October 25, 2017 TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL

Ignorance and fear. Both  BREED--hatred-- division--paranoia. And rob children of their innocence. Case in point--my son plays soccer against other towns. A few days ago, in the middle of the game-- one of the kids from the other team--called one of our players a racial slur. SEVERAL TIMES. The poor kid didn't even know what it meant as he had never heard it before. Innocence lost. THIS WAS AN 11 YEAR OLD SPEWING RACIAL SLURS--WHO WERE HIS PARENTS??  This kid had PROBABLY been fed this kind of BULL his whole life-- will grow up and tell his kids-- the CYCLE WILL GO ON AND ON AND ON. SO SAD. This kind of talk only succeeds in dividing people--Isn't there enough hatred in the world already? PARENTS--WAKE UP. We need to teach tolerance, respect and kindness. TRUTH BE KNOWN--THE ONLY REASON PEOPLE HAVE DIFFERENT SKIN TONES IS SOLEY BASED ON THEIR ANCESTORS  PROXIMITY TO THE SUN.  Parents are the FIRST teachers of their children--Are you teaching your children well? Although Katey Kontent, the main character in Amor Towles book Rules of Civility lost her parents at a young age, the lessons they taught her lasted a lifetime.

As this wonderful novel unfolds, it's 1966 and Katey and her husband, Val, are visiting the Museum of Modern Art's newest exhibit, Walker Evans' photographs from the 1930's. As the couple stroll through the exhibit, Katey recognizes her old flame, Tinker Grey, in one of the photos. This is the springboard the brings Katey back in time to New York City circa 1937.  Katey, twenty-five years old, lives in a boardinghouse and works in a secretarial pool at a local law firm. After befriending Eve Ross, the two take to the town--spending their free  time in local bars listening to jazz, where they meet Tinker Grey one New Year's Eve. Tinker, a well to do eligible bachelor, befriends the girls and they become inseparable--until an accident changes everything. Towles' prose offers the reader a glimpse into New York City--the clubs--movies--musical styles--skyscraper--cars--of the era. You will feel like you have gone back in time with Katey. And the cast of characters--Katey's circle of friends--Dickey, Wallace, Helen, Anne, to name a few, are unforgettable. Find out about the accident and what happens between Katey, Tinker and Eve that changes everything. This is a book about the choices we make and the mistakes we have to live with. It's about 310 pages or a 4 mile run that I will stay with me for a long time.