I am only trying to present what to me are common sense thoughts – I never mean for “Sum-it-up Sunday” to offend. It is intended to provoke a reaction that is far more dangerous to some: THINKING. If you find yourself offended, the best thing you can do for yourself is learn to deal with it rationally.
*****
A three year old child manages to make his way into a zoo’s gorilla enclosure, is dragged around by the resident 17-year-old silverback, and the gorilla is shot to death by zoo personnel. People are in an uproar over this (since we have nothing more important going on.) Now, I can understand the argument that the parents should have done a better job watching – but how many of us haven’t ever had our children get away from us? And the child shouldn’t have been able to get into the enclosure, so I can understand anyone who wants to criticize the zoo for not making that impossible (I suspect they were more concerned with making sure the animals stayed in, not quite so much about keeping people out.)
What I can’t abide are the people who are angry with the zoo personnel for making the decision to kill the gorilla. A human life – especially that of a helpless child – has more importance than ANY animal. Consider that the people at the zoo had more knowledge about what silverbacks could do – and insider knowledge about this SPECIFIC ape – than ANYONE on the outside throwing around their MONDAY MORNING EXPERTISE. We will never KNOW whether there was another way to keep both the child AND the silverback alive, but if the zoo erred, they erred in the right direction.
*****
I watched a television program that presented the situations of transgender kids in what I’m sure was intended to be a positive light. In the report, which involved three children who decided they were transgendered (two of them were under 10 years old), there were a couple of pieces of information that I found astonishing. The first was that approximately 1 in 30,000 men and 1 in 100,000 women will seek treatment for gender dysphoria. That means we are turning our restrooms (and our entire society) upside down for at most 00.0034% of the population. At those odds, what are the chances that any woman will find herself in a restroom or a locker room or a shower with a man? And yet many are.
There was another fact stated by an expert that was extremely disturbing. He stated that MOST children who have gender dysphoria issues WILL GROW OUT OF IT. But will they be likely to grow out of it if they are given opposite gender hormones – to prevent them from experiencing the puberty they were naturally born to have? One of these children was SIX YEARS OLD. Just playing the odds, if as stated MOST children will outgrow this, how could ANY RESPONSIBLE PARENT do this to their child? (And I heard a report on the radio today of a woman who claims her 18-MONTH OLD CHILD is transgender.)
We seem to have an epidemic of parents with no sense. There is no scientific means to determine whether a child is truly in need of gender reassignment; simple math and logic says doing this to your child is most likely THE WRONG THING TO DO – yet it is far too often the case that some parents still proceed.
It is sad that POLITICAL CORRECTNESS DEMANDS that, for the sake of the FEW (and sometimes, even the ONE), we are expected to risk the MANY.
Just saying…
<<<>>>
This week’s Smashwords coupon is for “Flee Markets”:
Small town summer doldrums can leave your imagination wanting to flee away with you, taking you to far-away places – or maybe even bringing them to you for a time. Samantha Sanger has a chance encounter with a slightly disreputable merchant and learns that the limits on what you can be sold go beyond cold hard cash. Purveyors of controlled artifacts must choose their customers carefully.
(And no – that’s not supposed to be “FLEA” – it’s a deliberate double meaning. But don’t take my word for it – read it for yourself.) Use coupon code UC78A to get 67% off the cover price at Smashwords (that’s only 99-cents – such a deal!) – it’s good until June 11th. Here’s the link:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/402085?ref=NoTimeToThink
“Flee Markets” is also available in the collection – Still Even More Things I Could Get Out of My Mind.
<<<>>>
The preorder campaign completed, and More, And Yet Still Even More Things I Could Get OUT OF MY MIND (short story collection #7) is now available It contains the stories:
Finding Sanctuary
#InWhoseReality?
Dredging Things Up
Behind the 8-Ball
Gladius
Saturday He Fed the Cat
It’s now for sale at all the usual places, including (but not limited to):
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/638073?ref=NoTimeToThink
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FZKE1Z4
The collection is also available in paperback on CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/6284908
<<<>>>
William Mangieri’s writing, including one of his latest ePubs “Solid People”, can be found in many places, including:
• Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/NoTimeToThink
• His Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B008O8CBDY
• Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/william-mangieri?store=book&keyword=william+mangieri
• Createspace (if you prefer physical books): https://www.createspace.com/pub/simplesitesearch.search.do?sitesearch_query=william+mangieri&sitesearch_type=STORE
To CONNECT WITH HIM (and LIKE and FOLLOW), go to
• His site on WordPress: https://williammangieri.wordpress.com
• “William Mangieri’s Writing Page” on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/NoTimeToThink
• His Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6893616.William_Mangieri
• Or on twitter: @WilliaMangieri
William Mangieri's Writing Page 