Imagine if we treated each other the way kids treat each other

I believe that children are our future.

- Whitney Houston

My wife and I went to the bank together yesterday.  On the way out I grabbed one of those lollipops they keep on the counter.  It’s the best part of going to the bank.  On the way home, I quickly ate it and, feeling bored, stabbed her three times in the kidney, hard, with the lollipop stick. 

None of this really happened but it isn’t hard to imagine because my 8-year-old son did precisely this to his older brother today.  The older brother, an altar boy, always seems to rely on his religious training in tough moments.  Instead of an eye for an eye, he went with an eye for two limbs, and reclined the front seat as hard as he could smashing his little brother’s legs. Repeatedly.  

In the spirit of forgiveness, the 8-year-old, barely holding back tears, offered his older brother a piece of gum.  Which he’d just scraped across the ground under his filthy shoe.

These and the many, many other random acts of violence and mental cruelty I encounter each day have me, ever the philosopher, thinking about the nature of humanity.

Election season is now upon us or as I call it, Anti-Christmas.  It’s my least favorite holiday.  Instead of good tidings and cheer, during the Anti-Christmas season neighbors vomit idiotic ideas at one another with high confidence and low self-awareness.  Relax, it’s ok to admit you’ve done it – I have too.  It’s the Anti-Christmas Spirit. So if you recently barked something at your in-laws or posted something online that you knew was only half true, it’s ok.  If it felt pretty good when a few friends gave you a high five after you did it, that’s ok too. 

But this Anti-Christmas, remember we are all adults. And how much worse it would be if the kids were in charge.