Thinkful Thoughts

I'm a "thinker", as many of you who have followed me have learned. I do, I think about stuff, maybe way too much, but it is how I am wired. Maybe I'm thoughtful, maybe just "thinkful", but my mind was whirling as I watched TV last night. I can't even tell you what was on. It was probably the Tigers, who won by the way, but that doesn't matter, really. Unless you're a fan, which of course, we are, but that doesn't matter. Anyway, see what I mean? I can't turn it off!

Anyhoo, some commercials were running, and as I half-watched them, I spurted out to my dear devoted, ever-ear ready hubby, who was trying to watch the game. "No wonder women think they're not good enough!" I shouted. "Look at these commercials! Eat cookies for the rest of your life and save thousands on food! Stupid! Yeah, right my abs will look like hers if I just buy that stupid chair thing! Whiten my teethwith this! botox my lines with that! color my hair in 10 minutes! erase my scars! smooth my derriere with this! buy this brand! eat at this place and be happy! Wait a minute!! I am being assaulted here!"

Poor Steve. He just wants to watch the game, and I'm ready to yell at whoever decided those commercials were helpful. "What are these for anyway? I went on, of course. "So I can feel more oppressed and disgusted? So I can't be good enough the way I am? Hey, my kids don't need that either! Why do they do that?" I whined, in protest.

Steve merely rubs his thumb against the next two fingers. Money. That's what does it, he says with resignation. Hmm....I have more to say, of course. "But it's not just the TV and the ads to blame, is it? Other people are just as bad! Women do it to each other all the time. They size you up...check out your shoes, your bag, your hair, your vehicle, your kids, your husband, your house, whatever! Well, I'm sick of it!"

Steve does the smile and nod, which means, "I hear you and wish you'd go in the other room!"

Yes, I know, you electronic gurus. The remote has an "off" switch which I can use whenever I want to. However, it doesn't change the impact of those messages on the rest of the world, including young girls who think they have to fit some kind of societal mold. I am beginning to understand bra burners and hippies at this point. There are days I am so tired of the gleaming perfection in magazines and on TV that does not exist here in the real world.

But perhaps what bothers me even more are the lessons I am trying to instill in my children that others blow up. I tell them, if you are kind to people, they will be kind to you. Nope. They aren't. And it doesn't get much better in adulthood. I don't want to raise cynical children, so I don't approach it that way, however it is frustrating to teach them something and have it backfire. Like, if you tell the truth, you won't get in trouble. Yeah, right, tell that to the teacher who punishes everyone for the crime of one. I teach them to hold doors for people who don't have the decency to say "thank you". It is sad. Yet, we press on, learning it anyway.

Why? Because as Mother Theresa said, it's not about "them" anyway. It's about God. So, when we die with our gray hair, fat butts, discolored teeth and wrinkles, it won't matter. If we left a legacy of politeness to our children and not one person cares, it won't matter. At the center of it all is a GOD who is all knowing, all powerful, and accepts us, forgiving us no matter what we look like. What a commercial that would be.........think upon that.