Avoiding Pain = Not a Strategy

You know you're not listening to enough music when you find yourself humming the tune that is the ring tone on your cellphone -- and you also have no idea what song those tones come from.



Trying to impress my grandson this morning, I accidentally hit him in the face with a ball I'd kicked far too hard, frightening him and causing him to cry for a while. He gave me a look that was something like. "Grandpa, I thought I could trust you!"

Hours later, I still felt awful.



A few days earlier he had smashed my forehead with a hard plastic globe, not realizing that he would leave me with what feels like an invisible bruise. The next day, I was walking to the market when a bug flew directly into that spot, causing my to lurch and hold my head in pain.

Any witness would have thought, "That guy is crazy, reacting to being hit by a bug in that way."



You know young kids are staying with you when you find yourself humming "The Wheels on the Bus" in the shower.

The President is ending "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," a reminder of how much the country has changed since the early days of Bill Clinton's first term, when he misjudged the political opposition to gays in the military, which then spawned this policy that pleased no one, and has accomplished little -- if anything -- of value over the past sixteen years.

Now, finally, the U.S. as a nation is growing up and eliminating a double standard in the military. Hopefully, this progressive step will trigger further needed changes in society as a whole.

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