Simply Art

Of Butterfly Wings...




...And Feathers



Winter

Holiday Wishes

Christmas is only a week away and we are getting busy with baking, completing homemade gifts and wrapping. So I'm going to put regular blogging on hold until after the holiday and take this time to wish you all comfort and joy.

May the magic and spirit of the season be yours the year through and your best gifts be love and laughter. May your Christmas lights be free of hopeless tangles, your tree not need two feet cut off the top and may all your children's gifts be pre-assemble.

Peace

Serious Business

I've been watching the controversy about the possibility of a law against spanking and I'm wondering what your take is on this proposal.

As for me, I never struck my kids in the heat of anger or frustration, choosing to walk away, but do admit to a few, light pops on the butt when they were young. I grew up with a mother who believed that beating her children, with her hands or any available object, was her right and that slapping them, hard and in the face, was a necessary measure when they spoke out of turn. So, when I became a mother myself, I had a good idea of what not to do, wondering, always, how parents could willfully hurt their children. I do not believe that hitting children is an acceptable manner of discipline but neither do I believe that the government has the right to monitor our personal lives. This would be a gross invasion of privacy.

Government is getting out of hand and its tentacles are reaching into places they were never meant to be. Now they want to monitor the rearing of our children. I am all for saving children from child abuse, but abusers are the minority and this law would bring the eyes of Big Brother into the homes of many innocent people. Doctors, teachers and counselors are already on the watch for children who are being mistreated, and although they have saved a lot of children from further abuse, they have also mistaken accidents for something other than what they are and have caused good parents and their children a lot of anguish. A double edged sword, to be sure. Can you imagine the government being involved?

And what of children who think their parents are being unfair and see it as a means of retaliation? This point was brought up to me by my husband, who knows of such a case.

It's a conundrum and there are no easy answers. It's not a perfect world and, unfortunately, we cannot always protect the abused, be it children, women or the elderly, from their abusers. I just believe there has to be a better answer than government involvement.

I am very interested in your opinions.

A Little Break

Hi everyone--I've had the stuffing kicked out of me by a nasty head cold and barely have the energy to post. I'll try to visit everybody in fits and starts but vegging in my recliner seems to be all I can manage at the moment. I made this fractal last week, using candy canes (click on it to enlarge, and you'll see them) my first attempt at holiday cheer. I'll be baaaaaack!