Hop's Thoughts

Parents talk about "today's kids" or "in my day," but the funny thing is, the parents who post or say "In my day" don't accept the fact they're doing things wrong. It's amazing how when you point out a preventable behavior and how to curb it, they immediately shut down. When did being a parent mean having a closed mind? Hell, my generation's parents all had Dr. Spock right next to Dr. Suess and they referenced that book a lot more than we read One Fish, Two Fish.  Maybe this is why today's kids say things people back in my day would never have dreamed of saying. Sadly, some even do it. I don't think a single day goes by when I'm not learning how to teach, educate, advise and communicate with kids. Every time I learn something about them, I learn even more about their parents.

Last night, I was hesitant to read Molly Ringwald's article in her current day form, a feminist, mother and former child-star. I was worried about how she'd change my view of John Hughes. Someone who I always felt "got me," much more than my parents. Death, crimes and sordid behavior have stripped many of the icons of my youth away, but it dawned on me, the thing that has taken the most away is myself. I'd like to call it growth, age, experience, but then I'd have to ask myself the question I'm asking myself now, having read Miss Ringwald's piece. If I can still love these movies while appreciating the fact that Mr. Hughes sometimes painted familiar pictures that were part of the problem, why can't we all? The major flaw in The Breakfast Club is that Bender gets the girl. It's not a flaw because it's not realistic, it's a flaw because, in the fairytale ending, Bender is the bad guy. Even The Geek's letter explains they'll go b...

There's a line in Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby where Miss Squeers asks Phib what he means, which is followed with (roughly)...as she looked into her glass, seeing not herself, like most of us, but the pleasant reflection of how she viewed herself in her own brain. This, as of late, has become more apparent to me, about myself and others How we view ourselves and how others view us are usually quite different. We tend to be our own worst enemies when we're down and others become our worst when we are up. Is it society? Is it our unreal reality universe that we see on  reality  TV? Is it our desire to shine or dull on social media, in a desperate attempt to shine a light on our ups and downs? Is it simply cognitive dissonance; something I've personally studied since my life was being ruined by someone else's use of it? But what happens when we project our skewed view of our own reality onto others? A few months ago a lived with a self-proclaimed OCD having ...