Miscellany

World Peace: How do you make strides toward world peace? One way is to do some investigating to dispel myths and misinformation and share what you’ve learned. John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed conducted a Gallup poll to learn more about Muslim attitudes in What Do a Billion Muslims Really Think?”. You can learn more by reading a summary of the book or listen to the interview with the author. Not surprisingly, we have a lot in common in terms of our attitudes.

Parenting in the Over-Indulged Age: Forgive my critical lead-in, but as an invitee to too many second and third-baby baby showers and trips to Babies R Us for people I barely know, I’ve found myself disgusted on more than one occasion with the silliness, excess, and worse, sense of entitlement some parents seem to have that their precious little one have essentially every baby product ever invented. My, how did our parents survive without diaper wipe warmers and “potty coaches?” I’m often appalled at how much stuff people buy for their children, that if you ask me, isn’t beneficial to either their emotional or intellectual development. Whatever happened to hand-me-downs? Sometimes, I think parents have lost perspective. Finally, someone else thinks so too. Pamela Paul discusses this phenomena in her new book Parenting, Inc.. In her research she found that the average American child gets 70 new toys a year. 70! Isn’t that incomprehensible? No wonder so many people have credit card debt spiraling out of control. Why not ask for a stock market investment instead of hundreds of stuffed animals that will end up in a dump?

In full disclosure, I’m the person who bought a heated bed for my kitty, so I really don’t have any room to talk. But then, I didn’t register for gifts for any of my cats. (Though the thought has occurred to me.)

Willpower: Let’s say you’re trying to lose weight and form a habit of practicing the violin every day and finding it difficult to accomplish anything. Don’t be hard on yourself. It turns out we have a finite amount of willpower. (Maybe I’m not so lazy, after all.)

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