Not Sure What to Call This!

When Dorothy landed in Munchkin Land, a colorful bunch of short people, who talked funny, met her. It was all for effect. They had just been harassed by a lady in black who wore red and white socks and red shiny shoes (at least in the movie version) whose main form of transportation was a broom. Dorothy was in shock from the long nightmarish flight and the Munchkins, too, were surprised. She wasn’t sure what they were talking about until some pointed to the red and white striped legs showing out from under the house.

So, they asked, “Are you a good witch or a bad witch?” Her response, was “Well, I am not a witch at all.” They snickered. They meant no harm. They happened to have a good witch and a bad witch in their town. All were happy. Dorothy appeared to have performed magic or a miracle. Dorothy did not call it a miracle but they thought she had powers to rid them of the wicked witch.

In the real world, if someone is called a witch, it is not meant as a compliment unless you are one. There are religious practices that have witches and warlocks.

Witch with a b: Now, there is another word that they didn’t call Dorothy, that word rhymes with witch. It starts with a “b”. If you have read other entries in my blog you may be aware that being called that by a parent of an angry child put my radar up. I had been called a “b” many times. I have even used the word a few times or so. But this time it was different. A father, with an angry, troubled child, was fueling the fire against not only me, but against the other teachers who were responsible for working with him. Taken in context, the word was a warning. People like to hurt “b”-sometimes more than one at a time.. An angry, violent child does not need a parent calling his or her teachers’ names when they are trying to help.

“Quirky”- they didn’t use that word as far as I know in the Wizard of Oz, but I have been called it- twice in significant situations. My work wasn’t “quirky”, I was called “quirky” by a principal and a Catholic priest. According to Bing, quirky means:

[ˈkwərkē]

ADJECTIVE

characterized by peculiar or unexpected traits.

"her sense of humor was decidedly quirky"

synonyms: eccentric · idiosyncratic · unconventional · unorthodox · unusual · off-center · strange · bizarre · weird · peculiar · odd · freakish · outlandish · offbeat · out of the ordinary · Bohemian · [more]

Take your pick. I don’t think it was meant as a compliment. The use was in two conversations about two different children in two different learning situations about 14 years apart from each other. Funny, the priest had been a principal at one time and the principal later became principal at the school church (after her retirement as a superintendent). Would you call that situation, “quirky”?



Incompetent- No, not in the movie. Scarecrow thought he was incompetent but he showed the witch and all the others who thought he didn’t have a brain. Yes, I was labeled, in writing in reference to my decision to protect my class, as incompetent. Unemployment later called my testimony “competent”. Incompetent usually means -one does not have the slightest capability to do something. in·com·pe·tent

[inˈkämpədənt]

ADJECTIVE

not having or showing the necessary skills to do something successfully.

"a forgetful and utterly incompetent assistant"

synonyms: inept · unskillful · unskilled · inexpert · amateurish · unprofessional · [more]

NOUN

an incompetent person.

synonyms: bungler · blunderer · incompetent · oaf · dunce · dolt · dunderhead · [more]

Twit- nope, I have never been called that but add a letter and yes, #metoocalledafemalebodypart

So, while standing in front of PP last December, a robust looking red- haired man who didn’t like our presence, criticized me for standing there. He wasn’t driving but it was a near miss when the car in which he was riding pulled up to the curb. He told me I was not allowed to stand in the road as I was crossing to the other side of the buffer zone. I asked him if he knew of the constraints of the buffer zone and Constitutional rights. He went low, I went high. He called me a “twit with the extra letter”.  I called security as he walked into the building next to PP. When we are called names while standing in front of PP, it is sometimes the people who work in part of that building or who work for tbe Trust. They wear their identification lanyards. It doesn’t matter to them that babies are aborted next door to their theater. (Well, it doesn’t seem to bother those on the first floor.) The President of the Cultural Trust was notified. Name calling, I believe, is less of a problem from them now. And people who are pro-life may “tweet” but none are “twits or tw—ts”.
The dictionary does not list it except in the “urban” dictionary.  I am not sure the word existed when Dorothy first came into her creator's mind.

Debbie Downer- Google says: “Debbie Downer is a name of a fictional Saturday Night Live character who debuted in 2004, and who was portrayed by Rachel Dratch . The character's name, Debbie Downer , is a slang phrase which refers to someone who frequently adds bad news and negative feelings to a gathering, thus bringing down the mood of everyone around them.”

When one brings up in a conversation (already slanted to the topics of school violence or abortion) one may often get called “Debbie Downer”. I have actually been told to stop talking. So, I did. Jesus walked away too.  Dorothy was kind of a downer too.  After all, she was battling a bad witch.

SNL, a show which knows how to insult the best in the world. The writers evidently never watched The Wizard of Oz.

Kids just want to have fun- but when they die in school shootings or in abortions, they never get a chance to stay up late enough to watch the character assassinations.


Trumper- Now this is the one that is so politically charged this year that it has caused people to be escorted out of restaurants, have drinks thrown in their faces, and caused a racial divide, political divide and divided families. If anyone truly knows me, I am truly not a huge fan. But I am a realist and a pro-lifer. A vote for the other candidate would have been against not only my religious beliefs but my conscience.  There are a whole lot of us out there much to the chagrin of the other candidate who was often called the "b" word.

Again, this word is not in the dictionary but it is listed in the urban dictionary. In context as it is stated in front of PP, it is an insult. In context as it is stated on FB, it is meant as an insult. Trump is pro-life. But he may also be quirky! He, however, as some would think, is not incompetent.

Christian- stated with an insulting tone. People can get away with calling someone a “Christian” with a negative tone but don’t call a person of another faith with the same tone nor people of other preferences. It can land one in court. What does one actually have against a man who performed miracles? Are they jealous because the best they can do is cast spells?

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but when I am called a name meant to insult, I know I am on the path that leads all to freedom. Some do not understand the high road because it is less traveled- especially these days.

Whatever the mob or crowd says you are, never forget you are a child of God.

Love,

Marian - aka Some call me “the good witch”. But what is good?

July 6, 2018

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR- WHERE WAS THE OUTRAGE?

In 2008, I wrote the following editorial.  I have made no "notations" so I am not sure if it was published but at the time, 10 years ago, the Safe Haven law became problematic for Nebraska.  If you do not know what the Safe Haven laws are, you will have to google the law in your state.

Nebraska's legal efforts to help protect the lives of infants and babies with safe haven laws are in the national spotlight because parents are choosing to bring children as old as teenagers to leave in state custody.  This might seem like a new phenomenon, but in reality, the abandonment of parental responsibility is nothing new.  Abandonment comes in many forms and is costing this nation and our culture of life.  Parenting is not for the weak.  Some adults may need assistance helping to deal with the stress involved with raising children.  Other adults need to learn that parenting involves sacrifice.  We are not a nation that values the most precious resource of all, our children.  From conception, our children are at risk of legal abandonment.
Marian R. Carlino   November 14, 2008

The following is a link to an article written in 2008.   The Aftermath

"But the story of how and why she did has taken on a freshly painful significance for her in the last two months. It is one that Byers, now the president of the board of the Nebraska Family Support Network, is hearing over and over again from other parents. In September, Nebraska enacted its now-infamous Safe Haven law, allowing parents to leave children up to age 18 at hospitals throughout the state without going through the more involved custody relinquishment process. Thirty-five kids, mostly preteens and teens—five of them from other states—were dropped off before the state legislature hastily convened to amend the law on Nov. 21. In some cases, these families' circumstances—their tragedies and unmet needs—were the same as those that had driven Byers to give up custody of her own daughter. Many of the teens were suffering from mental illness and behavioral problems; they had depleted their families' financial

and emotional wells. Two of the families sought out Byers' help. "The crisis that these children and families were in was one where the parents had gotten to the point of saying, 'Oh my God, my child is going to end up in jail or worse, dead'," she says. "They felt they had no choice but to do this."

The Aftermath.. a day after the Nebraska's amended Safe Haven law—which went into effect Nov. 22, (2008) a day after the state's Republican Gov. David Heineman signed off—now applies only to babies under 30 days old. Many child advocates applaud the fix; they say parents of older children should never use safe-haven laws, lest they scar their children with the stigma of abandonment."

(2008)- "Child welfare is one of the least-funded programs in every state," says Father Steven Boes, the national executive director of Boys Town, which has campuses in 12 states. "  

http://www.newsweek.com/aftermath-nebraskas-safe-haven-law-83271  (See link-  under The Aftermath above.

Was there outrage?

This information is vital to dealing with child assault prevention- from the womb to the classroom to the street.

Marian R. Carlino

July 5, 2018

There's a man with a scissor over there- Part 2

Has there ever been a time in history when voices  of reason are not shut down in deference to voices of unreason?  Probably not.  Has there ever been a time when mob mentality didn't incorrectly influence decisions of leadership?  Probably not. 

In Jesus' time, the mob yelled "Crucify him." and the cowardly leadership released Barabbas.  They were afraid of the mob.  They sacrificed The Truth for a lie.  

Mob mentality or group think exists.  We see it in the news, daily. It is difficult to sort fact from fiction, especially when the crowd thinks yelling will get their point across, when a mob rules.  

One of the things I have found in the learning curve of child assault prevention work, starting with protecting children in the womb, is that mob mentality exists.  And when the opposition to child assault in the womb (those who are pro-life) act in the same way as those who support assault on the child in the womb (pro-abortion) the latter group (willing to sacrifice children in the womb), get nastier.  The pro-abortion groups march, stage sit-ins, yell, rant and rave.  The mob considers them heroic in our confused culture.  Let a pro-life group march, stage a sit in, yell, rant or rave and they are considered nuts. ( Please note- after  having grown up in the 1960's- with mob violence the rage, I am not a fan of marches, mob rule, sit ins,  or protests which block public access.  Nor do I allow those types of leadership influence my decisions.  We still have war and people of all races still discriminate against each other.  Even decades of the March for Life has not changed Roe v Wade. The fashionable Million Mom March, well,   the Columbine effect seems to have been more effective.)

The voices of those who have left the pro-abortion culture of death point to the presence of peaceful, prayerful witnesses as their reasons for leaving.   They look for voices of reason.

Peaceful and prayerful witness and offering tangible resources helps.  Even pro-choice should have no problem with the tangible resources offered to the clients.  Well, at least a voice of reason would think so.  

Voices of reason must prevail in all child assault prevention.  Just because a mob says there is a problem, does not necessarily mean that people will listen, nor should they.  Mobs have their own agendas..  In child assault prevention, across the continuum, when the mob mentality rules, no one is saved and justice does not prevail.  It doesn't help to yell "Crucify him."

In a nation that is outraged at the simplest things these days, the "culturally sensitive informed" showed no outrage when Kermit Gosnell sold drugs in his neighborhood and killed babies with scissors.  Kermit Gosnell

Marian R. Carlino

July 5, 2018