Let me introduce you to my children. This is Lorynn and Olivia as they embarked on this year of school:

Lorynn and Olivia go to school to learn not only their three Rs, but also decency, kindness, loyalty, honesty...all the CHARACTER we should instill in our children from Day I. They started in Catholic school this year because I felt that even the teachers in our local district have forgotten that part of their job is to teach children to be the best people they can be-not through prayer but through ACTION. Children need to learn from everyone around them and guiding them that how we interact with one another is what decides our fate.

In fact, ever read this? I used to have this poster on my dorm room wall. Robert Fulghum, who wrote this, is a very smart man.

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.These are the things I learned:
-Share everything.
-Play fair.
-Don't hit people.
-Put things back where you found them.
-Clean up your own mess.
-Don't take things that aren't yours.
-Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
-Wash your hands before you eat.
-Flush.
-Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
-Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
-Take a nap every afternoon.
-When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
-Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
-Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
-And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.
Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.
Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.
And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

My kids have been raised to understand these things as UNIVERSAL TRUTHS. They have always been reminded that they are NOT alone in this world and that everything they do changes the world down the line. They are learning every day to respect themselves and others. Someone else needs to learn these basic truths.

Sarah Palin came on the scene last night. The fact that she was a woman and a relative Washington unknown actually made her an appealing figure to me. However, some of the reading I'd been doing left me curious as to McCain's strange choice.

Her daughter's pregnancy and the implication that perhaps her youngest son was in actuality Bristol's 'oldest' child left questions, but none that took her out of contention. No, in fact, she needed no political hype or dramatic story to do that. It was her speech last night that truly caused me to dislike her.

Firstly, this 'mother' chose to blatantly attack Obama without supporting comments, though she avoided ANY attacks on Biden (since they would be very hard to produce). She chose to accuse Obama of being a 'celebrity' and 'sensationalizing', yet he very specifically said he would fire anyone in his camp who attacked her family (sensationizing fodder for sure). She said he wanted to raise billions in taxes, yet she wants to tap our oil reserves and spend more on a war we are most certainly NOT close to winning. She told war stories about 'the Maverick' but forgot about his involvement in the Keating 5.

She attacked Obama's celebrity but she is more popular these days than Britney Spears. Pregnant unwed teenage daughter, special needs son, spouse with a criminal record. Perhaps cleaning out her own closet would be best before accusing others of anything. In truth, she exemplified EVERY bad behavior that I have avoided in my kids. Revisiting our list from above-

-Share everything. Well, apparently she shares kids with her daughter.
-Play fair. If fair involves double standards.
-Don't hit people. Below the belt counts.
-Put things back where you found them. Like babies with their mothers.
-Clean up your own mess. Not your sister's. You can't fire someone because they upset your sister.
-Don't take things that aren't yours. Like babies.
-Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody. I'm waiting.

Palin, you lost any hope of my vote with your speech last night and your obvious disregard for the general rules of living. Go back to Alaska.