The Empty Soda Can

An online friend recently alerted me to an article in Psychology Today entitled “ Colorblind Ideology is a Form of Racism .” I looked it over, and the author, Monnica Williams, Ph.D., makes a fairly intelligent-sounding case for her proposition. Unfortunately, at further glance the article boils down to an exercise in circular logic. As I commented on the original Facebook share: [B]asically, the author’s argument is that we shouldn’t work toward a colorblind society because we don’t live in a colorblind society. By that argument, we shouldn’t work for world peace because we don’t live in a peaceful world; we shouldn’t work to feed the hungry because we don’t live in a world without hunger; we shouldn’t work to educate the masses because we don’t live in a world without uneducated people. In short, if we have a goal, we must abandon it immediately because we live in a world where that goal has not yet been achieved. How does that make even the slightest amount of sense? Not su...

So yesterday, as I walked through Walmart, I heard a guy yelling at a crying child, in the toy department. As there didn’t seem to be any physical harm occurring, I kept going, but heard part of the conversation, as best as I can recollect: Man: “Shut up!” (child keeps crying) Man: “Shut up, [name]!” (child keeps crying) Man: “SHUT UP AND STOP CRYING!” (child gets louder) Man, slightly calmer: “Look, please shut up and listen to me.” (child softens, but keeps crying) Man: “Will you listen to me? Stop crying, and listen to me?” (child stops crying) Man: “Look, we’re here to get a toy for [other child]. [Other child] is getting a toy because she did what she was told. You did not do what you were told, right?” (child whimpers) Man: “When Mommy told [other child] to go sit in the corner, she did. That’s why she’s getting a toy.” Um… parenting FAIL?