Circular Reasoning

When I wrote about George Lucas disneyfying a glaxy far far away, I didn't realise that the word is already in use. (I'm SO cutting edge – not!). The word still fits though – in what could be an edgy commentary on the human condition and the nature of good and evil, Lucas inserts the cartoon character of Jar Jar.

Or maybe I've had too much time on my hands to think about Star Wars…

Anyhow here's the word again: disneyfy. open-dictionary.com has the following definition:

Verb

Disneyfy

1. To make something (especially a location) more acceptable or marketable by removing potentially distasteful or controversial elements, particularly at the cost of its historical nature. The term is generally perjorative and alludes to the fact that things are sometimes thought to resemble a theme park version of their original versions after being disneyfied.

From Disney (proper noun – An American coporation) + 'fy'. The term was orginally coined to describe the transformation of Times Square, New York following the opening of a Disney store in the early 1990's. Following this the Peep Show and Striptease joints that had come to dominate the area in the previous decades closed down or were driven out by changes in the Zoning laws. Disneyfication is, perhaps, the commoner form.

Goliath

They chop down 100 foot trees

To make chairs.

I bought one.

I am six foot one inch.

When I sit in the chair

I'm four foot two.

Did they really chop down a 100 foot tree

To make me look shorter?

(Spike Milligan 1971)

An American poll this week tells us that the Movies' Most Annoying Character of all time is … wait for it … Jar Jar Binks from Star Wars Episode 1. Those who know me well will chuckle because I've been saying this since the movie came out 7 years ago!

I have often felt that George Lucas tends to "Disneyfy" what otherwise could be edgy stuff.

Anyway, I know you'll all be fascinated by this…

I'm grateful for Channel 7's Sunrise program this morning for providing guidelines  that parents can teach kids (big and small!) to avoid dog bites.

We owned a greyhound briefly. Great dog: compliant, friendly, placid. Not a good dog for kids though, first because he had never learned to play (he'd been a racing dog before we adopted him) and second because of his size (a small misdemeanour became a big one because of this). One day our then-4-year-old suprised him when he was sleeping and he bit out, catching the boy on his lip. It was only a minor cut (thank you God!) but the red flag went up. "Rocky" (the dog not the boy!) had to find a more appropriate home.

Wish I'd spent the time on dog education before that incident.

Here's the tips:

If a dog approaches you…

• Don’t run away and scream.
• Stand very still, “like a tree.” (See first picture below.)
• Avoid making direct eye contact with the dog.
• If you fall or are knocked down, act “like a log.” (See second picture below.)
• When the dog understands that you are not a threat, it will probably walk away.
• If a dog bites you, tell an adult right away.

Like most subjects, this information is easily understood by adults – but how do we get this across to kids? My suggestions to begin with would include the following but maybe you havsome more to add in the comments area?

• show the child what you mean with a picture or soft toy! (How often do you just filter out what people are saying to you? Kids do it more) For example, you raise the teddy bear's hackles" to show the child what that looks like.
• help them understand the relevance by telling a story (we all need to know WHY the information is important before we listen and apply it)
• make a time specifically devoted to talking through this subject; don't sandwhich it in between brushing their teeth and grabbing their schoolbag in the morning or part of the dinner table conversation. Avoid distractions while talking about it
• go back over the points with them often. Ask them questions about it. Give them quizes with a prize. Get them saying the information back to you (until they say in frustration "I know this!")

You can read more on this important subject at

http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/dog_care/stay_dog_bite_free/teaching_your_child_to_avoid_dog_bites.html

Eight months of my life were spent living with the extreme restrictions of an acute and chronic back problem. There wasn't much I could do: couldn't sit in a coffee shop, couldn't sit at my own table for more than 2 minutes, couldn't play active games with the kids, couldn't stand for too long in one position, couldn't lie down in one position for long either. Early on, when people asked me what I'd been doing, I often found myself answering the question by saying "Just killing time until my back gets better". Eventually I realised the problem was not my back, but my choices…

You know that term - "Killin' time"? How often do you use it? You got to the coffee shop early, you have time to kill. You're waiting for a significant event to occur, so you kill time until then. Everyone's too busy to see you, so you kill time until they're not. It's raining today so you'll just have to kill time until it stops.

Wait a second! Let's think about this – time is the ultimate non-renewable resource! Life consists of many things but it is measured in time! If life = time, then killling time = killing life!

When this occured to me, that's when I began to use my time to start laying the foundation for Great Circle, as well as deepening some significant relationships and my own personal foundations.

Riddle me this: What difference would it make to your life, if you thought of killing time as killing life??