by Marty Coleman | Jan 25, 2013 | Quote Authors |
Hey Napkin Kin!
Did you know you can know easily subscribe to the Napkin Dad Daily? Take a look on your right and you’ll see the box where you can put in your email. Do that, then confirm when the first email arrives and voila, you will get it in your inbox right away, not a day later like the old version. Go check it out!
Do you like the Napkin Dad Daily? Here are some ways you can help spread the news about it.
- Tell your friends. Send them a photo of my handsome mug and tell them I am a famous movie star who has a blog. They will sign up for sure!
- Send a link to your friend who happens to be the Marketing Vice-President (or CEO) of a paper company who makes napkins who needs a great spokesperson for their product (that would be me).
- Send a link to Prismacolor Marker and Pen Company and say, “Hey, have you heard of this guy? He does amazing things on napkins using your pens!
- Send a link to your mother.
Give more ideas in the comments below! If we work together we can be the Napkin that took over the world!
Thanks,
Marty
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 24, 2013 | Judgment - 2013 |
Perfect
I had a conversation yesterday with a beautiful and fit woman. The topic? How she gets judged and made fun of for being ‘perfect’. I have had this conversation before with other women as well. It’s almost easier to make fun of that ‘perfect’ person, isn’t it? None of the guilt or shame you feel when laughing at a person who looks funny or talks funny. That would be mean, cruel, hateful, immature, ignorant, and judgmental and we wouldn’t do that, would we?
Better Than
So what is it when the object of your derision or judgment is ‘better’ than you, not worse? What name do you give to your response when the person you are making fun of or cutting down somehow appears to be nicer, smarter, more fit, more thoughtful, more giving, more balanced, more conscientious, more diligent, more loving, more sensitive, wealthier, prettier, sexier, happier?
I have a few words we could use. How about mean, cruel, hateful, immature, ignorant, and judgmental? Perhaps we could add in jealousy and envy for good measure?
All That is Hidden
Let’s just focus on the word ignorant. We will focus on it because it applies to what you know. And guess what, unless you’ve taken the time to care, YOU KNOW NOTHING about any person’s insides. You don’t know the struggle she’s had to get up at 5am most mornings to exercise before the kids are awake. You don’t know about her garish stretchmarks. You don’t know the abuse she had at the hands of her mother. You don’t know the dyslexia she had to overcome in school. You don’t know the prejudice she felt being so tall and skinny and flat chested in 9th grade. You don’t know about the skin condition she has on her back that makes her itch like crazy. You don’t know about how hard she works to stay connected to her husband who is busy all the time. You don’t know about her debilitating fear of flying. In other words, YOU KNOW NOTHING about her interior and very little about her exterior.
Your Quiver
You see the facade and you make fun because she is an easy target. And she is an easy target. But if you can target her for derision, you also have the power to target her for love, compassion, mercy, patience, kindness, gentleness and more. But the truth is, it doesn’t matter who the target is, it matters what the weapon is. Are you aiming to be derisive, judgmental person? Use the arrow of hate. Are you aiming to be a loving and compassionate one? Use the arrow of love. You have both in your quiver, just bring out the right one and shoot. The more you reach for the right arrow, the more that arrow will end up in your hand without you even knowing it.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who has a lot of scars.
Quote by William Shakespeare, 1564-1616, British Playwright
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 23, 2013 | Calvin Coolidge, Lying About The Truth - 2013 |
The Truth Sayer
Are you a sayer? Are you one that can often be heard saying, ‘Well, at least you know where I stand because I always say what I think.’ It always sounds so good. You are just being truthful after all, and telling the truth is important, right?
The Hate Sayer
But what if you don’t know if it’s true or not? What if what you are really doing is spouting hateful condemnation, judgment, self-righteousness and faux moral superiority about someone you don’t even know? Do you not do that? That is good. But think twice. What about the Miss Universe who stumbles over her words? What about the male bodybuilder who has muscles on muscles on muscles? What about the guy wearing a turban in Wal-Mart? What about the girl whose shorts are just a little too short and whose tattoos are just a little to garish? What about the short round kid and the skinny tall kid? What about that older actress dating that younger man?
The World Changer
Do you really, truly want to change the world? One way is to be quiet and not speak when you are about to make a judgment. If it is not about truth but instead is about you using words to step on someone’s back to lift yourself up then be quiet instead.
The Love Maker
I suspect you will find that the world didn’t go in the crapper because you didn’t say those hurtful words. You might find that your friends still like you in spite of you not having made the biting remark about the waitress with the bright blue eyeshadow. You might find that nothing changed at all except your attitude. Maybe you will find more love seeping into your heart, who knows.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who loves all the people mentioned above. Especially the waitress with the bright blue eyeshadow.
Quote by Calvin Coolidge, 1872-1933, 30th President of the United States.
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Mythology Trivia Question from yesterday answered:
Question: Who is the Queen of the Underworld in Greek Mythology?
Answer: Persephone was the daughter of Zeus and the Goddess of the Harvest, Demeter. She was kidnapped by Hades, King of the Underworld and became his wife. Her mother Demeter found out that Zeus had conspired with Hades in the abduction. As a result Demeter refused to allow any growth on the earth until Persephone was allowed to return to her. Zeus relented and allowed Persephone to come back to the surface in the Spring. But since she had already married Hades and had tasted the fruits of the underworld she was compelled to live in the underworld starting in the Fall. The flowers and vegetation then failed as she disappeared, only to return when she did the following Spring. She became known as the Goddess of Vegetation as well as the Queen of the Underworld.
Persephone – Thomas Hart Benton
Here is a painting of an old farmer peeking at a young nude woman. It might seem a bit creepy but not if you know it’s really about the bittersweet feeling the farmer has at seeing Persephone discard her summer glory and disappear again for another year. He is grateful for the harvest she made possible but is wistful at her departure, just as we often are when we see autumn leaves start to fall.
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 22, 2013 | Bodyless Ghirl Ghosts - 2012-2013 |
The Adventures of the Bodyless Girl Ghosts continue…
The Bodyless Girl Ghosts Have Dinner
After they left Ethel and Mabel, they made their way past the billboard advertising the new Wolla Tompo Crematorium and flew into the center of town. Penelope, the Girl Ghost leader, thought they should get something to eat. In truth, bodyless ghosts don’t really eat since they can’t digest anything, not having any bodies, but they like to chew and swallow and they like to smell so they do it anyway.
It was very cold out so when Isabel saw the cute little Italian place with a warm glow through the windows they decided to try it out. They could see a crackling fireplace and candles at the table and knew it would be just perfect. Since they have no bodies they can never get in without someone opening doors for them. You would think they could, being ghosts and all, but they’ve tried and just end up getting frustrated trying to turn knobs with no hands.
They did what they usually do, press up against a window looking sad and cold until someone opens the door and lets them in. In this case it was the hostess, a young girl still in high school named Persephone. Mergatroid, the picky ghost, made fun of her name when she saw it on her name tag. That made Persephone cry which in turn made Tootie, the smallest, most sensitive of the girl ghosts, butt heads with Merg and tell her to shut up.
Tootie floated over to Persephone and told her to ignore Merg, that she was a bitter old ghost who didn’t like anything. Persephone felt better and told her she was just overtired because she had to work everyday in this place until spring, when she could go visit her parents down in the valley. She was stuck in this supposed winter wonderland until then. Persephone dried her eyes, came back and set up a table for them.
The Girl Ghost gang floated at a table and enjoyed big bowls of pasta and plenty of bold red wine. Bodyless ghosts like pasta because they can suck it straight up out of the bowl without worrying about forks and spoons, which they can’t use very well at all. Plus, as they drink, they love to whip the pasta around in their mouths and splatter each other with sauce. It’s there dining entertainment.
Later they said their goodbyes to Persephone, promising to visit her again in the valley come springtime. Tootie got her email address, and though bodyless ghosts aren’t very good at typing, she promised to write her during the cold winter months remaining so she wouldn’t be so lonely. They flew over to the Wolla Tompo Inn and hovered outside, not wanting to go in, being a bit tipsy with pasta sauce all over their faces. Finally the cold got the better of them and they had to go in and check into their room with the 2 double beds (girl ghosts sleep at least 5 to a bed since they don’t have to worry about being kicked).
They slept well and woke up excited to try skiing later that day, even if they were hungover.
The End
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Drawing and story by Marty Coleman, who made it all up.
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Mythology trivia question of the day:
Who is the Queen of the Underworld in Greek Mythology?
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 21, 2013 | Lyndon Johnson |
Hate
A lot of hate has infused itself in the politics of the last year, especially from the right. But it isn’t in a vacuum. This round of hate has its roots, in part, in the election and reelection of George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. Many on the left were hateful towards that President just as many on the right are hateful now towards Obama. I am not talking about disagreement or anger about policies. I am talking about irrational and destructive hate.
Left and Right
Both the left and the right who indulge in that level of vitriol and hate very likely have a short memory about their own anger at seeing the opposite pole be hateful before. They said, and probably rightly so, those people are way off base. They just hate the guy, impugning his motives and promoting the idea that he has a set of diabolical plans to create a dictatorship or a corporate oligarchy or some other terrible thing. People thought it of Bush and it wasn’t true and they think it of Obama and it isn’t true.
Forgetting their Forebearers
But there are those who are interested in something evil and un-American. They are those who, left or right, want to deny rights to those who are different than they are. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Muslim they think doesn’t deserve to be here in the US, a gay couple they think doesn’t deserve to be married, a woman they think doesn’t have the right to be a boss or a President, or a religious group who wants to live life a certain way. Those who believe those things, especially those who actively fight against those freedoms, are betraying America. The betray America because they have forgotten (if they ever knew it) that it was their own forebearers who founded the country on these very principles of freedom and rights.
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Drawing and Commentary by Marty Coleman, who loves Inaugurations.
Quote by President Lyndon Johnson at his Inauguration as President, January 20th, 1965
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Answer to the trivia question from yesterday
Question: Who replaced Napoleon as the leader of France?
Answer: King Louis XVIII, who came from exile to rule from 1814-1824
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