Thanksgiving, Charlie Brown and Racism ... a year later

ABC

In honor of Thanksgiving I thought I would link to the post I wrote a year ago about Thanksgiving, Charlie Brown and racism. Coming off such a crazy election season, with accusations of racism, bigotry, xenophobia, homophobia, and so many other phobias and isms filling our daily news cycle, I looked at this blog post and realized it is still pretty relevant, perhaps more so this year than last.

The election was stressful for many, and politics is probably a subject that should be avoided at many a Thanksgiving dinner this year, especially if a sufficient amount of wine is consumed. So my Thanksgiving wish is for people to assume the best in each other, instead of jumping to the worst of conclusions about people with whom they disagree. I try to teach my kids to do this--life's just easier that way.

And what does this have to do with Charlie Brown? Well, read the blog post and then ask yourself what should people see when they watch the cartoon clip?  In the end, no one can know what the animators were thinking or what their intentions were nearly 50 years ago. Why assume the worst? Why not focus on the good in the story - the debut of the first African-American Peanuts character?

Or even better, how about not thinking about race at all, and just enjoy the story of Good Ol' Charlie Brown trying to please a demanding Peppermint Patty with a Thanksgiving dinner filled with toast, popcorn and jellybeans? I might enjoy that more than turkey anyway.

And have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Politicians are Only Human - Here's Proof

We’re not electing a god, but sometimes it’s easy to act like we are. Especially in the year of a presidential election. Who can forget the infamous Howard Dean scream or the Rick Perry “oops?” Now it’s Marco Rubio who repeated himself one too many times in a debate and people are speculating whether his campaign is doomed.

I think that in all the hoopla (and yes, I’m the first to admit that sometimes blunders are entertaining), we need to remind ourselves that all these people we see trying to earn our vote are just that – people. They have their strengths, they have their weaknesses and we can’t expect them to be perfect 24/7.

I try to keep this blog from a mom’s perspective, and leave nuggets on here that can serve as conversation starters with your kids. My book, The Chronicles of Kibblestan: Revolution mentions three things the citizens of a country must do to remain free. One is to value freedom. Teach your kids that if you value freedom, you’re going to take your job as voter seriously, and educate yourself on who you’re voting for. What are their beliefs? What’s their background? What’s their vision for this country and do they have the skills to make that vision become a reality?

And remind them that the politicians are only human. They make mistakes. They can get corrupted by power.  They cannot solve all your problems – that comes from you.

Here are some great examples of other ways that politicians are only human:

 Politicians sleep,

They eat pancakes,

They even throw up on Japanese Prime Ministers (I couldn't find a video of that, but you get my point).

So go ahead and give our candidates a break. And enjoy the rest of this election season.