C’mon and break it on down

I posted this on Facebook, but it makes me giggle so much I thought I'd post it here, too!

I spent a couple of hours in the garage today "breakin' it on down." I got almost all the tables cleared off and the stuff ready to go to Goodwill, and three of the remaining tables taken down. Ken and I will make short work of it tomorrow and Slick, Blacky, and Blue will be back in their garage, snug as bugs. Yay! Since I got so much accomplished, I felt good about sitting on the deck this afternoon, reading the paper and my book. Mom called and we chatted for a bit, and it was a lovely day all the way around. This week's focus will be deciding what clothes to take to Florida...swimsuit, shorts, and tank tops. That should about do it. Ha! I should get a chance to wear some of the skorts I bought last year. I'm starting to get excited about visiting our "other home," New Smyrna Beach. It will be Ken's ninth year there, and my eighth (although I remember going there when I was a kid). We love our vegecation!

This morning, I read a Huffington Post piece about Sarah Palin and the trend towards anti-intellectualism in America. I thought it was excellent, and posted it on Facebook. Our friend Mark posted a comment:

I think that this was the direction I wanted my post to reflect in my journal ... but the thing about Palin is that her inability which fuels her insecurity, makes me wonder if she will find any traction with people who are like her, in a denial fueled by misappropriated feelings of victimization.

I thought that was so effin' brilliant that I had to write about it. I think Mark nailed it totally, and that is exactly what bothered (and bothers) me the most about Palin and others of her ilk. They seem to be saying that it's okay to be ignorant and uninformed. In the case of that intellectual giant, Sam Wurzelbacher, his attitude seems to be "I don't have a lot of book smarts, but I know how I feel." For Christ's sake, man, if you recognize the problem, do something about it! It doesn't matter that much if you don't have a degree, or even a high school diploma, at least if you're not trying to get a job--then it matters a lot. But do you try to learn about new things? Are you curious about the world around you? Do you try to figure out how things work? (I would ask that you draw the line at vivisection.) Are you intellectually curious?

I saw that lack in Palin last fall, and recent articles and interviews bear that out. She doesn't know a whole lot about policy, but what is worse is that she shows no desire to learn. Her handlers were rebuffed when they tried to prep her for her debate, or for reporters questions. I find that appalling. Hey, good for you if you're pretty and charismatic. At the end of the day, you'd better have a little more depth to you, though. I don't know how you can read the text of Palin’s resignation speech and believe that this woman is fit for any position above the Town Dogcatcher. Hell, she's not fit even for that--she'd shoot first and ask questions later.

Mark's comment about inabilities fueling insecurity, and "denial fueled by misappropriated feelings of victimization" was also brilliant because Sarah Palin doesn't have a monopoly on that--I've known people in my life who have that same attitude. I'll never comprehend why anyone would ridicule me or Ken because we have degrees, but I've heard it. I can only guess that it is because of exactly what Mark referenced...insecurity fueled by inability. Sometimes it's a matter of despising what you don't have merely because you don't have it. Whose fault is that? I have people in my family who don't even have their high school diploma, but they still love to read and learn, and would never resent me because I went to college.

Education--whether formal or self-motivated--is something to be encouraged rather than ridiculed. Even if you are unable to further your formal education, it doesn't mean that your education has to end, or that you should hate others because of what they have achieved. I believe that my education didn't end when I got my degree in 1984--it's still in progress, I'm still learning, and I'm still curious.