Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Murdering Our Darlings

My short "Murdering Our Darlings" is up on Red Peter. Thanks, Steve. This is a big departure from my usual narrative style, and was inspired by a recent three-day camping trip I took with my daughter's 4th Grade Class. The trip triggered a lot of "voices" from my own childhood, most of which I'd be quite happy to forget.

My own childhood experiences aside, a total of one hundred children attended the above-mentioned camp, and over the course of the trip I really became aware of an overall absence of RESPECT for children in our society, not unlike the absence of RESPECT for our aged. Okay, I'm getting down off my soapbox now. As always, thanks for reading.

2 comments:

  1. Oh, you're very correct about the lack of respect; when they're young adults, the respect is even less. We tax them for their part-time after school jobs, but don't let them vote. We worship youth, ape their style and try to appropriate their culture, but we don't trust them to have intellect or brains or free will.

    It's not the twentysomethings who do this. Not even really the thirtysomethings. I think our society has a group of fourty-fiftysomethings with a deathgrip on everything. No one comes into power -- and we're eyeing those of you approaching sixtysomething, so we can kick you out.

    It's the darndest thing.

    And your story is, too.

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  2. Thanks, Tanita, for your comments: "I think our society has a group of fourty-fiftysomethings with a deathgrip on everything." I love that line.

    "It's the darndest thing. And your story is, too." This brought a lump to my throat, thanks so much!

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