Why Not Obama?

I'm not focusing on why Romney and very curious about why not Obama? I don't think the undecided percentage in the election is correct....well, at least if I use my friends on Facebook as a poll. I have 520 friends and 75 LIKE Obama and 7 LIKE Romney (including the 2 kids of Romney supporters who are too young to voted). I thought only 5% of Americans were undecided.  My friends are either undecided, keeping it to themselves until November 6 or just not sharing on Facebook.

If I wanted to venture a guess about the preferred candidate of the other 438 of my friends, should I assume a similar breakdown? Now I just have to remember fractions or percentages so I can really understand how many of my friends are voting for Romney. If a train is traveling 60 MPH going east....oh no,wrong equation. 7 out of 82 equals x out of 520, then x = 44.4. Math people - jump in if I'm wrong.

I usually only talk about politics amongst other like-minded people. I try to stay away from politics, religion and parenting in groups. I have very strong opinions in all three categories.  I am eager and curious to hear other points of view, but conversations of these types usually end with everyone feeling exasperated and leave with our views in the same camp as when we began.

But with less than one month to go, I'd like to understand what the draw of Romney is...or better yet, why the disappointment with Obama. We've all read the list of his accomplishments he was able to make happen without much support in Washington. It's a long list. We all remember the state our country was in when he was elected. Do any of us think we'd be in a better shape had we elected McCain/Palin four years ago?  And four years from now, will we be better off is we elect Romney?

I still want CHANGE, I still have HOPE and I still LIKE him.

What's on my mind...

I've had a lot on my mind lately and unfortunately this is how my mind feels right now.

Be kind to all beings

I'm committed to diversity initiatives at two schools, in very different roles. In each school, we have our reasons why diversifying the school is important, but the shooting at the Sikh Temple gave me my most important reason. When I heard about the shooting I immediately thought of a Sikh family at one of the schools.

They were only part of the community for one year and then unfortunately were transferred out west. During their year with us, they spent time educating the students, faculty and administrators about their culture, traditions and beliefs. We learned about the five virtues and the kara and patka. And, how the Sikh people are non-violent. Knowing that fact made the attack at the Temple that much worse.

Knowing this family personalized the shooting. I hoped the same thoughts came to the parents and children in our school community. This wasn't just another horrible shooting of anonymous people, but members of a group of people where we know 3 of the 500,000 Sikhs who live in America.

If diversifying our schools wasn't a priority, we may never have met this family...and it might have been just another horrible shooting.

America the Bloody

After what happened in Aurora I find it hard to breathe when Zach is out of the house. On that Friday night, 1600 miles away from Aurora, he was at the midnight show of Batman on 67th Street. Intellectually I know there's nothing you can do to prevent being caught in the wrong place, but Aurora has stirred up similar feelings I had during 9-11. Each person was just going about their life...going to work or going to the movies. It was just another day that changed many lives forever.

I can't discuss gun control even with people who are in favor of changing laws. The sense of frustration I feel that this is still a discussion has hindered my ability to have a rational conversation. I started off the week offering comments like "may I suggest we look at the current laws..." and "can we all agree that banning assault weapons..." and "even the NRA says..." And honestly, now all I hear in my head is you're f*#king crazy for thinking we shouldn't ban all guns, leaving it impossible to me to be rational on the topic.

I love our president and believe he has compassion and conviction. It's time to have courage and not fear election results. How many more 6 year olds are going to die? How many more people will be left paralyzed? And how many more will be left traumatized? The answer is not putting guns in the hands of well intentioned Americans. No one is well intentioned with a gun in their hand. 

Words With Boyfriends

I've always liked having some sort of relationship with a boyfriend when they became an ex. There's only one ex-boyfriend that I haven't kept the friendship with since breaking up. I would, however, feel totally comfortable calling to say hi.  What I've recently found satisfying is transitioning exes to competitors in Words With Friends.

At any one time I have about 15 games going. Half and half women and men. Women are competitive with each other, but in gentle ways. One female friend of mine likes to have 2 games going simultaneously and that way usually each of us wins one. I have friends who when losing stop playing for a day or so in the hope of stopping the momentum. It's kind of like a rain delay in tennis. Sadly, I've had friends walk away from games entirely. Only women though. Men seem to fight harder. I think it's a psychological study that merits a little funding.

I'm wondering though if it wouldn't be better starting off a relationship playing WWF before the first date. I think how he or she plays this game would tell one a lot about character, humor, education and resilience in a short period of time. This might change the face of online dating. Taking it one step further, what if you chose "random player" in WWF and that person was a potential suitor?  If the games go well, then you meet for dinner.

PS Thanks lunch date for the title!