Showing posts with label out of africa. Show all posts

Friday, November 9, 2012

Obama re-election speech: 'The best is yet to come'

AP Photo: Chris Carlson- 1 day ago

By Associated Press

President Barack Obama gave his re-election speech in Chicago on Tuesday night.

President Barack Obama speaks at his election night party Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012, in Chicago.

President Barack Obama's re-election speech Tuesday night in Chicago after his re-election, as transcribed by Roll Call. Watch the video here.

Thank you so much.

Tonight, more than 200 years after a former colony won the right to determine its own destiny, the task of perfecting our union moves forward.

It moves forward because of you. It moves forward because you reaffirmed the spirit that has triumphed over war and depression, the spirit that has lifted this country from the depths of despair to the great heights of hope, the belief that while each of us will pursue our own individual dreams, we are an American family and we rise or fall together as one nation and as one people.
Tonight, in this election, you, the American people, reminded us that while our road has been hard, while our journey has been long, we have picked ourselves up, we have fought our way back, and we know in our hearts that for the United States of America the best is yet to come.

I want to thank every American who participated in this election, whether you voted for the very first time or waited in line for a very long time. By the way, we have to fix that. Whether you pounded the pavement or picked up the phone, whether you held an Obama sign or a Romney sign, you made your voice heard and you made a difference.

I just spoke with Gov. Romney and I congratulated him and Paul Ryan on a hard-fought campaign. We may have battled fiercely, but it's only because we love this country deeply and we care so strongly about its future. From George to Lenore to their son Mitt, the Romney family has chosen to give back to America through public service and that is the legacy that we honor and applaud tonight. In the weeks ahead, I also look forward to sitting down with Gov. Romney to talk about where we can work together to move this country forward.

I want to thank my friend and partner of the last four years, America's happy warrior, the best vice president anybody could ever hope for, Joe Biden.

And I wouldn't be the man I am today without the woman who agreed to marry me 20 years ago. Let me say this publicly: Michelle, I have never loved you more. I have never been prouder to watch the rest of America fall in love with you, too, as our nation's first lady. Sasha and Malia, before our very eyes you're growing up to become two strong, smart beautiful young women, just like your mom. And I'm so proud of you guys. But I will say that for now one dog's probably enough.

To the best campaign team and volunteers in the history of politics. The best. The best ever. Some of you were new this time around, and some of you have been at my side since the very beginning. But all of you are family. No matter what you do or where you go from here, you will carry the memory of the history we made together and you will have the lifelong appreciation of a grateful president. Thank you for believing all the way, through every hill, through every valley. You lifted me up the whole way and I will always be grateful for everything that you've done and all the incredible work that you put in.

I know that political campaigns can sometimes seem small, even silly. And that provides plenty of fodder for the cynics that tell us that politics is nothing more than a contest of egos or the domain of special interests. But if you ever get the chance to talk to folks who turned out at our rallies and crowded along a rope line in a high school gym, or saw folks working late in a campaign office in some tiny county far away from home, you'll discover something else.

You'll hear the determination in the voice of a young field organizer who's working his way through college and wants to make sure every child has that same opportunity. You'll hear the pride in the voice of a volunteer who's going door to door because her brother was finally hired when the local auto plant added another shift. You'll hear the deep patriotism in the voice of a military spouse who's working the phones late at night to make sure that no one who fights for this country ever has to fight for a job or a roof over their head when they come home.
That's why we do this. That's what politics can be. That's why elections matter. It's not small, it's big. It's important. Democracy in a nation of 300 million can be noisy and messy and complicated. We have our own opinions. Each of us has deeply held beliefs. And when we go through tough times, when we make big decisions as a country, it necessarily stirs passions, stirs up controversy.

That won't change after tonight, and it shouldn't. These arguments we have are a mark of our liberty. We can never forget that as we speak people in distant nations are risking their lives right now just for a chance to argue about the issues that matter, the chance to cast their ballots like we did today.
But despite all our differences, most of us share certain hopes for America's future. We want our kids to grow up in a country where they have access to the best schools and the best teachers. A country that lives up to its legacy as the global leader in technology and discovery and innovation, with all the good jobs and new businesses that follow.

We want our children to live in an America that isn't burdened by debt, that isn't weakened by inequality, that isn't threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet. We want to pass on a country that's safe and respected and admired around the world, a nation that is defended by the strongest military on earth and the best troops this world has ever known. But also a country that moves with confidence beyond this time of war, to shape a peace that is built on the promise of freedom and dignity for every human being.

We believe in a generous America, in a compassionate America, in a tolerant America, open to the dreams of an immigrant's daughter who studies in our schools and pledges to our flag. To the young boy on the south side of Chicago who sees a life beyond the nearest street corner. To the furniture worker's child in North Carolina who wants to become a doctor or a scientist, an engineer or an entrepreneur, a diplomat or even a president — that's the future we hope for. That's the vision we share. That's where we need to go — forward. That's where we need to go.
Now, we will disagree, sometimes fiercely, about how to get there. As it has for more than two centuries, progress will come in fits and starts. It's not always a straight line. It's not always a smooth path. By itself, the recognition that we have common hopes and dreams won't end all the gridlock or solve all our problems or substitute for the painstaking work of building consensus and making the difficult compromises needed to move this country forward. But that common bond is where we must begin.

Our economy is recovering. A decade of war is ending. A long campaign is now over. And whether I earned your vote or not, I have listened to you, I have learned from you, and you've made me a better president. And with your stories and your struggles, I return to the White House more determined and more inspired than ever about the work there is to do and the future that lies ahead.

Tonight you voted for action, not politics as usual. You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours. And in the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties to meet the challenges we can only solve together. Reducing our deficit. Reforming our tax code. Fixing our immigration system. Freeing ourselves from foreign oil. We've got more work to do.

But that doesn't mean your work is done. The role of citizen in our democracy does not end with your vote. America's never been about what can be done for us. It's about what can be done by us together through the hard and frustrating, but necessary work of self-government. That's the principle we were founded on.
This country has more wealth than any nation, but that's not what makes us rich. We have the most powerful military in history, but that's not what makes us strong. Our university, our culture are all the envy of the world, but that's not what keeps the world coming to our shores.

What makes America exceptional are the bonds that hold together the most diverse nation on earth. The belief that our destiny is shared; that this country only works when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future generations. The freedom which so many Americans have fought for and died for come with responsibilities as well as rights. And among those are love and charity and duty and patriotism. That's what makes America great.

I am hopeful tonight because I've seen the spirit at work in America. I've seen it in the family business whose owners would rather cut their own pay than lay off their neighbors, and in the workers who would rather cut back their hours than see a friend lose a job. I've seen it in the soldiers who reenlist after losing a limb and in those SEALs who charged up the stairs into darkness and danger because they knew there was a buddy behind them watching their back.

I've seen it on the shores of New Jersey and New York, where leaders from every party and level of government have swept aside their differences to help a community rebuild from the wreckage of a terrible storm. And I saw just the other day, in Mentor, Ohio, where a father told the story of his 8-year-old daughter, whose long battle with leukemia nearly cost their family everything had it not been for health care reform passing just a few months before the insurance company was about to stop paying for her care.

I had an opportunity to not just talk to the father, but meet this incredible daughter of his. And when he spoke to the crowd listening to that father's story, every parent in that room had tears in their eyes, because we knew that little girl could be our own. And I know that every American wants her future to be just as bright. That's who we are. That's the country I'm so proud to lead as your president.

And tonight, despite all the hardship we've been through, despite all the frustrations of Washington, I've never been more hopeful about our future. I have never been more hopeful about America. And I ask you to sustain that hope. I'm not talking about blind optimism, the kind of hope that just ignores the enormity of the tasks ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path. I'm not talking about the wishful idealism that allows us to just sit on the sidelines or shirk from a fight.
I have always believed that hope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting.

America, I believe we can build on the progress we've made and continue to fight for new jobs and new opportunity and new security for the middle class. I believe we can keep the promise of our founders, the idea that if you're willing to work hard, it doesn't matter who you are or where you come from or what you look like or where you love. It doesn't matter whether you're black or white or Hispanic or Asian or Native American or young or old or rich or poor, able, disabled, gay or straight, you can make it here in America if you're willing to try.

I believe we can seize this future together because we are not as divided as our politics suggests. We're not as cynical as the pundits believe. We are greater than the sum of our individual ambitions, and we remain more than a collection of red states and blue states. We are and forever will be the United States of America.
And together with your help and God's grace we will continue our journey forward and remind the world just why it is that we live in the greatest nation on Earth.

Thank you, America. God bless you. God bless these United States.

-source-http://news.msn.com/politics/obama-re-election-speech-the-best-is-yet-to-come?GT1=51501

-video from youtube

Monday, August 27, 2012

down memory lane: the 1968 olympics black power

from the guardian:

The man who raised a black power salute at the 1968 Olympic Games

When John Carlos raised his fist in a black power salute at the 1968 Olympics, it changed 20th-century history – and his own life – for ever. How does he feel about it now?

- Gary Younge
- guardian.co.uk, Friday 30 March 2012 22.59 BST
- Jump to comments (…)

John Carlos (on right), Tommie Smith (centre) and Peter Norman, who wore an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge in support of their gesture. When Norman died in 2006, Carlos and Smith were pallbearers at his funeral. Photograph: AP

You're probably not familiar with the name John Carlos. But you almost certainly know his image. It's 1968 at the Mexico City Olympics and the medals are being hung round the necks of Tommie Smith (USA, gold),Peter Norman (Australia, silver) and Carlos (USA, bronze). As the Star-Spangled Banner begins to play, Smith and Carlos, two black Americans wearing black gloves, raise their fists in the black power salute. It is a symbol of resistance and defiance, seared into 20th-century history, that Carlos feels he was put on Earth to perform.

"In life, there's the beginning and the end," he says. "The beginning don't matter. The end don't matter. All that matters is what you do in between – whether you're prepared to do what it takes to make change. There has to be physical and material sacrifice. When all the dust settles and we're getting ready to play down for the ninth inning, the greatest reward is to know that you did your job when you were here on the planet."

Carlos's beginning was, to say the least, eventful. Raised by two involved, working parents, he learned to hustle with his friends in Harlem and fight his way out of and into trouble. As a teenager, he used to chase Malcolm X down the street after his speeches and fire questions at him. Carlos always knew he was good at sports and originally wanted to be an Olympic swimmer, until his father broke it to him that the training facilities he needed were in private clubs for whites and the wealthy. He used to steal food from freight trains with his friends and then run with it into Harlem and hand it out to the poor. When the police gave chase, he was often the only one who never got caught. Running came so naturally, he never thought of it as a skill.

That single moment on the podium cost Carlos dear. More than four decades later, you'll find him at his desk in a spacious portable building behind the basketball courts at Palm Springs High School in California, where he works as a counsellor. Among the family photographs on the wall are the vaguest allusions to his moment in history. Pictures of Malcolm X and African-American writer Zora Neale Hurston, the pledge of allegiance, which American schoolkids must say to the flag every day, and a small poster saying Go For Gold Olympics.

For all its challenges, Carlos loves his job. "Being a counsellor, you have to talk to the children as though you're talking to a thousand people," he says. "Sometimes you say, 'I love you' and they say, 'I don't want your love' and you say, 'Well, it's out there, so you're going to have to deal with it.' And I learn a lot from them, too."

John Carlos: 'It's what I was born to do,' he says of his salute. Photograph: Michael Steele/Getty Images

Bald, tall, with a grey goatee, Carlos has glided into old age with a distinguished air and convivial manner, and more than a passing resemblance to the late activist and intellectual WEB DuBois.

"The first thing I thought was the shackles have been broken," Carlos says, casting his mind back to how he felt in that moment. "And they won't ever be able to put shackles on John Carlos again. Because what had been done couldn't be taken back. Materially, some of us in the incarceration system are still literally in shackles. The greatest problem is we are afraid to offend our oppressors.

"I had a moral obligation to step up. Morality was a far greater force than the rules and regulations they had. God told the angels that day, 'Take a step back – I'm gonna have to do this myself.'"

The image certainly captures that sense of momentary rebellion. But what it cannot do is evoke the human sense of emotional turmoil and individual resolve that made it possible, or the collective, global gasp in response to its audacity. In his book, The John Carlos Story, in the seconds between mounting the podium and the anthem playing, Carlos writes that his mind raced from the personal to the political and back again. Among other things, he reflected on his father's pained explanation for why he couldn't become an Olympic swimmer, the segregation and consequent impoverishment of Harlem, the exhortations of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X to "be true to yourself even when it hurts", and his family. The final thought before the band started playing was, "Damn, when this thing is done, it can't be taken back.

"I know that sounds like a lot of thoughts for just a few moments standing on a podium," he writes. "But honestly this was all zigzagging through my brain like lightning bolts."

Anticipating some kind of protest was afoot, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had sent Jesse Owens to talk them out of it. (Owens's four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin themselves held great symbolic significance, given Hitler's belief in Aryan supremacy.) Carlos's mind was made up. When he and Smith struck their pose, Carlos feared the worst. Look at the picture and you'll see that while Smith's arm is raised long and erect, Carlos has his slightly bent at the elbow. "I wanted to make sure, in case someone rushed us, I could throw down a hammer punch," he writes. "We had just received so many threats leading up to that point, I refused to be defenceless at that moment of truth."

It was also a moment of silence. "You could have heard a frog piss on cotton. There's something awful about hearing 50,000 people go silent, like being in the eye of a hurricane."

And then came the storm. First boos. Then insults and worse. People throwing things and screaming racist abuse. "Niggers need to go back to Africa!" and, "I can't believe this is how you niggers treat us after we let you run in our games."

"The fire was all around me," Carlos recalls. The IOC president ordered Smith and Carlos to be suspended from the US team and the Olympic village. Time magazine showed the Olympic logo with the words Angrier, Nastier, Uglier, instead of Faster, Higher, Stronger. The LA Times accused them of engaging in a "Nazi-like salute".

Beyond the establishment, the resonance of the image could not be overstated. It was 1968; the black power movement had provided a post-civil rights rallying cry and the anti-Vietnam protests were gaining pace. That year, students throughout Europe, east and west, had been in revolt against war, tyranny and capitalism.

Martin Luther King had been assassinated and the US had been plunged into yet another year of race riots in its urban centres. Just a few months earlier, the Democratic party convention had been disrupted by a huge police riot against Vietnam protesters. A few weeks before the Games, scores of students and activists had been gunned down by authorities in Mexico City itself.

The sight of two black athletes in open rebellion on the international stage sent a message to both America and the world. At home, this brazen disdain for the tropes of American patriotism – flag and anthem – shifted dissidence from the periphery of American life to primetime television in a single gesture, while revealing what DuBois once termed the "essential two-ness" of the black American condition. "An American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder."

Globally, it was understood as an act of solidarity with all those fighting for greater equality, justice and human rights. Margaret Lambert, a Jewish high jumper who was forced, for show, to try out for the 1936 German Olympic team, even though she knew she would never be allowed to compete, said how delighted it made her feel. "When I saw those two guys with their fists up on the victory stand, it made my heart jump. It was beautiful."

As Carlos explains in his book, their gesture was supposed, among other things, to say: "Hey, world, the United States is not like you might think it is for blacks and other people of colour. Just because we have USA on our chest does not mean everything is peachy keen and we are living large."

Carlos understood, before he raised his fist that day, that once done, his act could not be taken back. What he could not have anticipated, at the age of 23, was what it would mean for his future. "I had no idea the moment on the medal stand would be frozen for all time. I had no idea what we'd face. I didn't know or appreciate, at that precise moment, that the entire trajectory of our young lives had just irrevocably changed."

During the Jim Crow era, life for even the most famous black sportsmen past their prime was tough. After his celebrated Olympic victory, Owens ran a dry-cleaning business, was a gas pump attendant, raced horses for money and eventually went bankrupt. "People say it was degrading for an Olympic champion to run against a horse," he said. "But what was I supposed to do? I had four gold medals, but you can't eat four gold medals."

Joe Louis, a world champion boxer on whose shoulders rested national pride when he fought German Max Schmeling shortly before the second world war, greeted visitors at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and went on quiz shows. And these were sporting figures who tried to keep in with the establishment. Carlos was still in his prime, but that single act of defiance ensured his marginalisation.

Paradoxically, the next year was the best of his career. In 1969, he equalled the 100 yard world record, won the American Athletics Union 220-yard dash and led San Jose State to its first National Collegiate Athletic Association championship.

The trouble was, in the years before lucrative sponsorship deals, running didn't pay and few would employ him. In the years immediately following his protest, he worked security at a nightclub and as a janitor. At one point he had to chop up his furniture so he could heat his house. The pressure started to bear down on his family. "When there's a lack of money, it brings contempt into the family," he says. Moreover, his wife was facing constant harassment from the press and his children were being told at school that their father was a traitor. The marriage collapsed.

He tried American football for a few seasons, starting in Philadelphia, then moving north to Toronto and Montreal. He is keen to emphasise that the one thing that never happened, despite claims to the contrary, is that he had his medal confiscated. It's at his mother's house. And while he does not cherish it as you'd expect an Olympian might, he's adamant that this part of the story is set straight. "The medal didn't mean shit to me. It doesn't mean anything now… The medal had no relevance. The one way it had relevance was that I earned it. So they never took my medal away from me. I'd earned it. They can't take it."

As time passed and the backlash subsided, Carlos was gradually invited back into the fold. He became involved as an outreach co-ordinator in the organising committee for the group bringing the Olympics to Los Angeles in 1984 and worked for the US Olympic Committee.

Did he worry, as the picture for which he was famous started to adorn T-shirts and posters, that his readmission into the Olympic world meant his radicalism was being co-opted and sanitised? "The image is still there," he says proudly. "It keeps getting wider. If you look at the images of the last century, there's nothing much like it out there. And 'the man' wasn't the one that kept this thing afloat for 43 years. The man was the same man whupping my arse. And the Olympics are part of my history. I'm not going to run away from that."

Carlos remains politically engaged. Late last year he addressed Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York. "It's the same fight as it was 43 years ago. We fought unemployment; for housing, education. It's the same thing as people are fighting for today."

He defends Barack Obama, who he believes has not been given a fair shake. "Mr Obama didn't get us where we are. He's trying to get us out. Someone fabricates shit to get us into wars, then makes ordinary Americans pay for them. Now someone else is trying to make it right. If George W Bush can have two terms to put this country into this mess, we should give Obama two to get us out of it."

But, unlike during the 1960s, today Carlos sees little hope of resistance emerging through sport, which is awash with too much money and drugs. "There wasn't a whole bunch of money out there back then," he says, "so just a few people were ever going to be shakers and bakers. But today, if an athlete doesn't have a view of their history before them, then they have a view of just that big cheque in front of them. It's not the responsibility of the oppressor to educate us. We have to educate ourselves and our own. That's the difference between Muhammad Aliand Michael Jordan. Muhammad Ali will never die. He used his skill to say something about the social ills of society. Of course, he was an excellent boxer, but he got up and spoke on the issues. And because he spoke on the issues, he will never die. There will be someone else at some time who can do what Jordan could do. And then his name will just be pushed down in the mud. But they'll still be talking about Ali."

Eight years earlier, during a different phase of anti-racist activism in the US, a 17-year-old student, Franklin McCain, had gained his place in the history books when he sat at a Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, with three friends and refused to move until they were served. Many years later, McCain was philosophical about how that experience had affected him. "On the day that I sat at that counter, I had the most tremendous feeling of elation and celebration," he told me. "Nothing has ever come close. Not the birth of my first son, nor my marriage. And it was a cruel hoax, because people go through their whole lives and they don't get that to happen to them. And here it was being visited upon me as a 17-year-old. It was wonderful, and it was sad also, because I know that I will never have that again. I'm just sorry it was when I was 17."

Carlos has no such regrets. He's just glad he could be where he was to do what he felt he had to do. "I don't have any misgivings about it being frozen in time. It's a beacon for a lot of people around the world. So many people find inspiration in that portrait. That's what I was born for."

from the bbc:

1968: Black athletes make silent protest

Two black American athletes have made history at the Mexico Olympics by staging a silent protest against racial discrimination.Tommie Smith and John Carlos, gold and bronze medallists in the 200m, stood with their heads bowed and a black-gloved hand raised as the American National Anthem played during the victory ceremony.
The pair both wore black socks and no shoes and Smith wore a black scarf around his neck. They were demonstrating against continuing racial discrimination of black people in the United States.
As they left the podium at the end of the ceremony they were booed by many in the crowd.
'Black America will understand'
At a press conference after the event Tommie Smith, who holds seven world records, said: "If I win I am an American, not a black American. But if I did something bad then they would say 'a Negro'. We are black and we are proud of being black.
"Black America will understand what we did tonight."
Smith said he had raised his right fist to represent black power in America, while Carlos raised his left fist to represent black unity. Together they formed an arch of unity and power.
He said the black scarf represented black pride and the black socks with no shoes stood for black poverty in racist America.
Within a couple of hours the actions of the two Americans were being condemned by the International Olympic Committee.
A spokesperson for the organisation said it was "a deliberate and violent breach of the fundamental principles of the Olympic spirit."
It is widely expected the two will be expelled from the Olympic village and sent back to the US.
In September last year Tommie Smith, a student at San Jose State university in California, told reporters that black members of the American Olympic team were considering a total boycott of the 1968 games.
'Dirty negro'
He said: "It is very discouraging to be in a team with white athletes. On the track you are Tommie Smith, the fastest man in the world, but once you are in the dressing rooms you are nothing more than a dirty Negro."
The boycott had been the idea of professor of sociology at San Jose State university, and friend of Tommie Smith, Harry Edwards.
Professor Edwards set up the Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR) and appealed to all black American athletes to boycott the games to demonstrate to the world that the civil rights movement in the US had not gone far enough.
He told black Americans they should refuse "to be utilised as 'performing animals' in the games."
Although the boycott never materialised the OPHR gained much support from black athletes around the world.

Peter Norman, Tommie Smith and John Carlos

Tommie Smith, centre, and John Carlos, right, make their protest

In Context

That evening, the silver medallist in the 200m event, Peter Norman of Australia, who was white, wore an OPHR badge in support of Smith and Carlos' protest.But two days later the two athletes were suspended from their national team, expelled from the Olympic village and sent home to America.
Many felt they had violated the Olympic spirit by drawing politics into the games.
On their return both men were welcomed as heroes by the African-American community but others regarded them as trouble-makers. Both received death threats.
Thirty years after their protest, the two men, who went on to become high school athletics coaches, were honoured for their part in furthering the civil rights movement in America.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

David Mc Cullough graduation speech; how the world responded

from http://edition.cnn.com

Showing 25 of 1782 comments

Gray Shelton

I certainly agree that my child isn't special to the whole world, but is special to me. I think as seniors in high school, kids should already know this truth and hearing it from a speaker shouldn't really tear them down. Most teens I know are arrogant enough to rebound and say "yeah whatever". :) I was. :)

I can certainly see the advantage of allowing your child to understand their short comings. My parents, for example, would comment on my efforts and not necessarily the outcome. They would say "You gave a great effort!" instead of "you'll have to work on your swing" when I would strike out in a softball game. I knew I was no good and so quit playing, but wasn't hurt by that at all. I recognized a weakness and didn't waste my time, instead pursuing music which was a natural talent for me. I think parents are afraid of being realistic with their kids. But we shouldn't be. I agree with the idea of letting our kids know they mean EVERYTHING to us (because don't they?) but letting them know that not EVERYONE is their number one fan - and that is ok.
- Like
DmndForeignr

As a teacher, I give a tough course, yes, involving math. For many of these youngsters it is the first time in their life where the buck stops: Not so special anymore! They have never learned to handle defeat. You would not believe the vile aggression that is the result in their anonymous course evaluations.
- Like
H Ngon Eban

But I don't agree with his statement that " kid, you are not special" at all, as that would lead to some bad feelings for students, who are still teenagers, and they may loose their self-confidence 'cause of his saying also. Therefore, they need to be encouraged but not a criticizer to look forward their bright future, I think.
- Like
Michelle Huang

你並不特別
- Like
Nando_Em_Brooklyn

There is a difference between engaging your child in a critical discussion about his or her performance and telling him/her that what ever you just witnessed "was pretty bad."

If a child did his or her best, then that should be acknowledged ... within the context of encouraging improvement ... if that is appropriate.

There are so many questions we, as parents, need to ask ourselves before engaging in any kind of critical discussion with our children.
1) Am I an expert in this field? Can I define/recognize "a good performance"?
2) Is this something that my child actually wants to do?
3) How is my child going to react to negative feedback? Is my child normally encouraged by positive feedback? Or, does my child thrive when confronted by obstacles?

I think think this is a much deeper conversation than what LZ Ganderson and the aired story propose.
- Like
- 1 month ago
Ingenuous

I really enjoyed this article and I think this message is important for all people especially in America. Reality is far healthier than this message that we are all special. I was born in 1980 and many people in my generation have bought into this being special fantasy. Try managing them at a job, the all have some special need that boils down to not doing what you hired them to do. Accountability has gone out the window because we are all special and have excuses for our mistakes instead of owning up to them and not repeating them. Telling everyone they are special before they have done anything to merit such accolades reinforces mediocrity or worse. All these people that are brought up thinking they are special go through a period of realization similar to loss in religious faith to come to grips that they are just 1 of many billion. It is much healthier to be honest, show your kids love, encourage them realistically, and let them know when their stick figure looks like crap instead framing their first "masterpiece". If you tell them they are the next Michelangelo they are in for some hard knocks when their art professor throws their "masterpiece" in the trash and tells them to reconsider art.
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Guest

amen, brother. when everyone thinks they are special (as our reality TV lives seem to imply), as Dash from the Incredibles pointed out years ago, NO ONE IS. but that does not mean we should not strive to be special in some way. the danger comes when our parents, teachers, preachers, etc, all say how wonderful and special we all are. many things in life are played out on a bell curve. not all kids are above average, only about 49% are. but when everyone gets a ribbon, a sticker, or a medal, how are kids supposed to learn that? how do they learn that to excel, you must work at it?

thanks to LZ for another thoughtful article. i do not always agree with what he says, although i do in this case, but he is always well written and thoughtful. unlike others (read: carville, navarette etc).
- Like
KPATL

LZ, you got this one right. All of the liberal blather on this post about how we need to be more like "John Lennon" With love, roses and unicorns, have lost sight of just how winners are losers are determined. Competition is what breeds the best ideas and results, and people are no different. We need a thinning of the herd in America, and I would think that Darwinian theory was supposed to be embraced by the left. I guess not.
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jennymay

Darwinism is about allowing those with superior genes to survive while those who have less evolutionarily desirable genes to die off. To compare natural evolution based on superior genes to a easily rigged social system, in which history has shown can be manipulated, is silly.

It is no measure of health to be well adjusted in a profoundly sick society
-Jiddu Krishnamurti
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jennymay

We are all inherently valuable and powerful. Not all actions are valuable or powerful, but it is within us all. I would say with all the groupthink/trends/'following' that permeates all levels of society, there are too few people willing to recognize their own worth and think and act for themselves.
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Michael Tellier

This post hits the mark in so many ways. I can't believe the ways I see parents overinflate their kids value. Yes every child has value and has potential, especially to those close to them, but I regularly run into kids who think "I'm special" when they haven't stretched their limits or anything. We have raised a generation of grown children who can't take criticism, don't reach beyond what is easy, or reflect on their actions. They are already awesome. They don't have to change a thing.

Congrats to Mr McCullugh for having the courage to say what was needed. I hope that some helicopter parent doesn't demand his dismissal because little Johnny didn't leave graduation feelling actualized
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KPATL

J Bird, It's not all Happy Happy Joy Joy out in the real world. And the kids should know that. Not everyone gets a Ribbon for participation, and my boss does not care about my "personal reflection time". My guess is that you still live with your parents and have spent your entire life without any serious consequences or personal responsibility. Do yourself a favor, don't go back to school, get a job that involves a shovel and do some growing up.
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jbird

Glad that you are so egotistical, that you must rain on someone elses parade!
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orlandojon

A better message for kids...you can be special through hard work. Supporting yourself and your family without government entitlments should be one of the yardsticks to measure success
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Honor480

"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first." (Mark Twain)
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Luciano Barroqueiro

there's a problem in my view about this article.. the world belongs to youngs.. if you say they is not special you are transforming in ordinary people.. the world cant change with ordinary people in charge, guys!! .. We need more Gandhi, more John Lennon, more people that care with others, we dont need people just talk like Obama or brazilian ex-president Lula with your empty promisses .. We need more help to ordinary people and enterprises and less for banks and government .. we need another system of government, another view for market .. Apple , for example , show us how the capitalism is so destructive like communism.. Microsoft invest much more in USA than others companies.. (and i dont like windows, i use ubuntu ok?) .. let the youngs dream, try, let they make ours mistakes.. it isnt you is a looser that you never can do what you dream , you have the rights to kill the dreams of someoneelse..sorry for my english..
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Guest

by telling them they are all wonderful, and by constantly fixing their mistakes as young parents do today, we are not teaching them anything. its one thing to dream. its another to be raised to expect that everything will be given to you because you are young and alive. kids have to learn how to MAKE their dreams a reality. this happens with hard work and by making mistakes and learning from them. sadly, nobody wants to do that today.
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SixthPlanet

We should tell our kids the plain truth.

They are entering an economy of rapidly disappearing opportunity. The private sector has outsourced 20% of our jobs and can now provide jobs for only 80% of us. We now have a permanent unemployed class. Obviously 20% of our graduates will be joining that social class of life-long losers.

Corporations in the same industry are making agreements not to hire each other's employees, to reduce turnover. It also means that an employee of one of those corporations will never be considered for a good position with a competitor, making the employee an indentured servant of his employer.

Employers now expect an unlimited amount of free overtime from 'salaried' employees. Obviously, it is much more profitable to compel 2 employees to work 12 hours a day instead of having 3 employees work 8 hours a day. You still get 24 hours of labor, but you only payh for 16 of them. To hell with the employee's family life, civic life, spiritual life, hobbies, and mental health. Many of today's graduates will never hear the phrases '8 hour day' or '40 hour week' in their lifetimes.

The new graduate can expect long periods of unemployment. It takes the average job seeker 50 weeks to find a job, usually for less pay than the previous job. Government is cutting back on unemployment compensation, so the graduate should expect to move back in with Mom and Dad for a year or two several times during his or her working life.

Finally, at age 65, the graduate can look forward to spending his or her golden years gathering shopping carts in the Wal-Mart parking lot instead of collecting Social Security. Fortunately, with the disappearance of Medicare, the graduate will not live as long as his or her grandparents, so his misery will be shorter.

Tell the kids the truth. Life is tough. It's screw or get screwed.
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Jblast

Who thinks they're special??? The Occupiers...
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polydac2003

   I am constantly amazed at the sheer ignorance exhibited by people like msosaman pertaining to the Tea Party.   I agree with the tea party and have a Ph.D. in chemical engineering. Furthermore, the vast majority of tea party supporters I know have college or post-graduate degrees (although I agree with Kat that a degree is no indicator of intelligence)

But msosaman, do you really think the democrats can claim the intellectual high ground given that a majority of its supporters consist of union members, illegals and uneducated immigrants, occupiers, and welfare recipients?     Seems a bit hypocritical don't you think?
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IrishYank2

This is so very true. I love it when we make offers to come on board (salaried) to our interns and their salary expectations are twice the offer and derived from salaries(.)com. They get sooooo pizzed when I explain to them that they are in no position to negotiate such terms and, frankly, they're not blowing me away with some skill set that would ever drive me even close to meeting their expectations. It's pretty sad, really.
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polydac2003

So true. My employer has had training sessions for managers to help them deal with the new generation of young employees. Most have been pampered for so long that they can't handle criticism. Some even have their parents call in and negotiate salaries for them.

Fortunately, there are still new employees and interns coming in who have impressed me with their humbleness and willingness to work and learn. I guess not all parents have subscribed to the self-esteem approach to child rearing.....
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KPATL

They have delusions off grandeur that they got from public education for their entire lives,.. " I got a participation ribbon Yohoooo!!! I'm special I'm special!" Glad to see that you are bringing them closer to reality,.. they need that big time.
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Roberta Vath

I had a professor who used to tell the class "you are all extraordinary." I just assumed he didn't know what the word meant =P
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msosamanCollapse

Well polydac, just to show your ignorance, or at least assumption, I am NOT a democrat. You may have a PhD, but honestly, just scan the crowd at any tea party rally and listen to them speak. It's obvious most are uneducated led by highly intelligent, but sinister, leaders. Look at the Nazi regime. Goebells had his PhD also.
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