Month: January 2019

Caregiver

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As a parent, that’s primarily what you do in the early years. You’re a caregiver. You feed, bathe, clothe, transport to medical appointments, etc. Every basic caregiving task falls to you. That’s your life.

But then, at certain point, kids generally start doing most of those things on their own. So I had to get a new job.

Rather than a caregiver, I find myself being the giver of cares.

I know an adorable young man. I have great hope for his future. And yet, his most consistent contribution to any conversation these days flows in the vein of “I don’t care.” It turns out that this line has many synonyms: Cool (said in a completely flat, even tone). Mhmm (again, no vocal inflection). That’s so great. So on and so forth.

So it’s now my job to pass along to him those things that are worth caring about. And yes, kiddo, you are right. There are things that aren’t worth caring about. Many of them. But teaching how to filter out the things that are worth caring about and giving them the attention they deserve, that’s the parenting task for today. And it makes caregiving look super easy.

 

The ethics of quitting Facebook

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Well, damn. Within a blink of the eye (on the geologic time scale) of me quitting Facebook because of my issue with the company’s seeming inability to treat its users fairly, this comes out: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/10/opinion/delete-facebook.html

In short, the author argues that Facebook users shouldn’t be faced with quitting or not quitting the platform based solely on privacy or ethical reasons. Rather, it is a case of whether lawmakers will step up and exercise their regulatory powers or not. By making the decision to quit Facebook rather than lean on my elected representatives to do their job, well… hmmm. That’s a good point. But for me, it comes down to who my elected representatives are. While I trust Senators Murray and Cantwell to land on the right side of the decision, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, my House representative and the closest connection to me and my life, well, she is a complete loser on this (and most other) regulatory issues. So… yes, the current Facebook issue could be and should be dealt with at a regulatory level. But so should climate change.

Until such a glorious day arrives, I just have to do what I can do at the individual level and carry on. And it seems, unless I’m mistaken here, that that glorious day might arrive sooner if the companies I’m railing against have less clout and less money to peddle their influence. That’s where individual action comes in.