I was doing dishes when Dave walked into the kitchen last night with the news about Scaramucci. I was aghast. I don't know why Trump's actions continue to surprise me. I should have ceased to be surprised long ago. But does the man realize he's running a vast and powerful country, and not just making staffing decisions on "The Apprentice"?
Unbelievable.
It's this kind of reactionary instability that really gives me the willies about Trump. Because if he'll do this, what else is he capable of? Not that Scaramucci is any knight in shining armor.
That was by far the biggest news of the day yesterday. Otherwise, we hung around the house all day. I vacuumed and did housework and read a lot -- I'm in the unenviable position of reading two books simultaneously, one for work and one for pleasure. The latter is Arundhati Roy's new novel, which I'm enjoying so far. The assigned work book is called "A More Beautiful Question," and it's an exploration of the role of questioning in personal and organizational growth. I hate books about business and process and organizational health, but this one isn't too terrible so far. I'm going to try to read a chapter a day. Kind of like kids in the old days taking cod liver oil -- a little each day, and get it over with.
The author mentioned how questioning little children are, and it reminded me of my young niece Kate. I noticed when I was in Florida that her default question has become "Why?" Whenever I said anything to her, "Why?" was often the response. I must admit I was struck by that -- because of all questions, "Why?" and "How?" are probably the most complicated and the ones most likely to bring deeper answers. Pretty impressive (but also pretty typical) for a four-year-old!
Then again, I'm not sure we want to emulate little kids in our workplace questioning. We'd drive our bosses nuts!
(Photo: A canoe on the Regent's Canal, Hackney Wick.)
Why are there three people in that canoe Uncle Steve? Why is the water green? Why are you reading two books? Why does Olga have four legs and not two? Why is Donald Trump so ugly? Why do rainbows sometimes form in the sky? Why are you giving me the evil eye and getting mad?
ReplyDeleteI can't make my mind up about Trump, not that it matters to anyone. Only time will tell I guess.
ReplyDeleteWhy? can get a bit tiring if it goes on for too long, lol
Briony
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If we drove our bosses batty, we'd just get sacked, and in the case of some, that might lead to choruses of "Oh, happy day."
ReplyDeleteI'm just sad that we won't continue to be treated to Stephen Colbert playing "The Mooch"!!!
ReplyDeleteYou know, I never watched five minutes of that show. I could not see the point of it. I thought that Donald Trump was a washed-up business man who had absolutely nothing going on but his own twisted, fourth-rate life who had a TV show which pandered to an audience which I had nothing in common with.
ReplyDeleteI am so scared.
Just when you think Trump can't get any wackier he gets wackier.
ReplyDeleteThe Ministry of Utmost Happiness? I met a couple in Children's Hospital who'd decided their daughter should be female instead of male or a hermaphrodite. Was it their right to choose? Decades later I still think of the her. I wonder if she'd grown up wanting to be a boy instead.
ReplyDeleteI happened to work for Houston's first plastic surgeon to perform the first transgender reassignment surgery in the medical center. AND the world-famous Dr. Gerow, the physician who invented the penile implant. The new male-to-female patient just so happened to move into an apartment downstairs where we lived. She'd sit at the pool with my daughter and me, trying too hard . . . One day a nurse who'd assisted with the surgery outed her in the store across the street from the apartment complex. I never learned why, but she and her male lover moved soon after. He was so proud of his woman.
I like to believe that had I been the parent of an intersexed child, I'd have waited for them to grow up and choose
I'm only on page twenty-one. What's your opinion so far?.
I have to admit that I was doing a little happy dance when I heard about Scaramucci. I knew on his very first day at work that hiring him was a huge mistake. That's all we needed, another uncontrolled ego with a vacuous intellect.
ReplyDeletewell, I'm glad that Italian mob enforcer is gone but not too happy about John Kelly being hired. he might actually bring some order to the chaos and allow some of their heinous plans to actually happen. but then Trump will probably get tired of being ordered around and dump him as well.
ReplyDeleteI have to laugh at myself because when I first looked at your photo I thought to myself "those people must be practicing how to row a canoe because they are on the grass ..." DUH. That is some slimy water. I sure would not want to fall in so I hope they know what they are doing. :)
ReplyDeleteYou might be interested in a piece in MacLean's (a Canadian news magazine) which, in part, suggests that Trump may be using the same strategy he uses in his business enterprises, which is to pit employee against employee and may the strongest person win. It's another scary thought. http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/politics/we-do-not-have-a-word-to-describe-the-trump-white-house/ar-AApbPlZ?li=AAggNb9&ocid=mailsignout
ReplyDeleteMy daughter hit the "why" stage at about age two. One day, just because I was getting so frustrated, I didn't answer her but just let her keep asking, and then counted to see how many times she'd say it before she gave up. I got to twenty-two whys, with a few WHY, MOMMYs thrown in, and couldn't stand it any more, and had to start talking to her again! Your niece has discovered a very good conversational tool!!
YP: Why WHY WHY WHY?????
ReplyDeleteBriony: Yeah, "Why" can definitely get excessive. But it's an important question!
E: There's an upside and a down, I suppose!
Jennifer: Well, they're saying now that Scaramucci might move to another WH position. So who knows?!
Ms Moon: I never watched it either. Not even five minutes.
Red: Exactly!
Limner: I like the book a lot. I'm around page 60. I guess parents have to settle on a gender, or some approximation of a gender, when a child is small -- it's just the way our society is organized, unfortunately. In a case where a baby is born with features of both sexes, I suppose a medical determination can be made which gender is dominant, in terms of hormones and that kind of thing. But as a parent you'd have to be prepared for the child to determine later that they want to choose the other side of the coin! At least that's how it seems to me. Sounds like you had a pretty interesting job!
Sharon: It was a train wreck from the beginning, like so much of Trump's administration.
Ellen: We'll see. I think even a military general may have trouble controlling this crowd. He might have to resort to the nuclear option!
Lynne: HA! I wouldn't want to go swimming in the Regent's Canal, that's for sure. I've never seen anyone do it. But the green is just duckweed -- it's nothing too terrible.
Jenny-O: Thanks for the link! I've heard that theory. I don't think government can work that way, but we'll see what happens! The book I'm reading says that when kids ask "why" we should answer them, because studies have shown they really ARE seeking an answer. They're not just automatically throwing out that word, as some parents believe. Apparently the parent's answers really do get wired into the childhood brain, along with language use and other skills kids learn through their questioning.
My mother had some wacky answers to our childhood whys, and for a long time I believed every word!
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