And that job is to start with a being who has no thought for the feelings of others, no code of behavior beyond its own needs and comforts — and, guided by love and duty, to do your best to transform that being into what your grandmother (or Socrates) might call a mensch. To use a term that has fallen out of favor, your assignment is to “civilize” the object of your affections.
“Every infant is born adorable but selfish and the center of the universe,” she replied. It’s a parent’s job to teach that “there are other people, and other people have feelings.”
Lastly, I loved this line …
And of course, one of the long-term consequences of being a rude child is being a rude adult.
The article, which is written by a pediatrician, is a good read for parents. Enjoy …
Olmos Basin is a municipal golf course near The Quarry shopping center just off 281 south of 410 … very close to Trinity University and downtown San Antonio. The 15 to 20mph winds almost blew us over on this particular day but, methinks, this would be a challenging course on any given day! In the base case, it was a very long course. Though most men’s par 3s in the San Antonio area have so far proven to be quite challenging due to their length, this is the first course on which I have had to use a wood (metal) in order to reach the greens. I rarely used my short irons on the course in general. It was a hybrid kind of day! And not only due to the course’s length, but also because of all the trees lining the fairways. If one’s ball wanders off the somewhat forgivingly wide fairways, trees usually become a problem. And there aren’t even leaves on the trees this time of year!?!
Of note was the fact that about 50% of the players today were walking and pushing golf carts! The course is indeed flat enough to consider doing so. On the courses we have played so far, walking is not usually an option!?!
Being that it is January, the course was definitely in winter condition. It did not appear that it had been overseeded as many we have played to date have been. (I was reminded that the course recently re-opened after having been closed a couple of months due to maintenance.) The setting is not a positive either and one can hear the traffic from 281 anywhere on the course. But, I still think the course is worthy of further play since it is indeed such a unique challenge. And this recommendation comes despite the gusting winds! Thank goodness the temperature was in the mid-70s or we would have been uncomfortably miserable!?! More likely, we would have found ourselves at a movie!?!?!
ESPN the magazine printed a story last July about Josh Beckett tossing off season bullpens to a Trinity University catcher. OMG … we have to check this out! Jake will hopefully head over to the Trinity diamond to see if the big game pitcher is there this year as well. The link here is that Josh was on a few of Billy’s summer baseball teams in their high school days. He was always a gentleman and very respectful to adults. It appears he hasn’t changed his ways. I only caught a glimpse of the baseball news headline because I was looking up the Trinity basketball schedule. Our grandson Aaron absolutely loves basketball and should enjoy seeing a game in person. We will probably take in a baseball game at some point as well. Watching a baseball game is always a good excuse to be outside enjoying the beautiful spring weather here in San Antonio!?!
Billy and fam visited our new home in AR for the first time the last weekend in October. That low Continental airfare is a winner and you can travel from Houston to NW AR in a heartbeat! We certainly enjoyed entertaining everyone … especially the grandkiddos!?! Click on the photo to see other shots from their visit on Karen’s Flickr site.
On January 2nd, the kids went to view the floats from the Rose Parade. Here they are checking out the Donate Life float. Grandpa Watts took some outstanding photos! TFS!!!
On Tuesday, we did snow play in about 2′ feet of snow at 6500′ in the mountains east of Redlands. This is left over from a really big storm we had come through last week. Yesterday, we went to the San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park about 25 miles NE of San Diego. Today, Susan & Missy have gone shopping at the outlet mall, while Peter & Aaron have spent a couple of hours asleep in the hammock in the back yard. Tomorrow, we hope to go look at the Rose Parade floats. Even with all this, we haven’t been able to slow down Aaron yet!
