Charlie Hebdo....What's the Score?

"What's your take on Charlie Hebdo, Rosemary?"

It was a fair game and it ended in a tie.

The artists and writers at CH were by no means heroes.  They were bullies, may they rest in peace.  They were very sophisticated, I will give you that...but they were bullies nonetheless.  Their insistence on picking on certain groups was not motivated by some idea that by doing so the world would be a better place. They chose their targets by identifying where they would touch on the most nerves.  Get the biggest reaction.  The biggest adrenaline rush.  If there were no extremist Muslim groups and no death threats, etc. the taunting would have ceased long ago.  The fun would have ended and they'd have been shopping their portfolios and manuscripts around a long time ago, in fact, most of them made their real bread and butter through other publications anyway.

Afterall...it's fashionable to hate the Middle East, and just as delicious to worship French artists and liberals.  It was trendy to idealize the Hebdo victims.  But let's not forget that they were fighting bankruptcy for years.  The French, who aren't as easily romanticized by all things French (for obvious reasons), were not supporting this magazine before the attack.  They were largely ignoring it and it was dying a slow death. 

"But they stood up for their rights, I'd rather die standing up than live kneeling down."  Fine.  Then make cartoons about things like human trafficking and texting while driving, things that really do damage peoples lives irreparably.  Push the limits.  Call out big time criminals by name and their mindless devotees by their shame.   Don't worry...they will probably want to kill you too, if that's what twists your skirt.

"So  are you condoning violence and cold-blooded murder?"  Of course not; no hitting...that's always been my rule.  So the blood-thirsty bullies finally hit the mean-hearted bullies back.  What did you think was going to happen?  It's a tie now.  All's fair play in my book when it's bully vs. bully.

Poking at someone's sore spot until they explode, does not make you a hero. It takes no strength to do that.  Showing kindness, respecting differences and uniting people, on the other hand,  is heroic, SO INCREDIBLY heroic that it takes super-human powers to pull it off most of the time. 

When You're That Tired

"We're at the hardware store now.  We're buying a paint brush."  she says softly and reassuringly.


"Oh...ok."  I reply as I make a conscious effort to process this information correctly.


"Do I have pants on?"  I ask.


"Yes, you do."  She kindly replies.


"Ok...then let's do this."  I commit.




This is one of many conversations that I have had recently...with myself.  You see, when you are that tired, as in sleep deprived for 10 consecutive days kind of tired, things become a little foggy and were it not for mental self-examinations such as the one above, there is no telling what awkward situations you may find yourself in.  Like the time after the birth of my third child in which I found myself at a grocery store check-out stand, blouse completely unbuttoned down to the navel.  I had left the house, driven the car, crossed the parking lot, traipsed through the isles and stood in line...all with my blouse unbuttoned.  Fortunately, we lived in the city at the time and I'm sure that not only had they seen worse, but on a regular basis as well.

From a Fitting Room in Target

Part I

Only a few days remained before the big day; our first wedding!  Our oldest daughter would soon become a Mrs.  Exhausted from all the preparations and running around, I leaned against the outside of the dressing room door and waited while my youngest daughter, who was 14, tried on a new bra inside. 

"Mom, it's all twisted...help me."

She unlocked the door and I stepped in.  What I saw was certainly twisted, but it wasn't the bra strap that had caught my attention. It was her back.  From the depths of my soul, a gasp began to rise up, but my guardian angel promptly clapped her hand over my mouth and stopped me from making a huge mistake.  You see, if your mom hasn't seen your nakedness for a few years and then the first time that she does see it she gasps, or even worse, cries...that's some bad body image juju for sure.

So I pushed back the tears and redirected my focus to the errant strap.

Two days later we were sitting in a doctor's office.  Diagnosis?  Scoliosis, 44 degree curve. Recommendation? Surgery.