Youer than You

This week in classrooms all over the land, children were celebrating the life and legacy of Theodor Seuss Geisel or the beloved, Dr. Seuss, that we all know.

On March 2nd, he would have turned 112 years old.

It's hard for me to imagine that gazads of years ago, he had the foresight, creativity and courage to write and illustrate stories of inclusivity, acceptance and individuality long before it was acceptable to honor those who are different from us.

My 5-year old daughter, Claire's preschool classroom took the entire week to celebrate reading a different Seuss masterpiece each day.  The inspiration of stories, prompted us to read one of our favorites at home..."Happy Birthday to You!"  As the bird of the story celebrates who he is, the narrator proclaims...

To which, my Claire inquired, "What does it mean to be youer than you?"  A bit tongue tied, I tried my best to describe that God only made one of each of us and that there are no other Claires on the earth even remotely resembling who she is.  And then I asked, "What does it mean to be Claire...the Claire that you are?"  She sat and thought for what felt like a really long time.  Resisting the urge to describe her, I waited.  Finally, she leaned into me and said, "I am a singer.  That's my gift.  I'm yellow.  I mean my skin and my hair are kinda yellow brown.  I am fun.  Like, I like to do this (she wiggled her eye brows up and down with a 'How you doin?' expression).  And, I'm a really kind sister and I love God."

This is exactly what it means to be youer than you, I encouraged.  You don't have to try to be something you're not.  You can be exactly who you are...in fact, be more of it in the world...sing more, grow more yellow, be kind to all you meet and keep loving your siblings and God.  In a nutshell, let the world get the best of you.

In the midst of the insanity that was Super Tuesday and another ridiculous round of the Republican debates...I resisted the urge to share my favorite Dr. Seuss quote with my sweet daughter...even if it is a tad modified from the original version.

But all the same, it's exactly how I feel about the youness of certain candidates...nonetheless, I suppose we're all entitled to be youer than you.

A Mockery of Public Service

It's grown to be a joke in our abode.

When there's too much sugar in their blood stream or too little time getting their wiggles out, the kids scream "What starts with D and ends with P?"  And while they laugh hysterically (which is still mind boggling because they've said it countless times), they make up names like "da poop" or "the dope" or "the don pawn."  But always, every time in a way that indicates that the person they are referring to is an idiot or a fool or at best, a silly man.

I contend with the comments for a bit and then, I say, "Okay, alright, enough is enough."

The truth is that I want desperately to provide my young, malleable children with a balanced perspective of this man who is running to earn the highest political office in the land...but I can't.  In fact, I'm thankful that we don't watch the news and that they don't have social media accounts to hear more extensive stories of what a buffoon, at best and a monster, at worst that this man really is.

In the beginning, I thought his tirades were a farce.  I imagined that his racist, sexist and in general, nonsensical commentary were simply a rouse--that truly no one in their right mind would pay homage to a man who has alienated nearly every population subset around him.

But then, I stood in amazement this morning driving the kids to school.  He's now won the primaries in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada (my husband's home state which I like to give him a rash about).  The last state, he scored over 20% points over Rubio and Cruz.  Dear God...this feels like a real deal.

And then I thought, why does this bother me so profusely?

It makes me extraordinarily sad that the notion of earning an opportunity to serve in public office has become either a ridiculously exclusive enterprise, to see how much money one can fund raise, or how obnoxiously offensive one can be in their views, with next to no evidence as to why they believe the way that they do.

I want nothing more than to proudly walk into a voting booth with all three of my children and discuss what an enormous privilege and extraordinary right this is to partake in as an American.  I want them to research candidates and to feel out their own perspectives, values and mindsets about issues that affect not only themselves but their fellow citizens.  I would love to hear that they would want to sacrifice their own time, talents and gifts to become public servants and that they would take that responsibility very seriously.

But the truth is that most of the time, if we walk into a voting booth, we're doing so with the expectation of selecting the lesser of two evils and that was not the intent behind the process.

So as this election cycle plays itself out, you can imagine who I will not be voting for and that I will be extensively researching Canadian citizenship if the people of our country fall into the devastating trap of voting for someone that seems unfathomable to represent us in anyway, shape or form. 

Until then, because I try to be a good mother, I won't let the children denigrate his name...too much.