Thoughts of a Sprite

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Scrapbooking

I have taken up a new hobby. I have always been artsy fartsy, I love to draw, paint, write, cut, glue, take pictures, well basically - I like to create! Well, the problem with all this is that it takes time, and time is a comodity that I don't have much of. So I have taken up scrapbooking. I can incorporate my photography skillz (or lack there of) and my artsy fartsy skills to make something that I will cherish till the end of my days. And the best part about this, I can do one or two pages at my leasure, it doesn't take a lot of time.

With technology advancing as rapidly as it does, I can take pictures, and when I have a few I want printed, log on to walmart.com, upload my pictures, and pick them up within the hour, for less money than it would cost to have real film developed. The coolest part about this is that I don't even have to leave my house to drop them off. A few clicks, and wham ~

At target, they have a whole isle dedicated to just scrapbook stuff. It is pretty neat too! I spent a little too much money last weekend, but I won't have to buy anything for a while now. :)

I went into a cleaning frenzy last night. Cleaning always calms me down, and helps me when my world seems stressed. I find a certain peacefullness in a clean and orderly house. When my house gets a little out of order, it bothers me. I try not to let it show, and I try not to complain, cause I know it bugs Lar. It is like these are the things that I can control in my life, and when I am stressed if I can just put everything back in order, it will be okay. And when it gets out of place, I feel out of control, and thus more stressed. Does that make any sense? Ahyhow.

I got this in my email, and thought some of my readers might enjoy it as much as I did. I think it extends beyond an explanation of war, and can generalize to any life circumstance that we find trying, and it would be easier to just turn away from. But what kind of life is that? I think this father did a great job answering his sons questions.

Open The Blinds

The other day, my nine year old son wanted to know why we were at war... My husband looked at our son and then looked at me. My husband and I were in the Army during the Gulf War and we would be honored to serve and defend our country again today. I knew that my husband would give him a good explanation. My husband thought for a few minutes and then told my son to go stand in our front living room window.

He said, "Son, stand there and tell me what you see?"

"I see trees and cars and our neighbors' houses," he replied.

"OK, now I want you to pretend that our house and our yard is the United States of America and you are President Bush."

Our son giggled and said, "OK."

"Now, son, I want you to look out the window and pretend that every house and yard on this block is a different country," my husband said. "OK Dad, I'm pretending."

"Now I want you to stand there and look out the window and pretend you see Saddam come out of his house with his wife, he has her by the hair and is hitting her. You see her bleeding and crying. He hits her in the face, he throws her on the ground, then he starts to kick her to death. Their children run out and are afraid to stop him, they are screaming and crying, they are watching this but do nothing because they are kids and they are afraid of their father. You see all of this, son.... what do you do?"

"Dad?"

"What do you do, son?"

"I'd call the police, Dad."

"OK. Pretend that the police are the United Nations. They take your call. They listen to what you know and saw but they refuse to help. What do you do then, son?"

"Dad....... but the police are supposed to help!" My son starts to
whine.

"They don't want to, son, because they say that it is not their place or your place to get involved and that you should stay out of it," my husband says.

"But, Dad... he killed her!!" My son exclaims.

"I know he did... but the police tell you to stay out of it. Now I want you to look out that window and pretend you see our neighbor who you're pretending is Saddam turn around and do the same thing to his children."

"Daddy... he kills them?"

"Yes, son, he does. What do you do?"

"Well, if the police don't want to help, I will go and ask my next door
neighbor to help me stop him," our son says.

"Son, our next door neighbor sees what is happening and refuses to get involved as well. He refuses to open the door and help you stop him," my husband says.

"But Dad, I NEED help!!! I can't stop him by myself!!"

"WHAT DO YOU DO, SON?" Our sons starts to cry.

"OK, no one wants to help you, the man across the street saw you ask for help and saw that no one would help you stop him. He stands taller and puffs out his chest. Guess what he does next, son?"

"What, Daddy?"

"He walks across the street to the old lady's house and breaks down her door and drags her out, steals all her stuff and sets her house on fire and then... he kills her. He turns around and sees you standing in the window and laughs at you. WHAT DO YOU DO?"

"Daddy...."

"WHAT DO YOU DO?" Our son is crying and he looks down and he whispers, "I'd close the blinds, Daddy."

My husband looks at our son with tears in his eyes and asks him. "Why?"

"Because, Daddy... the police are supposed to help people who need them... and they won't help... You always said neighbors are supposed to HELP neighbors, but they won't help either... they won't help me stop him... I'm afraid.... I can't do it by myself, Daddy ...... I can't look out my window and just watch him do all these terrible things and ... and ... do nothing ... so ..... I'm just going to close the blinds ... so I can't see what he's doing . And I'm going to pretend that it is
not happening."

I start to cry. My husband looks at our nine year old son standing in the window, looking pitiful and ashamed at his answers to my husband's questions. He says.... "Son....."

"Yes, Daddy?"

"Open the blinds, because that man...... he's at your front door... "WHAT DO YOU DO?"

My son looks at his father, anger and defiance in his eyes. He balls up his tiny fists and looks his father square in the eyes, and without hesitation he says, "I DEFEND MY FAMILY DAD!!! I'M NOT GONNA LET HIM HURT MOMMY OR MY SISTER, DAD!!! I'M GONNA FIGHT HIM, DAD, I'M GONNA FIGHT HIIM!!!!!"

I see a tear roll down my husband's cheek and he grabs our son to his chest and hugs him tight, and says.... "It's too late to fight him, he's too strong, and he's already at YOUR front door, son... you should have stopped him BEFORE he killed his wife, and his children, and the old lady across the way. You have to do what's right, even if you have to do it alone, before it's too late," my husband whispers. "THAT scenario I just gave you is WHY we are at war with Iraq. When good men stand by and let evil happen, son, THAT is the greatest mistake, believing that
the atrocities in the world won't affect them. "YOU MUST NEVER BE AFRAID TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT! EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO DO IT ALONE! BE PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN! BE PROUD OF OUR TROOPS!! SUPPORT THEM!!! SUPPORT AMERICA SO THAT IN THE FUTURE OUR CHILDREN WILL NEVER HAVE TO CLOSE THEIR BLINDS..."

Thought for the day: We must have the courage to allow a little disorder in our lives. ~Ben Weininger (This is advice that I need to take, but I just don't know how)

Everything that is worthwhile in life is scary. Choosing a school, choosing a career, getting married, having kids -- all those things are scary. If it is not fearful, it is not worthwhile. ~Paul Tornier

Factoid: What is the hottest place on earth? Count one wrong if you guessed Death Valley in California. True enough on many days. But in El Azizia in Libya recorded a temperature of 136 degress Fahrenheit (57.8 celsius) on September 13, 1922 The hottest ever measured. In Death Valley, it got up to 134 Fahrenheit on July 10, 1913.

What is the coldest place on earth? Far away, the coldest temperature ever measured on earth was 129 degrees fahrenheit (89 degrees celsius) at Vostok Antartica on July 21, 1983.

Where is the highest waterfall? The water of Angel Falls in Venezuela drops 3,212 feet (979 Meters)
Espanol: car = el coche, el carro, el vehiculo.

shes_a_sprite @ 5:07 PM.

4 comments

Unknown said...

I really enjoyed that email you got, wow. That's an explanation that speaks to us all, kids or adults.
I know what you mean about the clean house and stress thing, an orderly house helps me feel orderly too and more peaceful, I don't know why exactly.
I hope you are not too stressed
YOu will have to show us some of your scrap booking on your blog! I can't wait to see
all the best x

1:50 AM

Seenie said...

This is ultimatly one of the most powerful posts I have ever read! It is fanatastic and gets the point across to everyone or so I should hope. Isn't it beautiful how children see things through thier eyes. They are smarter than we give them credit for! PS Scrapbooking is super fun stuff. I made both my boys baby books with tons of fun little papers and trinkets! I had a blast doing them and it made them that much more special knowing that mom made them! Love ya!

1:29 PM

Dano said...

Some place in Saskatchewan in the 30s recorded 130 degrees.

9:50 AM

Oprayearth said...

I have an aunt who does scrapbooking, right now she probably has I would say at least 60 to 70 books by now.I know how creative you are and that the books will turn out wonderful, so create away.

-op

10:13 AM