I am 51 years old.  I have suffered all the ill effects of my own self-incurred miseries without complaint.  I can truthfully say that no one has heard me complain of the results of my chosen behaviors.  So, I feel at this point I am perfectly free to state my opinions about a few things that truly irritate me.  Those things, kept to myself over so many years, that they seem only for me to review for my own personal consideration.  But, in truth, they should be shared with those of you who read my blog and understand that what goes on in my mind, will always be reflected in my outward behavior.

First, the phrase "you can't fix stupid" is a truism that neither time nor circumstance can change.

There are people in my life, as in yours, about whom you feel you could not inform, educate, modify or otherwise improve through communication, who will always and inevitably remain stupid.  By stupid I mean, willfully and intentionally uninformed of facts, science, and educated opinion to the otherwise.

For example.  My mother is going out of town and will not be here for Thanksgiving.  Yet, she sends me an email and voice mail reminding me that my brother will be here and I should invite him to Thanksgiving festivities at my house.  Now, understand.  I have two degrees and my  partner has three degrees.  Yet, my brother, who got his GED after he dropped out of the very expensive private college-prep high school in St. Louis always knows more, has been there or read extensively about any topic of conversation that might come up over the Thanksgiving table.  This is a man who's opinions are entirely implanted and nourished by AM Radio late night radio program hosts who couldn't find an audience in the general public if they had a magic wand.  He pronounces the most outrageous nonsense as fact because he heard it at 3:45 a.m. while driving his over the road rig through the panhandle of Texas - the fount of all wisdom.  Yet, according to my mother I should invite him to my holiday table so he can impress us with his otherwise unacknowledged wisdom.  Despite the fact that my partner and I have in total five degrees, I will not inflict this type of stupidity on my one certain guest - my partner's niece from Guatemala who is visiting from Austin where she is pursuing a Masters in Anthropology.  I doubt she is interested in hearing about my brother's "well informed" opinions that President Obama is not really a citizen, the Democrats stole the election, and that he has, in his mind and all on his own, without the aid of any facts from the field, determined that the flow of the Mississippi river is such that it flows upstream when it the weather is cold enough.

My mother and I have a very fractious relationship.  That which is broken we either ignore or build a temporary bridge of circumstance to avoid discussing our dysfunctional reality.  I don't speak to my mother very often because quite simply, I have nothing to say that would change her mind on the many things she seems so firmly to believe.  She has a gay son and gives money to the Republican Party. She selectively sends me out of context quotations from famous people as evidence of the correctness of her views.  She continues to fraternize with her sister, my aunt, despite the fact that I will not acknowledge this person's existence until she apologizes for defaming, slandering, and libeling me for making vulgar and obscene phone calls to her which were in fact made by her psychotic, abandoned through adoption, son.  But someone, my mother seems to expect me to forget those inconvenient insults and indulge in idle conversation about, and with, my aunt.

Then too, my mother could turn a penny into three feet of copper wire.  About money she has no ignorance.  Yes, I still owe her $2100 from the loan to refinance our home.  However, she never seems to acknowledge the $4100 and counting it has taken us to repair the water damage from burst pipes she caused by not coming to care for our home during the worst freeze in Dallas history.  Or, even taking the minimal effort to call my partner and I while we were out of town, so we could make alternate arrangements.  The most she seems able to ask is if "I have finished painting" so she can see the results of my having to replace drywall, sand finishes, and paint the damaged areas from the piping leak.  No matter, let's all have a good time and conversation with my libelous aunt.

In short, I feel I am old enough to ignore your stupidity and ignorance without apology.  Listen and inform yourself with late night radio as you drive cross country in you big rig.  Tune your TV to FOX news and believe everything they say.  Go to church and pray for those less righteous than yourself.  This is your right.  Guaranteed by the Constitution.  But,  I do not and will not indulge your willful ignorance in my home.

I am of an age I don't feel the need to educate you, correct your "Fox New" facts, late night AM radio updates or, in fact, any of your multitude of prejudices, hypocrisies, religious misdirection or outright bigotry in my home or life.

Thanksgiving will take place at our home, with my partner's niece and a selected few who are, while not always agreeable to our views, have at least the consideration to bring a few facts with them when they express an opinion.  We will have a holiday celebrated by a diversity of views expressed by persons who have an opinion but who are willing to support and converse about them without appealing to late night radio, the Fox news network, their preacher or through selective reference to biblical quotations.