Politics & Pigtails

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I am sure that just like me, you are all beyond sick of the political messages being shouted at us on a daily basis this time of year. How do you handle politics and children?

Signs, commercials, social media, you can’t go anywhere without the negativity jumping out at you like a 2 year old hopped up on Sunny Delight.

I am all for supporting whatever cause is close to your heart. Really. It is a huge part about what makes our country such a beautiful place to live. Our first amendment right is unparalleled to any other country in the world and again, it is glorious.

The fact that if you wanted to, you could grab some sharpies and poster board and sit outside of Subway boycotting their meatball subs because you had a bad meatball experience when you were 5 and think that they should all be banned in America is a pretty staggeringly amazing realization.

However, I keep going back to the same thought.

Mother Theresa said:

I was once asked why I don’t participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I’ll be there.

I don’t know about you, but if this school of thought is good enough for that lady, I will agree everyday of the week and twice on Sunday.

So instead of boycotting meatballs, why doesn’t she make a sign about how awesome a turkey foot long is?

This leads me to a question that has been running around in my head for some time now. Since when did our moral compasses become so misguided that now we focus on tearing down our “opponents” in life instead of focusing on the positivity and beauty of our own thoughts and beliefs? This is something I try to instill into my 5 year old on a daily basis. “So and so has an iPad. That makes me sad.” And then I wrack my brain on how to get her to focus on what she has instead of sending out negative vibes on her kindergarten brethren. It’s not easy. But this is a slippery slope that we as a society have all started to fall down and we are now spiraling into a very dark place.

Sometimes after watching a political “hit piece” I wish I could call whoever took their hard earned money and poured it into ruining five minutes of my morning and tell them to take five, sip on some chocolate milk, watch some cartoons and think about what their mom taught them:

 If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.

We wonder why bullying is such a problem in our schools right now. Look around. We are sending negative, demeaning, hurtful messages to our kids daily. Now I know that the goal of political campaigns are not meant to taint the innocence of the future leaders of America.  I get politics. But I don’t understand them.

Have we become so disconnected from the lessons we learned as children to think that sending slanderous messages about our “opponents” will help us win? Is that how you want to win?

Do I teach my 5-year-old that in her soccer game it would be better to try and go Tonya Harding on the pigtailed goalie on the other team? Do we hope that the confused kid picking his nose accidentally scores a goal for our team and then we can run around like Neanderthals thumping our chests because we are the best? No sir. We tell our kids to do their best. Be a good teammate. Give high fives – even to the other team.

If this is the way they are trying to “win” I don’t want to be a part of it. I don’t want my kids to be a part of it. I think it’s time our politicians took a look back to their Pre-K days.

Think about what made you a fighter.

What made you believe that you could make a difference in people’s lives and what made you want to be in politics in the first place.

Because I am willing to bet my absentee ballot that it wasn’t taking out the pig tailed goalie on the other team.

2 COMMENTS

  1. Well, said! Great lil read, and spot on about the attitude! I vote for a footlolong turkey sub that my sandwhich artist made me the other day that was dynamite!!

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