I blame it on "politically correct."

During the month of November so far, I've seen several of my Facebook friends posting something each day that they are thankful for. I wish I'd started that on the first of the month, but I didn't catch onto it for a couple of days, and then I was too lazy to get started on it.

Today I realized how incredibly thankful I am that I grew up when I did, and am not growing up today. I'm so glad that I grew up in a time when we stood up every morning and said the Pledge of Allegiance. I'm thankful that I was allowed to have Halloween parties at school, and that we could not only say "Merry Christmas" but we also had Christmas programs. I grew up in a time when we got a hug from the lunch lady, and it was one of the high points of our day.

When I was in middle school our lunch lady was told that she could no longer give those kids a hug. For some kids, this was the only affection they were shown each day. She ended up quitting her job because she wasn't willing to quit showing kindness to the children.

When I got to high school, the new thing was "Politically correct." I hated "politically correct" from the get-go. I think that it is directly responsible for so many things that have gone downhill since then.

Being politically correct made everyone a victim of some sort, it gave everyone a label. In an attempt to not stereotype or make people feel bad, it did the opposite. I went from being a short girl with bad eyesight to someone who was vertically and visually challenged.

Now, here's where I get even nerdier than I usually am... I'm going to include the Merriam Webster Dictionary's various definitions of the word challenge.
1. To demand as due or deserved
2. To order to halt and prove identity
3. To dispute especially as being unjust, invalid, or outmoded
4. To question formally the legality or legal qualifications of
5 a. To confront or defy boldly
b. To call out to duel or combat
c. To invite into competition

I have read through each of those definitions and I fail to see anywhere in any of them one that fits into the politically correct term of vertically or visually challenged. I view a challenge as something that you have the opportunity to accept. A challenge is something that you choose to meet head on, and deal with however you see fit.

Not one person ever said to me, "Do you wish to have terrible eyesight and deal with wearing corrective lenses for the rest of your life? Do you want to deal with headaches that come from eye strain when your prescription is too weak? Do you want to be faced with the choice to have an expensive corrective surgery to relieve you of the corrective lenses?" No, these choices were not presented to me. I simply have bad eyesight. I am not visually challenged.

I think that when everyone became so concerned with being politically correct, they also became so concerned with never offending the masses. Why is it that Christmas, a holiday celebrated by far more people than just Christians, is offensive to others? Why does no one seem to care if Christians, or non-Christian Christmas celebrating people are offended by the removal of Christmas from school concerts, and greetings.

Why can't kids have Halloween parties at school anymore? Because it's offensive to real witches. Why do witches have credibility as a religion and Christians don't. Why is it ok to offend Christians? We can't say Merry Christmas because it's offensive to non-Christians and no one cares, but Heaven forbid that we offend the witches.

I grew up being proud to be an American. I was proud to say the Pledge of Allegiance. I was proud to face the flag and put my hand over my heart and stand in silent reverence when the National Anthem was played. Now in today's school system, it is each teacher's individual choice to say the Pledge or not. Teachers are also using class time to teach the kids their own political preferences, and I think that's really wrong too. When did it become ok to tell kids how they should vote, if they were old enough to vote, but not ok to stand and salute our flag, the very symbol of our nation, and the freedoms on which we were formed. The very same freedoms which give those teachers the right to stand up in front of a classroom full of kids and teach them.

If a politician really wants to unite our country, if they want to make a campaign promise that this country would actually want to see fulfilled, no matter of which party endorses it, promise to end politically correct. Promise to bring common sense back, bring Christmas trees and celebrations back, promise to stop making mountains out of molehills. Get our country back to not being so blasted worried about offending anyone, and back to just being real people. Not neatly labeled people.

So even though it's nice up here, and I can see the top shelf, I'll step down from my soapbox now and go back to being a plain old short girl with bad eyesight.

I wonder what he'd think...

When we were on vacation, we had a 6 hour layover at the train station in Washington DC. Matt's priority was to make it to the World War II Memorial. It had been so important to his grandma that the Memorial be built, and WWII is such a huge part of his life and family history that it was really important to get there. I didn't realize it was so close to the Lincoln Monument, which is probably my favorite place in Washington DC.

We walked over to the Lincoln Monument, and I was truly struck by all the history that has happened on that spot that was built to honor one of our most famous Presidents. It was very sobering for me, and I had to wonder, "What would Abraham Lincoln think of this monument?" What would he think to see himself recreated in such a large and immortal marble figure? He was such a humble man, and even beyond humble, he had such a poor self image, that I think he would probably be mortified to see a monument in his honor.

I have some serious issues with the new Lincoln pennies too. At first I thought that the penny with him standing up in front of a building was him in front of his monument. I realize that that made me angrier than it should have, but I thought that it went against all that history teaches us about him to show him standing in front of his monument like, "Hi, I'm Abe, and this is my monument." I actually did some internet-searching research on this very subject and discovered that he's actually standing in front of the Illinois legislature building, not his monument. Still, it irks me a little because he's standing there, larger than life and gesturing like, "Hey check me out, I worked here."

I have less trouble with the one of him sitting on a log near his cabin because that one shows his humble roots, and more of the real Lincoln that I think he would like to be remembered for.

We got home from vacation and a couple days later I was getting ready for work, and when I went downstairs, the TV was on and (even though Matt was nowhere to be seen) Lucie was lying on the couch watching a documentary on, of all things, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. I was rather impressed with her viewing choices, and so I sat down next to her and was instantly drawn in. I rewound it as far as I could, and then set the DVR to record the remainder of the program.

Today I finally finished watching that program, and it got me thinking about my recent trip there, and how I might be projecting my own issues with his humility onto him more than he would, but still I wonder what he would think of the elevated position he holds in our history.

Who comes up with this stuff?

Lately I've been putting thought into commonly used phrases and their origins. I found myself saying, "You're pulling my leg," one afternoon, and then I went online to discover the actual origin of the phrase. As luck would have it, one of the front page stories on Yahoo that very day about that exact thing... Strange phrases and their origins.

I read it, but they didn't cover leg-pulling. So I searched it online. I know I found a few theories as to what the origin of that phrase was, but it apparently didn't leave a lasting impression on me, because I've completely forgotten it now.

I did start wondering about some other common phrases, and who determined them. For example, (and yes, sadly, this is one I spend A LOT of time thinking about) "Rat's A**". For the sake of my family friendly blog, we're going to simply refer to this as Rat's Bum from now on. Who determined that a rat's bum was the lowest form of universal currency in the world. When you can't even be bothered to "give a rat's bum" about something... that shows that it is REALLY far down. How do you suppose that was used for the first time? A bunch of people sitting around with excess rodent parts, and they determined that the rat's bum was worth the least of all other animals and their various parts? I think it would be a little more disturbing if you could give a rat's bum about something. Seriously? Where would you keep those? Would you have a box of rat bums? I can just imagine that somewhere out there is some sicko just waiting for the perfect opportunity for someone to say to him/her, "I couldn't give a rat's bum" and then they say, "Well, I could!" And out of the box comes the rat's bum.

And also, who decided that a horse's bum was equivalent to the worst class of people? As a devoted horse-person, I find that one kind of offensive. I actually made a friend apologize to a picture of Shadow once after referring to someone else that we know as a horse's bum. I said that was an insult to my horse and his bum. Why a horse? What makes a horse's bum worse than any other animals? Although, clearly it's still worth more than a rat's, it's still looked down upon in social circles.

Who decided that chickens were more cowardly than any other bird? Why do we call people "chicken?" I think that any bird who brazenly crosses the road regardless of speeding vehicles is not inherently cowardly. Stupid? Heck yes. Filthy? Absolutely! Delicious? Why yes, yes they are! But cowardly? I'm not so sure.