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November 21st, 2003I leave for Michigan tomorrow! How exciting!
Though I’ve made this trip five or six times (both ways),
and done fine with maps and trip-tix, this time I am going
high tech. I bought a GPS-mapping unit and loaded it with all
of the maps I’ll need for this trip, as well as all of the
routes I’ll be using. Let’s see how this new toy keeps me
firmly on-path. I also hope that it reduces my drive time.
On another issue …
Hey, remember my
comments about the family who brought their young children
to see a violent, R-Rated movie? Well, apparently I’m not the only one who
feels that way. Here are the comments of my friend, Midge, who is also a
mother of hour (4) and has something to say about families and movies.
It’s good to know my views aren’t so conservative. Thanks, Midge!
Hey Steve!
I was just reading your page, and noticed the “ANCILLARY ISSUE” at the
bottom of the entry for October 18th, where you gave mention of the underage
children in the audience. This has got to be one of my biggest issues. I
feel that taking a child to a movie that is inappropriate to his/her age and
maturity level is abusive, especially when there is gore, terror or other
equally disturbing imagery involved. I really don’t understand how a
rational person could justify bringing a child to a violent movie like this!
Would a “normal” person take a child to see a pornographic film? Of course
not, and if they did, they’d probably be turned in and thrown right into
jail - but tell me, how is watching people dying in a horribly nasty,
realistic way possibly worse than watching people have sex? Either choice,
for any child, is an obviously bad one, yet the general populace doesn’t
seem to think of things this way. Did I ever tell you about the time a
bunch of us went to see “Blade?” There was a family seated a few rows
behind us - the parents looked like they were in their mid-twenties and
their children were about 8 and 6. The boy was the eight year old, and he
looked like he was used to being dragged to inappropriate movies by his
parents - he didn’t utter a word, just stared blankly at the screen,
oblivious to the plot, and wincing when something violent would happen. His
poor little sister nearly broke my heart, and I couldn’t enjoy a second of
the movie after I witnessed what I did. This little six year old girl was
crying and scared and was asking her mother to hold her. You would think
that (at the very freakin’ least) the mother would understand that it was
scary for her, and comfort the child. Instead, I watched, horrified, as the
mother pushed the little girl away from her, and she and the father
proceeded to stare at the screen and ignore her tiny screams and sobs
throughout the rest of the movie. When the evil dude at the end of the
movie blew up (very graphic scene, skin stretching, guts and gore), the girl
was just huddled in her seat crying, still talking to her mother who was
still ignoring her, and saying “Why the man blow up, Mommy?” It still
chokes me up to think about this poor, traumatized child, and it was 1998
when Blade was in the theatres - five years ago. Steve, I am not usually a
violent woman, but it took all the guys talking me down to keep me from
confronting these people. I wanted to call the police, but the people at
the theatre told me that it happens all the time - that parents can legally
bring their kids to see any R rating movie. I have since heard about laws
being passed that prohibits children from seeing movies with strong ratings,
with a parent present or not, but I haven’t researched it recently to find
out. Anyway, I didn’t know if I’d told you about this…but your tiny rant
reminded me of my similar shock to see such uncaring parents.
< … snip … >
Talk to you later, hun…take care!
