{"id":7754,"date":"2025-03-24T09:49:08","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T13:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=7754"},"modified":"2025-03-24T10:08:21","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T14:08:21","slug":"sticks-and-stones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2025\/03\/24\/sticks-and-stones\/","title":{"rendered":"Sticks and Stones"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Wordsmith<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For almost my entire life, I have worked in \u201cwords\u201d.  As a teacher, I used words to explain my subjects. One of the toughest parts of teaching was to discover that the \u201cwords\u201d that I thought were clear, concise and simple; didn\u2019t convey the message.  It was always obvious:  as I explained away, I could see there was no \u201clights on\u201d in the students\u2019 eyes.  They didn\u2019t get it.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then I\u2019d have to stop, sometimes literally, and think of another way to say the same thing.  I\u2019d go on like that, trying some other approach, until the \u201clights\u201d finally started to come on, or the bell rang, whichever came first.  Coaching was the same way.  I\u2019d try to describe the physical action the athlete needed to make; to put into words they could use to visualize how to correct a flaw in the pole vault, or shot put, or sprint start.  Then there just wasn\u2019t a \u201clight\u201d going on, there was absolute proof.  Either the kids did it, or they didn\u2019t.  And if they didn\u2019t, I\u2019d find another visualization, another explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Motor-Neuron Response<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I ran into that with my own \u201cathletic\u201d issues the other day.  I tweaked my lower back in January, and my doctor and I decided that physical therapy would be the best option.  So there I am, a gray-haired, sixty-eight year old man in running shoes and shorts and a T-shirt, trying to follow the thirty-something therapist.  The best way for me to figure out the \u201cexercise\u201d was to relate it to some other (often ancient) athletic activity my \u201cmotor-neuron paths\u201d still remembered.  So when I was laying on my back, lifting my right leg and my left arm then reversing in sequence, I had to figure how to manipulate it.  It was awkward, and I kept messing up.  I didn\u2019t feel like the athlete, or athletic coach, of days of yore.  I felt like an old man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the original movie, the Karate Kid<\/em>, that got me through.  In one of the training scenes, \u201cDaniel-son\u201d was standing on one foot atop a beach erosion pole, with his other knee raised and his hands in the air:  the \u201ccrane<\/a>\u201d position. He then had to switch, jumping from one foot to the other, without falling off the pole.  It became the pivotal point of the movie, the final kick that won Daniel the county karate championship!  All I had to do was the horizontal \u201ccrane\u201d position, with just one arm, then switch.  It worked.   Thank you once again, Mr. Miyagi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Words were also my \u201carea of expertise\u201d in politics.  In campaigns I was a good organizer and a lousy fund raiser, but what I really did was write.  From speeches to position papers, letters to three-sided brochures; I was the writer.  And, since it was politics, I had to write in the \u201cvoice\u201d of my candidate or \u201cboss\u201d.  A speech I wrote is in the Congressional Record, delivered by my Congressman in the 1970\u2019s.  I was very proud. That\u2019s the good news.  The bad news:  it was introducing a bill to ban abortion nationwide:  \u201chis voice\u201d in my words.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, he was a Democrat.  No, in those days the Democratic Party contained both pro-choice and pro-life members.  It wasn\u2019t the absolute \u201clitmus test\u201d of today. I could work for a pro-life Democrat and not agree with him.  It didn\u2019t \u201cbetray\u201d my moral views, or lose my \u201cDemocrat-ness\u201d.  Things have changed in half a century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I try to be careful with words.  I am very much aware that in our current age of division, words are the \u201cweapons of choice\u201d.  It’s clear that what I write may go against what other\u2019s believe.  I try, at least I think I try; not to use my words to attack personally, but to highlight the flaws politically, morally and historically.  I expect criticism, because I often talk about controversial subjects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Values<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

And one of the \u201cvalues\u201d of my writing today is the same one I had in the classroom.  Maybe, in the depths of what I write, the \u201clight goes on\u201d for someone else.  We are so firmly entrenched in our \u201csides\u201d that it\u2019s difficult to think I\u2019m going to change someone who; \u201cI can see by your coat my friend you\u2019re from the other side<\/em>,\u201d (Stephen Stills wrote that)<\/em>. But maybe they\u2019ll at least see the value in the argument.  Maybe the \u201clight\u201d will be the sun peaking over the horizon on a cloudy day, or a view of Lincoln\u2019s \u201cdark and indefinite shore\u201d.  That\u2019s the hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for some, maybe many today, there is no such hope.  Words have power. When an adult \u201cgrown-ass man\u201d uses profanity to describe me, publicly, it probably time to move on.  It would be one thing, at least more \u201ccourageous\u201d, to do so to my face (or directly to me on Facebook, in the keyboard version of face to face).  But to describe me to others as a \u201cLiberal-#%@#\u201d, <\/em>using a profanity that even I don\u2019t use, ever; well that\u2019s enough.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d have kicked him out of class, or off the team, for it.\u00a0\u00a0But I hated doing that, it was tantamount to failing.\u00a0\u00a0In our modern social-media world, anyone can say anything from behind the keyboard.\u00a0\u00a0My usual standard is to take everything, until someone calls me \u201ctreasonous\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0But I\u2019m not \u201ctaking\u201d this one.\u00a0\u00a0I kicked him out of class.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s off the team.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s deleted, defriended, blocked; across the broad spectrum of online communication.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ve given up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I\u2019m sad about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wordsmith For almost my entire life, I have worked in \u201cwords\u201d.  As a teacher, I used words to explain my subjects. One of the toughest parts of teaching was to discover that the \u201cwords\u201d that I thought were clear, concise and simple; didn\u2019t convey the message.  It was always obvious:  as I explained away, I could see there … Continue reading “Sticks and Stones”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSticks and Stones : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2025\/03\/24\/sticks-and-stones\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sticks and Stones : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Wordsmith For almost my entire life, I have worked in \u201cwords\u201d.  As a teacher, I used words to explain my subjects. 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