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You can do anything you wanna do ----this is America---- I've heard that old Chestnut so many times as a kid……. I really wanted to play the piano ….My mother certainly wanted me to play the piano and had an instructor come to the house weekly ….to no avail…. I tried very hard and there is just no way …..I don't have The manual dexterity to be able to do that……. it took me Many many years to realize there may be one or two things I'm good at but there's a lot of things I just plain can't do----- that list is increasing by the day---- which is a little upsetting however
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what started me on this is the commercial for Shriners hospital for children Who am I to object to their approach to disabilities--- however I do---- I object to their approach to the disabilities of some of the kids there when the kid with one arm says very proudly “I can play baseball “but why are we spending so much effort having them attempt Some skill at which they will be marginally proficient when there are so many others at which they could Excel . Of course it's easier for me to think of animal related solutions but there must be plenty just needing more creativity instead of teaching a child how to catch and throw a ball with only one hand is a waste of time when you could have that child be managing up somewhat sizable collection Of say Guinea pigs or chickens or even an outdoor bird feeder to give them some goal --some prestige ---at which they would be very capable of doing and it would be something that most other kids don't do so you would lose the competitiveness of I can play baseball---- well no you can't====not really but you could --At a very young age be responsible for the care of a few chickens and the thrill of producing an egg for somebody's breakfast could be a huge celebration …..The only pictures I have seen Of these hospitals do have quite an expanse of lawn around them you'd only be talking maybe a 3 foot by three foot Pen Coop with outdoor access But you would literally open a window for these kids to be successful with their own capabilities .
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I can Pick out a tune with one finger pretty well But to use two hands is totally out of the question --- does not justify the amount of timeand frustration… I spent trying to do something I couldn't do ----I could only apply that concept of these kids who have some disability being given a challenge and then being told they are successful when they are only partially successful it would be better if the people in charge who dream up something for them to do at which they would be 100% successful .
when my two kids we're coming through high school , gwenn Was a senior at 16 years old and all her friends were 17 and 18 and getting drivers licenses ..she was too young -----I could do nothing about that …So I had her take a few flying lessons at Beverly airport just to give her conversation ---When everybody else talked about driving -----I don't know whether it works she does not have a pilots license now But her husband does and he enjoys that exclusivity for perhaps the same reason .
So if you apply the same concept to education Many kids are forced into college that really don't belong there I'm sure I was one of them -------I worked for the want advertiser magazine For 19 years before anyone realized I had any college degree ----It didn't occur to anyone to ask for a diploma which says a great deal about the degree in the first place----- if you can't tell--------
I do think something like the peace core or national service of some kind ----- some other process which allows a teenager to mature would be far more meaningful then Four years of drinking beer and trying to get to at 8:00 o'clock class…… the one thing I did learn At Colby was that a deadline at four o'clock Tuesday afternoon Meant 4:00 o'clock Tuesday afternoon. That is one of the most important things I did learn at Colby but I could have been taught that by being one minute late for an airplane .
there's so many people who have a different approach to a timely responsibility … it is a national disease.
