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The art of negotiation requires education, information, experience, awareness, and an arsenal of tools. I’m not an expert in this area but, more often than not, I seem to be able to get what I want. And my approach, more often than not, in achieving persuasion is with a soft touch and through reaching mutual trust.
Case in point: Police vs bicyclists without helmets
My daughter has no signs of autism. I have read a great deal about autism and have spoken with many parents with autistic kids. One common message that has come through is about vaccination. Quite often, the story begins with a child under the age of 2 who receives some vaccination. Several days later, the parents notice changes that become permanent markers of autism.
I’m also aware of many research studies that completely debunk those stories as myths. I don’t know which side is right. Quite frankly, it doesn’t really matter. It is likely that there is NO right answer. The only answer that matters is the answer that YOU believe is right.
The right answer for me was to wait until she almost reached the age of 2 for heavy-duty vaccines. Why? I don’t recall hearing any stories of vaccination-autism link that involved children over the age of 2.
I can’t be the only parent who has taken this approach. Have you?
A school district in Charlotte, N.C. has pulled a children’s book off the shelves because some parents have deemed it inappropriate. This same book tops the American Library Association’s most banned books in 2008 → source
And Tango Makes Three
The book, ‘And Tango Makes Three’, is a children’s book based on a true story of Roy and Silo, two male penguins in New York’s Central Park Zoo who for six years formed a couple. The book follows part of this time in the penguins’ lives. The pair were observed trying to hatch a rock that resembled an egg. When zookeepers realized that Roy and Silo were both male, it occurred to them to give them the second egg of a mixed-sex penguin couple, a couple which had previously been unable to successfully hatch two eggs at once. Roy and Silo hatched and raised the healthy young chick, a female named “Tango” by keepers, together as a family. → source
The book has won several literary and library awards for story-telling and illustration.
Before you utter the words ‘Godless New York liberal animals’, hear me out. The reason this book is banned is obvious. Some parents believe this book makes homosexuality sound normal.
First, how and why is book-banning even acceptable in the US? Isn’t that, in a way, fascism? What is the worst thing a book can advocate?
Death to America? It’s old news already.
America is moving toward fascism? Fox News tells me that daily.
God doesn’t exit? Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter tell me that he does, and that’s good enough for me.
Kill the Jews? Nice try, but it’s been done before.
Second, what is the point of protesting this book? Are you afraid that nature, perhaps even God, has created two penguines that are not necessarily interested in the opposite sex? Do you really believe that if you just sweep it under the rug, it’s as though it never happened? Does that really serve your child well in understanding all the possibilities and combinations that nature can produce or that God can create? Does your God want you to ignore his creations?
Third, how is banning this book, which is based on a true story, acceptable while books for young adults contain all types of questionable heterosexual encounters containing sex? Aren’t you worried that such books portray casual, unwed sex as normal for teenagers?
Mark Twain might have summed it up best. When Huckleberry Finn was banned by the Library Committee of Concord, Massachusetts for its coarse language. he wrote a friend that the banning was worth the sale of 25,000 copies just by the free publicity alone. → source
And now a story from the ‘marriage from hell’ hall of fame.
Twenty two year-old Alexei Roskov has a problem. In fact, it’s quite a nagging problem. You see, his wife nags him a lot. She nags him so much that Alexei decided to take matters into his own hands. One day, he downed 3 bottles of vodka, opened the kitchen window of their Moscow apartment, and hurled himself out. → source
Amazingly, he survived the 50 ft fall with not even a scratch on him! After staggering back upstairs, his wife called for an ambulance and promptly began to, you guessed it, nag and scold him. So Alexei did what any other rational husband would do. He jumped out of the very same window again.
Medics treated him for minor cuts and bruises.
In an interview, Alexei summed up the events this way:
“I have no idea why I jumped the first time but when I came back up and I heard my wife screaming angrily at me I thought it was best if I left the room again – out of the window.”
Sexting. We’ve all heard about it by now. But it doesn’t end there. Combine homo-sapiens of teenage years, a primordial soup of raging hormones, lots of extra time (because we’re not busy hunting food and making shelter), an infusion of unbelievable technology that is simple to use, and what do you get? A 14 year-old girl who took nearly 30 explicit nude pictures of herself and posted them on her MySpace. → source
OK, so you slap the back of her hand, give her a stern warning, ground her for a week, and maybe monitor her on-line activities. Right?
Oh, you’re so wrong. The right answer is you arrest her for possession and distribution of child pornography. So there!
Let’s review. We have laws to protect children from becoming objects of pornography. A 14 year-old girl taking nude pictures of herself is considered a child pornographer. Huh! Who’s the victim?
Don’t we have more relevant issues to consider . . . like bank bailouts?
Some 16 year-old girl (reportedly with a history of mental illness) gets pregnant. She successfully conceals her pregnancy from everyone. Now, I have certainly read similar stories in the past, and I still can’t imagine how that is even remotely possible. My wife gave birth to a 6.5 pound baby (in the lower 25 percentile for new-borns), and she still looked like she was shoplifting a basketball during the last 2 months of her pregnancy.
Anyway, the girl visits the emergency room complaining of intermittent abdominal pain. While waiting to be examined, she goes to the bathroom and gives birth to a 7 week premature baby. She stuffs the baby in a Wonderbread bag and attempt to flush it down the toilet. The ever-alert security personnel, tipped off by a running pool of blood from underneath the bathroom door, break in and rushes the baby to neonatal intensive care unit. The baby is successfully resuscitated.
Wait, it gets more weird. It appears that several days later, social workers were discussing the merits of giving the baby back to her Mother – yes, the very same 16 year-old, mentally challenged Mother who tried to flush the baby down the toilet.
I have not researched the conclusion of this story. I had read enough. → source
So, what’s the lesson here? Don’t attempt to flush an unwanted baby down the toilet. You might end up getting the baby back.
Guys. Don’t get too creative when you’re ready to propose. Keep it simple. The more complicated and elaborate the plan, the more ways it can go wrong.
On the other hand, this story is worth its weight in gold. How can you ever top that? Every time she looks at her ring, she’ll be reminded of a bathroom trip. How nice for the young couple!
MSNBC’s Zeitgeist has selected this story as the most delightful story of the year. Click the link below. It’s a clip that contains all kinds of interesting people and events from 2008.
OK readers. Let’s gauge your eclectic political quotient. Complete this series:
Bristol, Piper, Track, Willow, Trig, . . .
.
.
.
.
.
I’m sorry, time’s up. Ha! You’re not as smart as you think you are. The correct answer is . . . . . . . . . Tripp.
Bristol Palin, Sarah’s oldest daughter, gave birth on Sunday, 12/28/08 to a baby boy. And in the tradition of staying with unusual names, the baby was named Tripp.
I know some people think those names are stupid, but I actually think they are quite charming because they are so uncommon.
By the way, here’s a site that gives a good overview of what Palin’s kids names mean.
Posted by jmjorat 
And now a story from the ‘marriage from hell’ hall of fame.
Anyway, the girl visits the emergency room complaining of intermittent abdominal pain. While waiting to be examined, she goes to the bathroom and gives birth to a 7 week premature baby. She stuffs the baby in a Wonderbread bag and attempt to flush it down the toilet. The ever-alert security personnel, tipped off by a running pool of blood from underneath the bathroom door, break in and rushes the baby to neonatal intensive care unit. The baby is successfully resuscitated.
OK readers. Let’s gauge your eclectic political quotient. Complete this series:
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