Ben recently got in trouble at school for calling another child a name. A racial slur. Certainly NOT something Billy and I condone, but the comment, in "our day", would not have gotten us detention as it did Ben. Beat up maybe, but not detention.
Mom and dad try to explain the seriousness of flippant speech, etc.
Ben, "Mom, I just think people in public school are too sensitive! I mean, really, the kid wasn't actually Mexican!"
Liz, "Ben, if you were an adult, you'd be arrested for that".
Mom, "Liz, you don't get arrested for calling people names."
Liz, "Yes, you do."
Parents decide to leave it at that.
Today, Victoria asks, "What does getting your G.E.D. mean?"
Mom, "It's a test. It stands for Graduation Equivalency Diploma or General Education Development...something like that."
Victoria, "Oh, I thought is stood for General Education Deficiency". Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Parents decide to leave it at that.
This evening, addressing Christmas cards and gifts for our trash men and mail carrier, I say, "I don't know how to address this to the trash men. What should I call them"?
In the words of my sister, if you don't like being called a Maid -- go to college to be something else. She applys the same reason to trash men. Still, I struggled. I even googled it.
Ben to the rescue, "How's about 'Official Sanitation Control Officers'. Unless they are "Sanitation Control Generals -- then we're in trouble"?
We went with that.
:) Shanna
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