Ode To A Platitude

plat2We all have seen them. We all have gotten them. All of us, forging this trek of chronic pain, illness or any other journey that requires a stand. Let’s use parenthood. What used to be loving your kids and getting together with other Moms now seems to be a sport of ‘taking sides’. Breast vs. bottle? Circumcise or not to circumcise? Co- Sleep or put in crib? When to start on solids? To vaccinate or not? When did parenting get so complicated? Here is a radical concept: respect. Let’s respect each parents decision to make these decisions. It was not until someone trying to push me for information…..information I was not prepared to share with this person….. that this person proceeded to attack me for using a walker for my kids in the 1980’s and 1990’s, when non-wheeled saucers were not even available. I then realized how truly arrogant some parents of today have become.

Now read this: some, not all

The attack was an emotional ploy to get me to ‘spill my guts’. It was a bully tactic. She was being a nosy busy body and I was having no part of this cruel game. So she was punching low….. in the parental gut. I knew the game that was being played. However, as far as parenting, she really is arrogant and smug.   How did we get our kids to adulthood without these master parents around? How did our parents and Grandparents get generations before us ever raise kids without these guru’s to guide them? That was the limit for me. Luckily people like this spark my most creative writing endeavors. These are the same ignorant rants that we all hear. Of course I know there are those ‘worse off than me’. The person in the slums of Kibera is worse off than I am. And for my placement in life, I am so very grateful. The person in Kibera, with the shelter of a mud hut and rice in their belly, is better off than the person taking their last breath in a bed dying of a painful terminal illness. It is all relative. Still, when faced with a crisis, you are not thinking about how ‘you have it better so many others’. You are focused on, ‘what the hell you are going to do now’ and you sure as sunshine do not need lectures or platitudes.

I give you my latest poem.

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Ode To A Platidude

 

Platitudes are simply attitudes

That say, I don’t give a crap-itude

Platitudes say I am one upitude

Not a empathetic-tude

It screams

A stand-itude that says,

I am more important

 

 

Platitudes say I am not a listen-tude

They say, I have it worse-itude

If you really care

You will share

A smile

A hug

A prayer

 

Platitudes say I am a nosy-itude

They scream, I am a busy-body-itude

I am a condescending pain-itude

I don’t care a bit-itude

They are a sugary sting

No substance

No ring

Just daring to be uncaring

 

Platitudes are excuse-itudes

To be a smug, pain in the ass-itude

Instead, just care

Be fair

Say a prayer

Do not judge

Send a hug

You never know

When your world will crumble

And you will need, just love

 

Platitudes are slap in the face-itude

That say, I don’t care about you-itude

They scream, I am perfect-itude

I am a know-it-all-itude

But,

Everyone has their limits

Including you

Have a heart

Karma is smart

And if you do not give a crap-itude

Karma will bite back at you

And then someone will give you

An attitude, carefully disguised as,

A Platitude

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7 thoughts on “Ode To A Platitude

  1. fabulous..i was lucky i never got into any of those “parental games” of which way is better, my ex questioned my way of doing things so i told him if he didn’t like it do it himself.. well 10 yrs ago he had to do it himself. hes finding out now it ain’t effin’ easy peasy especially with teenage boys.. lol but love the poem and don’t let the nosy busy bodies get to you.. they think they know everything and they dont know crapola.. hell our generation i think grew up alot better and more respectful then the generatiions these days so that says alot for the parents who think they know it all.. screw ’em.. {{hugs}}

    • The person in question thinks she is the most efficient, best parent to every come along. When the walker was mentioned and she had to jab low and say she took a tumble in hers and scratched up her face it got me to thinking: progress. We learn from PROGRESS. And kids get scratched, bumps, bruises. I remember my former best friend and her oldest son taking a tumble down the stairs in his walker. He was shaken, but fine and he is now an adult living a normal life. Kids, if too shielded, will never know how to take a ‘licking’ and get back up. There is such a thing as coddling, over-protecting and ‘helicopter parenting’ for which this person does all mentioned. Whatever. This person has burnt her bridges with me. I have done much for her family in her time of crisis and they did not even send Paul a b day card when unable to come to his b day. I get that things happen, but come on! A card? Is that really so hard after all the gifts and meals we have provided this ‘family’ with over the years? No, she TRIED to hit me where she thought I would ‘lash out’ and just tell her. But I am not going to. It isn’t happening and when I did not satisfy her nosy curiosity, she of course….perfect…. did ‘nothing’ wrong. Well, is SO far from the truth. When someone says BACK OFF…. that means it is not a good time and to back off. Pushy, nosy and smug? Eh, she did me a big favor and does not even realize it. But more than that, this poem branches out to all those who have lectured ‘us’. We all have them…. those ‘do gooder’s’ who are painfully happy and flaunt their ‘perfect life’ all over social media right under your nose. In any event, I have no place for people that treat me with such little respect and appreciation. NONE OF US should! 😉

  2. Thank you Kelli! I really appreciate everything you said. Especially the great poem….and I don’t give a “crap-itude”. That was a perfect way of saying the way those that have no problems…..always have the ultimate perfect advice. Love you so much! We live day to day. P.S. I didn’t make it to two appts today because I just couldn’t go. Pain, headache, crying for no reason and you know the rest! WE NEED A DAY OF HAPPY, HAPPY, JOY, JOY! And I pray that we can….really soon! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO, Eva

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