Sometimes I Just Shouldn't Look

The local paper has run a headline for the last few days in a row to the effect that whoever killed a dog in a cruel manner in the next village over still hasn't been caught. Every day, it's right in front of me again, and I think about the animal's suffering. Then today, CNN is running a story on some teens abusing a kitten. It's been in the "top stories" all day, and I keep trying to look away.

So I popped into the Wooden Boat Forum and scanned the Bilge for an interesting distraction. What I found was 3 pages of posts about how the role of women in the military should be limited for their own good and for the good of those soldiers who they would distract or whose team camaraderie they would destroy. I could have dove into that discussion with spurs flying (and have done so before); but it all just keeps coming around again. People don't generally change their minds - instead, they retire and the general consensus evolves with the replacements.

So I peeked at Facebook, which caused me to look for a second at my older brother's blog. (No, I'm not posting a link.) And I caught his comments on religion, which included the statement that "My grandmothers were both very simple people, and not just because they were Christian farm wives of limited education." My grandmothers were not "simple people." The one was a talented writer who sold every story she ever wrote, as well as an entrepreneur and artist. The other was a funny, thoughtful woman and a matriarch who shared her wisdom with 3 generations. And BOTH, if I recall correctly, attended teacher's college and were among the best educated of their circle, as well as being accomplished canners and bakers, voracious readers, mothers of large broods, and successful survivors of life's varied challenges stretching back to the Great Depression.

So I'm shutting off my computer, and I'm going to go finish the last bit of fringe on the blue shawl (and maybe the sleeves of that baby sweater), and play with my puppy. So there.

.

NOTE: Okay, I checked. Grandma E taught school for several years, but Grandma B had to drop out and go to work in the button factory to support her mother and siblings during the Depression. She always regretted the lost opportunity, according to Dad.