’s me). The idea is if you read you are intelligent, wise, learning, growing and open minded. It means you are self-aware and a good person. But that is not true.
Television as a Positive
It isn’t any more true than watching TV means your a vacuous idiot who is satisfied with shallow crap. I watch more hours of TV than hours of reading. So, am I just being defensive? No, I am being realistic. People watch substantial TV and they watch idiot TV. People read substantial books and they read idiot books. What I am against is the persistent illusion that reading in and of itself makes someone admirable. It doesn’t.
What vs That
If you learn, grow, share and become enlightened while reading then it’s good. And they same is true about watching TV. If you get entertained in either medium, that is good too. But not if that is all you are doing. Escaping to the boob tube and never critically evaluating what it is you are watching isn’t good. And it isn’t good with reading either. What you read and how you think about it make you admirable, not just that you read.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who is reading Frankenstein and having a hard time getting through it.
Quote by Albert Einstein
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Morning ‘not a haiku’ poem #4
Stretching in morning dark, Edge of light past trees, Dogs wiggling, I am on the floor with them.
Have you ever been stuck in a rut? As I get older I feel more susceptible to that feeling I think. Sometimes even going to bed every night seems like a rut. That’s silly of course, we all have to sleep and we have to do it every night (unless you are a college student). I don’t think it has much to do with thinking about the next day in my case. I think it just has to do with it being the same exact process every day, evening after evening.
Honestly, that is why I stayed up to watch the Royal Wedding instead of going to sleep, then waking up. I was home alone (my wife was on a business trip) and it just seemed like a way to break up that monotony of bedtime a little bit.
What about you? How do you keep yourself balanced? Does it take breaking up a routine once in a while or do you find your balance in the comfort of that repetition?
Sadly, it’s one catastrophe on top of another on Day 4 of Catastrophe Week at the NDD
The man who discovered the power of the atom, the man whose brilliant understanding of the universe led to a burst of scientific discovery, that man, Albert Einstein, said this. And he was right.
Our human mode of thinking is still dominated by fear, greed, power and prestige. It’s as if we were given new ingredients for a new recipe in a kitchen with new appliances but we insisted on cooking it according to an old recipe. We cook, disaster. We try the same recipe again, disaster. One more time, disaster.
I think it’s time we realized we are in a new human kitchen and need new recipes for how to cook.
I am not a fan of the Tiger Mom (from the recent book ‘Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother’) and her ways. I know American moms and dads are wondering if they are too lenient, and maybe they are at times. But coercing your child into becoming an exact duplicate of you, with no understanding or care about why they are and what ‘genius’ they have is akin to kidnapping.
You kidnap your kid to fulfill your purposes, your needs. After a while, the kid goes along with it and becomes the hostage influenced by his or her captors to have sympathy and regard for the kidnapper. The Stockholm syndrome for families. The child believes the parent (kidnapper) did the right thing because now he or she is good at violin or very interested in science.
I am not dissing helping to direct your child, you can’t help but do that, and you are abrogating your duty if you do not do it to some degree. BUT, if you aren’t paying attention or you don’t care who the child is and is becoming, or you are so insecure you need a little mini-me around to validate yourself, then YOU are the problem, not the child.
Quote by Albert Einstein, 1879-1955, Austrian born Physicist
A thankful shout out to my Napkin Kin in Perth and Adelaide, Australia; Charlie, Margg, Amber, Ebony and others. They are faithful readers and I REALLY appreciate them!
Have you ever realized that without some of your faults you wouldn’t have developed some of your strengths? That’s how I feel about my pursuit of truth and beauty. I may not be the best business guy in the world, not high powered, not driven in that way, and it is a fault in some of my efforts. But that lack also has allowed the door to remain open for me in my other pursuits, those of beauty, truth and love. I am not making an excuse. I should, and will, be better about those other areas. I am working on them and want to work on them. But, nonetheless, it is true that lack in one area can be the cause of abundance in others.
What lacking in your makeup has allowed other strengths to come out, other doors to open?
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Day #4 of ‘Back to School’ week at The Napkin Dad Daily
Can you find the ‘mistake’ that made this drawing come to fruition? What do you think it is?
Teachers, do you say no a lot? Parents, do you? Double check when and why you say it just to make sure you aren’t doing it simply to make your life easier instead of making your child safer.
The ‘no’ that is quick, that is angry, that is frustrated, that is fearful…that is the ‘no’ that stomps on creativity and curiosity.
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by Albert Einstein, 1879-1955, German/Swiss Physicist.
Ok, not enough said. In honor of students going back to school and college I am presenting a napkin about the end of school. I do this so you who are taking care of these students will keep in mind throughout the year that they are learning school stuff and they are learning life stuff. You are teaching them both whether you realize it or not.
