Standing In The Corner + Time Out= Same Thing

I have said this before, but this time I mean it. This will be my last blog entry untill I move.

Trust me.

Do you remember when you were growing up and as a young child you would do something your parents did not approve and be told to 'go stand in the corner'? I think just about every child has been told that.

Now a days its called 'time out'. It doesn't matter what you call it, it is still the same thing. It could be standing at a wall or sitting in a chair or what ever the parent doing the disiplining deems necessary.

I think the reason for calling it time out as aposed to the corner might have to do with the length of time a kid was supposed to stand. Depending on the parent it might have been anywhere from five to ten minutes. If you were a smart parent. I recall hearing once on a news report and this is no lie, that a parent got arrested for having her child stand in the corner for over five hours. To me and I guess to any rational thinking parent thats too long.

But, regardless and I am not trying to excuse this woman's behavior, but you are the parent ( if you are a parent) and from what I have learned is that no parent likes to be told how to disapline their kid. To a degree I can't say I blame them. I would only take exception if the parent makes the evening news and outright abuses their kid, even than I don't know if I would say or do anything.

I feel as a single male with no children I can learn not just from other parents about how to be a effective dad when and if God allows me to, but I can also learn from my experiance as a child and how I was disaplined.

Now, with all due respect to my mother she did the best she could with myself and my sibling and looking back I would have to say she wasn't abusive with us, but with that being said, she got her point accross. I hope that one day I can do the same with my children.

I remember watching an old episode of Little House On The Prairie where in a flash back episode of the Micheal Landon character as young boy. He had did something to his teacher, the teacher knew the boy had did it and told the boys father. The father while still in front of the teacher, let the instructor paddle the boy. Only thing was the teacher didn't stop when the boys father wanted him too.

I personally see a problem with this happening in real life situations and that is some times other people don't know when to quit the disapline if the parent of the child agrees that they can do so.

Mom and dad come home and they notice that some one went over board.

Thats not only wrong in my opinion but a crime as well.

If you recall I had wrote in an earlier blog about a friend of mine who misplaced his cell phone and went all around his house asking his wife and kids if thay had seen it. When it was finally figured out that one of his kids, after telling my friend no he didn't see or use it, my friend told me he had to 'Be a dad' and put a bit of a restriction on him. The child in question was a teenager, but it doesn't really make a difference a parent has to do what they feel is right if they think their kids are not being honest with them.

Lastly I will leave you , my reader's with this. First, I will honestly tell you I do not know the percentage of parents that do this, but I am aware that some use what I like to call 'the counting method'. Basically, the parent wants the child to either do or stop something, if the child doesn't than the parent would start counting. The hypothesis is by at least the number two, the kid is on their way to do whatever or has stopped doing what ever. If the parent got to three and the kid didn't stop, he or she was in some hot water as they say.

I once knew of a kid who's parents did get to three. He told me and I quote " I shouldn't have pushed them"

If anybody reading this is a parent this blog was in no way shape or form trying to tell you how to raise or disapline your kid. I trust you are a fair parent and you all go about the task with honesty and integrity.

The Stain America Can Not Wash Away

Over the weekend I was watching an episode of an old televison series called The Waltons. In this episode, filmed around 1978 followed a character named Virdie Foster, an African American who, if you remember the show was a friend of the Walton family and thus a recurring character played by actress Lynn Hamilton. This particular episode delt with Virdie and her daughter.

The daughter who just recently came back home has had trouble finding work. Mostly the show centered around racism and just because this woman was black she couldn't find the type of job she was trained for. Like I said for anyone who remember's the Waltons knows it was set in the southern part of the United States in the late 1930's early 1940's and this 'Virde' had to deal with what was once known as 'Jim Crow' law.

Racism is a stain America cannot wash away and we only have ourselves as a country to blame. Early American settlers in the 1700' who had an abundance of land didn't want to hire people to do the work, ie picking and plowing the feilds so they thought kidnapping people from their native lands and forcing them to do the work was a bright idea.

It wasn't.

Ove 200 years later we still can non shake it. Granted there has a been alot of progress. One and this has to be the most obvious the first black president,Barack Obama.

Regardles of how much progress we have made we still take one step backward when we aren't as nice as we should be and start being a tad racist.

Everyone is guilty of this.

At one time or another we all have used the "N" word when refering to an African American. Perhaps we didn't mean to, but we did it anyway.

Years before I had my computer, I used to go into what is known as (at least in the state of Califoria) internet cafe's, where you could be able to either play popular computer games or you could surf the world wide web. So, I am in this cafe and some one is playing music. I think as a joke, (a very bad one in my opinion) starts playing this song that was so racist towards blacks, I had to leave.

I have friends that are African American, and I consider anyone who uses the 'N' word ( you know what word I am refering to) in front of me to be criticizing those friends of mine. They have never met my frends, but I feel that since they used the word, I have to to a degree defend them.

But racism works both ways. It's not just whites ( some of them) against blacks, its blacks as well.

I will give you an example.

In the late 1990's I was asked by two good friends of mine if I would be a usher for their wedding. They told me I would need a tuxedo and where to go to find it. I get to the place (a shopping mall in southern california) walk all around it both first and second floors, but I couldn't find the store. So, finally I start asking. I see this one gentleman with his family and I say maybe four to five times 'pardon me, sir', the guy doesn't answer. Finally after my last try one of his children says to him, " dad, this guy is trying to talk to you" The guy turns toward his kid and says and I quote " I ain't talkin' to whitey" and than walks from me

All I wanted to know is if he knew where this tuxedo shop was.

Personally I feel that it is in how you or we are raised. If you live or lived in a family where hatred runs or ran ramped you yourself might turn out the same way bcause you would think their is nothing wrong with how you feel.

Earlier in this blog I mentioned current United States President, Barack Obama. Possibly ever since he won the office or maybe even before that he (Obama) wasn't born in America, so to prove that he was showed his birth certificate to the world proving he is an American citizen.

There are two sides to this: One is the Republican side that thinks because Obama is a Democrat that he isn't doing that good of a job and want him out of the White House.

Second is racism. It has to be, unfortunately. There are people in this country that do not want a black person as president. It's sad, but it's the truth.

In the early 1990's an African American named Rodney King was pulled over by three or four police officer's for a traffic violation. These officer's were caught on camera beating King up in the middle of the street. about a year or so later, King took these officer's to court to which they were found innocent of their actions and thus started the Los Angeles riots. A few days into the riots, King made a televison apperence where he asked those who were rioting to quit and thus uttered the saying " Can't we all just get along?"

Can we?

The Death Of Osama Bin Laden

With this Sundays news of the death of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin laden brought a lot of relief and celebration for alot of people. The thing is, was it all necessary. His capture, yes most definitely, but all of the crowds gathering in certain locations like in front of the White House and in New York at Ground Zero wasn't necessary.

But, it happened.

Dont get me wrong, I was very saddened the morning of Tuesday, september 11th, 2001. An estimated 3000 lives were lost and for really no reason other than one man's hatred for a country he most likely had never been to.

I cannot unerstand that, I doubt anyone really can for that matter, but to have hatred for something you have either never seen or have never been to.


I have heard tons of storys of countrys that either, One: have little or no freedoms to them, for instance, North Korea where from my understanding it's leader makes his citizens obey him. Or country's that have laws that, well quite simply shouldn't be allowed. I may not agree with it but I don't hate it.

Hate is a word I think that has been taken out of content. In America some aspects of hate can be considered a crime.

You may or may not agree with someones way of life. That is not a crime, its called a disagreement. It becomes a crime when you do bodily harm to a person because for lack of a better term, they don't see things your way.

To a degree that's what it was with bin laden. For what ever the reason was, he didn't agree with America's right to freedom. At least that seems to be the story alot of people say. Perhaps it is far more deep seeded than that.

I have stated this previously in another blog about dictatorship and for me as an American and living with the freedoms that it has allowed me, some times I find myself asking why can't countrys like Pakistan, Iran, and other's have the same liberites we have. Its easy to say that when you live in a country that allows those freedoms, it is probably more difficult to live somewhere for instance like North Korea where from my understanding if you have the slightist question of authority you could be jailed for it.

It took almost 17 to 18 years to catch bin laden. He has been on the FBI 's most wanted list for more than 10 years and it wasn't easy. Even when he was found this past weekend, it was a guessing game because they really were not sure if he was there or not. Regardless, the hunch paid off and bin laden is no more.

Whether or not the world will be a safer place remains to be seen.


The sad part is and I will say this again, weather it is because of our freedoms, or laws that say here is what you can or cannot do or what ever the case may be some one somwhere is not going to like it and may try to do something. it could be in any country not just America.

I will leave you with this thought: Regardless of what it is and why terrorist do it wouldn't you want your country to be defended if necessary?