Monday Madness- Realationships

Realationships.

Yep. I know there's a typo in there. 

It's curious to me. I've always been a pretty good speller. I have a deep love for words and their meanings and and how they morph from the root to other words. I pride myself on spelling. 

What strikes me as odd is that I've repeated that typo at least three times in the last 48 hours. Is my subconscious trying to tell me something?  I mean, I KNOW  how to spell the word re-la-tion-ships. But when I noticed what I kept doing repeatedly, I paused. 

One thing I really love about Karen is if she is your friend, she is your real friend.  There's no covering things and you always know where you stand and you don't have to guess how she feels about something. She just tells you. Graciously. (Well, mostly graciously. Unless we are in The Pool of Truth. Then all bets are off.) But...What if all my re-lationships got real? What if they really were REAL-ationships? Then where would we be? What if we were friends with people, not for what they could do for us, not for company politics or ladder climbing or buddying up to me to sell me something, but friends because we were better people for having known each other? What if we had REALationships because we made each other think and just got along and knew how to laugh together? 

What if we just got REAL?

Yours, considering what makes a friendship a REALationship,

Melissa

Monday Madness- One Week Left

Only one week left. Most of you know of what I speak. The oncoming storm- and I'm not referring to Hurricane Sandy- rivals any other political campaigning week. And if you think it's bad in The Lou, you should try Chicago! Merciless does not begin to describe!

And the conversations on facebook- whoa. People are really beginning to get nasty about things. While I understand there is a lot to debate, I'd like to offer up a few points to consider:

1.) Debate, but don't get ugly.  I've seen true friendships ruined by political differences. There is no reason for namecalling, arrogance or slamming someone in the name of satire or whit.

2.) Did I say arrogance? Yes. People! Take the high road! Conviction is admirable, but when it comes off as an "I know so much better than you" attitude, well, I cease to listen.

3. Listen to what the other person is saying before you write them off. In our school district, all of the kids are learning the seven habits of highly effective people, one of which is: seek to understand, then be understood.  I wonder what would happen if we all did that with each other? I know it doesn't mean we are going to agree and life will be nirvana, but we might get a whole lot closer. 

4.) Discussion is key. See point #1. Discussion, not arguing, not lamblasting, not fighting. Discussion. 

And if you happen to be in the Northeast, hunker down and stay safe. You've got it going on on all fronts!

Yours, counting the days until the election is complete,

Melissa

Tuesday Debate- The Obama Speech

Today is the big day. President Obama is giving a speech to the American School System. There has been a lot of hoo-ha about it. Should he? Should he not? Will he stay on subject? (His intention is to speak on work ethic, the value of education and diligence). Does he have the right to do this on a federal level or is this a state responsibility?

While Karen and I agree on some things, politics is certainly an interesting issue between us. One of us is completely okay with him speaking to the kids. The other of us has some reservations. What do you think is right? Should President Obama be given opportunity to speak into our children's lives? Is this completely a parental issue? A state issue?

You may leave your comments now. . . . (let's be civil, please).

Oooo, this is about to get interesting,

Melissa

Psst, this is Karen. Here's a link to the speech, which was supposed to have been up yesterday, but I forgot to check. http://www.whitehouse.gov/MediaResources/PreparedSchoolRemarks/