What's in a Name?

I knew how to spell my older sister's name before I learned how to spell my own.

When we were growing up, playground introductions went something like this:

"Hi!  I'm Susan!"

 

"Hi!  I'm Cathy!" 

 

"Hi!  I'm Becky!" 

"Hi!  I'm Lisa!"

 

My sister would say, "Hi!  I'm Calina!"

"What?  WHAT'S your name?"

"Calina..."

"Colleen?"

"No...CALINA."

"Katrina?"

"Calina.  C-A-L-I-N-A.  Calina."

When I entered first grade, the teacher told us we were going to learn how to spell our names.

I stood up and announced that I ALREADY knew how to spell my name!  "C-A-L-I-N-A"!

 

She told me to sit down.

Nurse's Note:  Thus began my long Icarusian fall within the education system.

Smart VS Work Ethic

My cousin Kevin and I like to discuss weighty subjects.  One day we were debating what is the most important factor for success--intelligence or industry.  Is it better to have a high level of natural smarts or a strong work ethic?

Kevin used to live in Hawaii, where there is a large homeless population*.  Once, while he was standing in line at the library, there was a homeless woman standing in line in front of him.   Her clothes were filthy, people were holding their breath from her smell and Kevin glimpsed something crawling in her hairline.  

At the front of the line she asked, "Did that book by Solzhenitsyn come in?"

Now, both Kevin and I love to read, but neither of us have EVER read Solzhenitsyn.  Other than my husband--who's CrAzY--I don't personally know anyone who HAS read Solzhenitsyn.

So obviously the woman was extremely intelligent.  But, she was also homeless.

Kevin said, "Give me a good work ethic any day."

*Nurse's Note:  If you're gonna be homeless, where would you rather be?  Hawaii or Alaska?

The Good Life

Last night a nurse asked me why, in this day and age, all homosexuals aren't "out".

I debated bringing up religion or public scorn--but I thought about it and said, "Because of the myth of what is 'A Good Life'."

And I drew him an image of A Good Life  (actually a "Good Life" might require you to have more fingers, but my drawing skills are poor...)

Here it is:

Nurse's Note:  Same sex marriage banned in most states, abortion restricted and/or prohibited in many areas, United States money and Pledge of Allegiance both mention "God", most male infants circumcised to make their genitals look more appealing despite multiple medical studies showing no benefit in cutting a child's penis.


What constitutes a "Good Life" has changed throughout human history.  Let's look at the year 980, the Song Dynasty, China

Nurse's Note:  Husband has an opium pipe, first and second wives are used for slave labor, third, most expensive and favored wife had her feet broken and bound as a child for aesthetic reasons so she can barely stand, women cannot vote or control their reproduction.


 Mississippi, 1790

Nurse's Note:  Husband hoping for many sons, wife must have tightly corseted waist, women cannot vote or control their reproduction, interracial marriage prohibited, slaves imported from Africa.


American West, 1840

Nurse's Note:  Native Americans slaughtered and their property stolen.  Women unable to vote or control their reproductive processes, interracial marriage prohibited, homosexuality punishable by imprisonment.



Middle East,  2013

Nurse's Note:  Husband has many wives, some of them children.  Women forced to hide behind walls and clothing, unable to go to school, vote, control their reproduction, women's clitorises cut off, homosexuality punishable by death.

So, we know that our perception of what constitutes a "Good Life" changes.  We think that the way things are today is the way they have always been and will always be, because humans have natural myopia.  But, Octavia Butler says, "The only lasting truth is change." 

I predict that science will discover genetic causes of homosexuality. Then all the red-faced preachers with their obsessive fears and secret yearnings will have egg on their face.  I don't think being gay is a choice, and I don't know any intelligent people who do.   

When I was growing up there were no gay people in the world.  Not anywhere!  There were eccentric people like Paul Lind and Elton John and entertaining people like Liberace and Michael Jackson.  But "gay"?  It was unthinkable!

Now there are gay people all around me.  They are leading the way to make being out and openly gay "normal" (whatever THAT is).   Part of, "The Good Life". 

"We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us."  Joseph Campbell