I broke out the Lagavulin tonight. It's good, but more of a middle-of-winter-sitting-by-a-campfire type of good. Wish I had The Glenlivit tonight instead.
See, that's a real problem for me. I'm a privileged white male, and not having the exact Scotch whisky that my pallet craves tonight is really bumming me out. I also got upset that my Mac was taking so long to start up. A damn inconvenience, to say the least. I'm lucky that I'm a privileged white male. My son...well, he's privileged too..a lot like me in my younger days. Privileged, male, and very white and blonde. He'll be able to get away with murder. He's the perfect human specimen. All the Nazis and politicians will love him. He can be as much of an asshole as he wants to be and all the boys at the club will just laugh it off. "That's Hank!" they'll say. My daughter...she won't have it so easy. Doesn't matter how smart or honest or successful she is, people won't listen to her. That's just how it is. I didn't make the rules, I just cruise through life riding them. Privileged. White. Male. I got nothing to worry about. Neither does Hank. Tonight as I put Hank to bed, I had a talk with him. He doesn't speak all that well yet, but he understands most everything I say. I told him to be good. Sure, he could've taken that any number of ways. "Stop getting into the fireplace, Hank! Be good!" Or, "Shitting your pants every ten minutes is bad, Hank. I want you to be good." Yeah, those things. But more importantly, I want him to be a good man. Choose wisely and be good. Sure, we all fuck up from time to time. But don't fuck up by raping. Fuck up by getting an MIP or something. I hope that if I keep telling him to be good, it will all come together one day and he'll be privileged white male with (unfortunate) alt-right looks but with an empathetic, caring, and wise way about him. Ruby...I just hugged her extra long tonight while gritting my teeth that the people that run our country do not have her best interest at heart. She is a minority. A major minority. Get this, though. As I dropped her off at school today, she ran to greet every single one of her friends and classmates. White, brown, and all other shades in between. Males, females, and whatever they may identify with throughout this sometimes difficult and confusing life. She high-fived her teachers. She ran up to a special needs girl getting out of the car and said "Hi! What's your name?" She genuinely wanted to know the girl's name and become friends with her. She did not give one shit that this little girl had to have three adults help her out of the car. Just looked at her as a friend. Ruby doesn't give a shit. She likes you...really likes you, until you're a dick to her. Then she will forgive you...a little later. She wants everyone to play with everyone. That's our moto in the backyard. Everyone plays with everyone. The kids and I took a lasagna over to our neighbor after her father passed last week. Both kids gave our neighbor a hug, unprompted. Granted, Ruby asked why we didn't put a candle on top of the lasagna and have our neighbor blow it out... But it's that genuine caring and wanting to do the right thing that I wish we could bottle up and pour all over our politicians and half of America. Then after bath time we danced to Ruby Soho by Rancid. "Did you really name me after this, dad?" Sort of. Rancid and Kenny Rogers. Ruby, who defeated the odds of even becoming a living, breathing human, touched multiple lives in a very positive way today. Certainly mine. Ruby, the minority, made everyone she interacted with today better. She makes me a better man everyday. And I believe Hank will become a fine man because of his big sister. I don't have to tell Ruby to be good all that often. But she reminds me to be good all the time. All I can hope for is that she becomes President. Because I honestly cannot think of anyone better suited for the position. //re:
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AuthorI am Earl. Archives
May 2024
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