I know there is a lot to be upset about, especially with everything that’s been going on recently. A congressman got shot, some local politicians have decided that children reading books is a bad thing and the NBA has devolved into a capitalist slugfest with championships won by teams with the most money, not the most developed talent.
But I just can’t find it within myself to wax eloquent about the ailments that bemoan our collective geographies this week. As I sit at my laptop and write these sentences I am lounging on a over-priced hotel bed in Disneyland watching my kids nap and watch cartoons as we take a break from the day’s amusements. I’m well aware that when this piece reaches the light of day I will be back home, tending a garden and doing yard work once again so I feel it best that I keep the grumbling to a minimum.
People-watching
Over the past several days of this yearly family outing to Southern California, I’ve enjoyed more than my fair share of people-watching, a hobby I find a great deal of pleasure in.
People fascinate me, so being able to come to a place with so many different types of humans is a delight I look forward to with great expectations. Often the conversations I eavesdrop on are inconsequential about things I can relate to easily, other times they are odd and fascinating.
But sometimes I overhear conversations that irritate the holy heck out of me as I slowly try to process what in the world these people are trying to say.
On social media there are countless shares of dozens of videos of some “enlightened” individual, often-times sitting alone in a car who have to “give it to you straight” or “tell the truth” about their subjective and often under thought opinions.
Participation trophy rant
One such conversation I overheard had to do with a video some bearded “patriot” in a truck recorded and how much these viewers loved how he “put those snowflake millennial in their place.” I’m not entirely sure what the video was about in its entirety but it apparently had something to do with participation trophies.
For the life of me, I have no idea why people hate participation trophies so much. Sure, winning awards is a fun part of growing up and giving them to everyone certainly waters down the experience, but don’t we have bigger issues to get riled up about? I mean, come on, is some un-athletic 7-year-old getting a small plastic trophy really going to destroy the country?
It’s only a piece of plastic
Do you know what’s 10,000 times more annoying than a little kid getting a trophy they didn’t earn? Hearing some grown adult whining about it endlessly. For heavens sake, it’s a piece of plastic folks. Perhaps we should care just a little less about who won Junior Jazz this year and little more about who won the science fair?
What made this conversation even more amusing was the fact that one of these gentlemen denouncing participation trophies was wearing a t-shirt with a Confederate Flag. Isn’t that the ultimate participation trophy?