Points2Ponder

   "Can't imagine anyone being mean to our Princess Cali!"

             Points2Ponder

                                By Alan P. Scaglone

 It’s that time of year for Christmas traditions.

People are putting up their trees-some are fake—ours are real!
Some people have to have a train circling the tree.
We have an ornament that was my grandmother Josephina’s—from 1930.
We also have a handmade potholder-yes, I said potholder—that my mama Rose made the year she passed in 1977.
Everyone has their traditions for the holidays.
Another one of our traditions is—we watch all of the animated Christmas shows.
You know—like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Charlie Brown Christmas!
We coordinated with all of our family, from Rhode Island to Tennessee and from Wesley Chapel to Maitland…
And we had the kids watching with us in each home…Charlie Brown Christmas…
Aww—from wherever we were… our family was watching this timeless holiday tradition—together!
Made me wonder…

Points2Ponder  When’s the last time you listened to the words on these cartoons?

I’m sitting there with my wife, watching the cartoon, and I suddenly say “You ever notice how mean those kids are to Charlie Brown?”

She looks at me with her rarely sarcastic face and says “you’re just now noticing this?”
I said “yeh—they’re bullying this kid! That’s not nice!”
And she just started to laugh and said “All these years—you make us watch these shows, and you are just now realizing this?”
I got emphatic and said “I don’t like how they always call him stupid—we don’t use that word—and I don’t want our grandkids using it either!”
She just rolled her eyes and said “you’re the one who set this up for all the kids to be watching it with you!”
I told her “I don’t want someone calling Jett or Malaki or Marcus or Cali that word—and I sure don’t want them using it—on each other!”
I just sat there and said to myself “why haven’t I ever noticed this before?”
It was serious, and all I could imagine is… one of our grandsons being Charlie Brown and being called stupid.
That is a fighting word in our home—no one is ever allowed to use that word!
It’s demeaning and demoralizing—and it cuts to the core of someone’s self image!
And… poor Charlie Brown just takes it! And acts like he deserves it!
And what about Rudolph? Just because his nose glows—he was not allowed to play with the others? That’s not right!
I don’t want my grandkids bullied or picked on because they have a nose that glows!
Wow! What have I been watching and NOT listening to for the past 30+ years?
Made me think of myself as a kid—I was always heavy, chubby, big boned, husky!
You get the picture.
But I never felt bullied because… I was funny!
I would cut myself down with fat jokes—to make them laugh!
And they did—at my expense!
But I thought—I am in control—they are not picking on me—they like me—I can make them laugh!
Looking back, I realize—they were laughing at me—I just didn’t want to acknowledge it!
Funny what we tolerate for ourselves that we will not tolerate for our kids and grandkids!
I do not want to think that my grandkids would ever be called stupid or made fun of because they might be different!
And I don’t want to tolerate that behavior on a cartoon either—even if it’s only happening to Rudolph or Charlie Brown!
Bullying is bullying, no matter where it’s done—or in what media it’s portrayed!
So… if Charlie Brown were my grandson—I would have to be kicking some Lucy butt for calling my grandson stupid!
I know, I know—it’s just a cartoon!

 I’m Just… Reflecting on -- Life!

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What do you think of the message in the cartoon?