Rough - Unedited....taken from an informal FB post that I didn't make so people wouldn't jump down my throat for my massive posts to that stupid ass brain numbing social site. The point here? Excuse my lack of proper grammar in some spots as this was meant to be pooped out on a FB wall where I expected no one to read it. Few may read it here but it will be here for myself or others important in my life to reflect upon down the road. Making a journal of your life is important and writing is a tool that gets that done. I also have a massive audio journal of a lot of my adventures so the written word isn't the only way to experience a slice of cathartic cleansing.
This writing was made in response to my fear felt after enrolling my Son for his first year of actual school. I feared of no longer being able to
whisk him away on an airplane at a moment's notice as I've done so many times since he was
3.75 ys old and someone suggested that I or his Mom home school him to
which I had this long-winded response.
I'm no professional in education
and his Mom is too busy building her business so home school'ing is not an option. Ya know, I have NO
issue waltz'ing into that damn school and telling them that "Aunt Ida"
is dying in Detroit and he needs to be gone for 8 days. Not like he's
going to miss trigonometry and he will learn more traveling the world
with me than stuck sitting in a Texas classroom. The most disservice put
upon American children and the American population, as a whole, these days is the
odd dissuasion to travel and experiencing other cultures. I've met many
young people from boxed in cultures / countries such as AU and New Zealand and part
of their education is months to a solid year off to travel / travel as much of the world as possible. It's
literally part of your expected "higher education." When I was in
Sydney, AU, there were student travel agencies every 5th store front where I was staying newar the Central rail and bus depot
adverting cheap trips everywhere around the world. I happened to be
staying in near the main university in Sydney and I, instantly, was able
to put the pieces together after meeting a young New Zealand born bloke
shortly before my "down under" experience. People from AU and NZ get
stir crazy living on those isolated islands. Yes, AU is a HUGE land but
the towns are isolated and concentrated around the coast making it this
microcosm, in a way, shut off thus giving each town it's own country type of feel. It's hard to explain.
The Uncle of a friend I was staying with on The Sunshine
Coast near Brisbane (after my stint in Sydney) sat down with me one night and told me of his tales of backpacking
around the world with no particular location(s) other than to travel as
far and to as many different places as possible. He was shocked to
arrive in Houston, TX one night at the bus station (which is the worst
and scariest place in Houston to land) expecting an easy place to pitch
his tent on his backpack in some park to shelter his young self for the night. He
asked the bus driver where a good place nearby to do that would be and
the driver laughed at him saying he'd get killed or all his shit would be stolen. I think he ended up at the Y or some shit
but the point here is that American culture is eff'ed in the A. Our
young people aren't taught to explore at a young age and our culture
breeds people meant to think "Murica is THE BEST" so why go anywhere
else? If you do actually go somewhere else and travel a bit, American's become complacent and continue to return to that place OVER AND OVER AND OVER without wanting to spread their wings further let alone take a chance on something different. It drives me crazy. Xenophobia runs rampant in this country.
The higher education system in this country doesn't help matters
by putting young people in horrid debt from stage one thus strapping
them to a damn desk like a button pushing monkey until they are too damn old to care, have started a
family, or other responsibilities that, on top of loan payments, prevent
them from taking saaay a year, to travel as a young adult. This not
only teaches them that "Murica" is far from the best but teaches them
independence, utter confidence, and the fact that the world is out there
for them to explore and many corners of it may be perfectly suited for
them to live in and even start a family in one day. Only 30-35% of
Americans own a passport while I consider it as important as a bank
card. Xenophobia is far from sexy as it only puts a bulls eye on your
back with the giant "I'm ignorant" label. The first time I crossed the
ocean at the tail end of 2000. I was young and, I left the country for 2
weeks to hole up in a flat in London. I was poor (still in college
debt), following a lovely lady in whom I was in lust / in some sorta
love, and was thrust into a world of possibilities. A cheap bus pass
and a metro ticket was all I needed along with a sense of adventure.
The most challenging thing throughout the trip, other than being tasked
with cooking the Xmas turkey for the young people whom had me in their
flat, was finding a restaurant with food that didn't seem awkward to me.
I dunno why but it just seemed scary walking into any old joint
looking for food when every penny I had was sacred...I failed at most
choices and had awful meals and found myself pissed off at "their food."
I went to the market to get a turkey expecting a ButterBall wrapped
turkey to be in freezer case with one of those plastic pop'up "I'm done
you stupid ass American" rods shoved into it's chicken tit. No such
thing. I found a 7-11 sized store with a bird and feathers hanging on
the wall and was asked which one I wanted. I pointed to one and the
butcher asked me if I wanted the clawed feet on or off. I said, "uhhhh,
OFF!" He slapped that bird down, plucked some feathers off it, and I,
in horror, watched as he took a massive meat cleaver and whacked the
bird's feet and head off in front of me. The separate parts were bagged
and thrown into a small plastic grocery bag that we, in America, get 20
of for our $40 in groceries off. I went back to the flat, and used
some print outs from the net of how to cook a turkey, plucked the rest
of the feathers and prepp'ed this THING for the oven half the size of my
microwave at home. I lovingly did all I could to this bird using a
basic recipe of butter and herbs before throwing it into an oven in
which the temp control handle had no numbers left on it having been worn
off. I watched that damn turkey for hours, in between make out session
on the couch with the girl I traveled their to and whose Sister's flat I
was staying at, to make sure we didn't end up with a flaming ball of
dirt for Xmas dinner. Well, everything worked out fine, quite damn
tasty, and I was sincerely thanked for paying for and putting much love
into the meal that came out of the kitchen and into the girl whom had my
heart. It was my thank you for the 2 week accommodation I was provided
in an expensive town far from my own. In the end, I didn't like
London. I hated the place and never found love for the place as I found
it dirty, over-priced, and chock full of crap ass weather. However,
that trip and the VALUABLE education simmered in me for a long time as I
was no tourist on my first trip overseas. I actually lived in that
city just as anyone would for over two weeks. I even stood on a bridge
over the River Thames whacked out of my mind on absinthe with a lovely
young girl in my arms and watched Big Ben sound off Midnight thus
thrusting us into the year 2001. I learned that even one of the largest
"center of the Earth" type cities on Earth was an alien like place akin
to Mars to my suburban raised, in a Single Mom household (worth noting
as no one was around to wipe my ass or do my laundry growing up...my
hand was never held and I was always forced to be independent), ass. I
was sheltered during my young years but left the house when I was 17 and
never once looked back for support. My sense of independence trickled
down into world travels and experiences far exceeding the education
provided to me by "the system." In summation, I will work hard in this
life to raise my Son to want to travel and realize that America isn't
the only place on Earth and to make decisions in his life that make him
want to break free of any bonds that tie him to any sort of microcosm of
"perceived comfort and security." He's already been out of the country
and in many places in our country (coast to coast in a 3 week period)
all at the age of 4 so he's got a good start. He shows a good deal of
fearlessness and is insanely well-socialized around both adults and
kids. He's never shy around anyone and is eager to share things he's
thinking with all whom he encounters. Last, he not easily impressed as
he's learned and seen so much in this world already and I think that's a
good start. He has old soul eyes just like his Dad and I think he will
do just fine making many of the same dumb ass mistakes I have made but
more of the good ones I did make. Most importantly, he will have a good
soul and good heart. A sense of compassion is seen in him. No matter
what he learns. A good soul and good heart are a start. He will always
be surrounded by love and told that he is loved. I was raised that way
and it has made all the differences. Hug a kid today. Hug someone
today. Tell them you love them or, at least, value them and that there
is a wonderful world out there for them to experience. Tell them to go
and experience it, be happy, learn, laugh, and share it all. Don't waste
your time here being ignorant or trying to be "normal" because, if
there's one damn thing I know, I'll never ever figure out what "normal"
is and I really don't want to.
Sounds like a good education has already begun. Bravo, dad!
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