Jason, a smiley, playful, 6-year-old boy recently had an appointment with his pediatrician.
“The doctor had to give me two needles,” he said.
“Wow. Did they hurt?”
“Yes!”
“Did you cry?”
“Of course I cried!” he said, looking like the question was beyond silly, that crying was what any normal person would do.
“How about your sister? Did she get a needle?”
“Yes. And she cried too! Really loud!”
Then Jason put on his father’s huge sweatshirt that went down to his knees. “This really looks good,” he said. “I love it.”
Creativity and spontaneity are so often crushed by “mature” adults who are so sure they know what’s right and what’s wrong. They know all about religion, sexuality, and who we should and who we should not hate. They know how we should feel and how a man should act and how a woman should act.
It’s so impressive that we are surrounded by know-it-alls. It’s also very impressive that many of the people we have elected to run our government are so sure that they are right, that they are willing to make all of us suffer to make their point.
Dr. Art Smukler is the award-winning writer of Chasing Backwards, a psychological murder mystery, Skin Dance, a mystery, and The Man with a Microphone in his Ear. All are available as paperbacks and eBooks.
Art Smukler, MD - Books & Thoughts 
You are spoiling me Art with sooo much common sense! I have experienced the same “know-it-alls” and have also cried many tears. I feel Politians are heavily influenced by Corporations that keep their campaign coffers funded. With so many “missing votes” and vote recounts; I believe the average Joe is not counted, as Redistricting**Gerrymandering is the practice of drawing district lines to achieve political gain for legislators. The practice of gerrymandering involves the manipulation of district drawing in aims to leave out, or include, specific populations in a legislator’s district to ensure his/her reelection. Unfortunately said practice normally causes the society and nation to implode. Here in Oklahoma the religious group that worships Satan is The Satanic church that applied for a permit to erect a monument to Satan next to the Ten Commandments monument at the Oklahoma state-capitol building has unveiled its proposed design.
The 7-ft.-tall (2.1 m) sculpture would feature Satan depicted in the form of Baphomet, a bearded, goat-headed, winged hominid with horns seated on a throne beneath a pentagram with two smiling children to either side.
The group responsible for the proposed monument, the New York–based Satanic Temple, applied to place a monument to Satan at the capitol building in Oklahoma City after the Oklahoma ACLU sued to have a Ten Commandments statue — erected in 2012 — removed on the grounds that its presence discriminated against other religions, the Associated Press reports.
In addition to representing the Satanic religion, the monument “will also have a functional purpose as a chair where people of all ages may sit on the lap of Satan for inspiration and contemplation,” said Satanic Temple spokesperson Lucien Greaves.
Besides the Satanic Temple, a number of other groups have made requests to erect monuments, including a Hindu group, an animal-rights group and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission subsequently issued a moratorium on new requests pending resolution of the ACLU lawsuit.
Read more: Oklahoma: Satanic Temple Unveils Monument for Capitol | TIME.com http://nation.time.com/2014/01/07/satanists-unveil-statue-for-oklahoma-capitol/#ixzz2w3RWgIu1
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I think most of the politicians are terrified. They’ve been at their jobs forever and want to hold onto them. If they took a strong stand, the voters in their district or state might not like it. So they hide, and wait for things to blow ove.r
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I fully agree.
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Art,
Good observation and comment about the know-it-alls……..especially the politicians. From your professional perspective, why are they so driven to be “right”. Politics is so polarized right now. I have always been a middle of the road individual and the extreme ends get all the attention and air time.
There’s a new book out titled “American Moment” that promotes the creation of a new, common sense middle of the road party that can reach common ground on diverse issues. I’m not plugging it even thought it’s written by my first cousin with the same first name. Several of the policy positions in the book make a lot of sense. If you’d like, I could drop it off at your office. Just let me know.
My best,
Mike
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Thanks for your comments and also for offering your cousin’s book. I’d love to read it. I think so much of politics is driven by the religious right and tea party advocates and politicians are fearful of saying and doing anything that would offend them. Also, they may actually believe a lot of the stuff they promote. It all started with the Mayflower and the need to have religious freedom. Now they’re trying to shove it down the throats of all of us. Somehow, they don’t get the concept that religious freedom may even include people who don’t believe. Don’t they have the right to be free? Best wishes.
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