Category: parenting

grief, Love, Mental Health, parenting, Prayer

Why I choose to believe

Katrina Russell

Let me start by saying that I only converted to Catholicism 8 years ago, and even then it was more of a tradition than anything else. My grandmother was born from Irish immigrants, and for those who don’t know, they are wicked Catholic…. at least the good ones are. My grandfather was Protestant, but he went out for cigarettes when my dad was a kid and I never met him.

My dad was raised in Catholic school, so he hated religion, nuns, rulers…. discipline… pretty much everything about it. My mom was one of those Protestants that I had mentioned and she went bonkers after I was born. I’m not saying that to be hyperbolic, she was actually diagnosed with schizophrenia. She talked a lot about God and how God used to tell her things, so my relationship with God was a little strained as a child.

My father did understand the importance of the Bible and its teaching. He understood its place in our society and the laws, rules and ethics that it taught. He didn’t talk to me about religion per say, but he read to me from the children’s’ Bible when I was small. I mostly have memories of snuggling on the couch with him and not understanding why Joseph’s brothers were so horrible. This was a very important memory to me though because in general my father didn’t read to me, so the fact that he took the time to do that with this book meant it must have been important.

I didn’t judge people who were religious. In fact my dad used to encourage me to check out different religions and see if any of them fit. I understood that my problems with religion itself had more to do with my mother and her psychosis than the religion itself, but for a long time people who talked about Jesus really freaked me out. When it was time to baptize my son I knew that I wanted him to be Catholic like my grandmother, who had passed away at that point. I had been baptized myself as a baby, but never any other formal religious teaching.

When I thought about which school in my area that I wanted my son to go to; I knew that I didn’t want him to go to the local public school where some of my friends taught and complained about how dangerous it was. I knew that I wanted him to go to the local Catholic school. Again, at this point religion was just background. As a person who studied history in college and has a general obsession with it and archeology (I blame Indiana Jones) I spent a lot of time watching documentaries and reading things about the history of the Bible and the archeological proof that has been discovered that backed up many of the stories. In general I was always fascinated by the time period, but never put a lot of effort in learning about the text itself. God was more of an idea from the past that helped other people, but didn’t really seem needed today.

Then my dad died, and I felt comfort in the fact that there was an afterlife and that I would see him again one day. Then his long-term girlfriend died, and I was glad that at least they were together. Then my dog died, and I thought that he could keep them company for the decades that it would be until we would reunite. Don’t get me wrong, I was devastated, but knowing that God is out there, knowing that my dad could look down on us and see my son and the wonderful little boy that he was becoming made that horrible year more bearable.

The following year my son started at the Catholic school and I became heavily involved. I volunteered whenever I could, and decided that if he was going there it would be best if we went to church on Sunday, especially the church that was attached to the school. I realized how much I wanted my son to have faith. I wanted him to feel comforted as much as I do.

This was 7 years ago. My son is now 10 and we still attend church every Sunday. He belongs to the choir, I teach a CCD class, and he attends his own. He has gotten his 1st communion, and we volunteer when we can. I love joining the Bible study classes. Our faith has become a huge part of our life. I don’t have a lot of time to read, but I listen to the Bible on Audible, and I love listening to commentary from all kinds of people about how they interpret The Word, and the stories being portrayed.

I have begun to realize how amazing The Bible actually is. How much was wisdom was articulated in that book that people today are still figuring out. Knowing that this book came from a time when a lot of people thought the sun traveled around the earth by a man pulling a chariot. This book talks about how everyone is created in Gods image and therefore just as important as anyone else. It talks about how, even though slavery is a norm at this time for many reasons, slaves must still be treated as fellow humans and given all the rights thereof. It talks about how children should honor their fathers as much as their mothers and how parents don’t have the right to kill their children even id they have done something wrong. It talks about how to live a successful life in any time.

The Israelites, or Jews as they are known today, have been laughed at, persecuted, and blamed for all the wrongs of the world, because, it seems no matter what wrong happens in the world they still manage to thrive. People think this is because they are “obviously stealing from everyone else” when in reality it is because they are working hard and taking care of each other as the Bible told them to.

A lot of Christians today want to discount the Old Testament, which I don’t understand. They seem to forget that Jesus was Jewish and specifically said that he was there in accordance with the law. In Matthew he said…

17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

There are a lot of people today who hate the fact that God asks things of us. They hate the fact that God lets bad things happen to us. They feel that God should be there personal valet and should be there to do their bidding, and that is the only way that God can prove himself.

I know so many people who either don’t believe or they hate God because bad things have happened to them, or because bad things happen in general. I know so many people who think they are getting punished by God because they haven’t been following His laws and their life is not the way they wish it to be. I know so many people who think that they have screwed up too much that God could never forgive them. My response is to that is that God is Our Father who art in Heaven. As our father He gives us His rules. He lets us know the best way to live a good life, and the things that we should concentrate on to get said life. What He doesn’t do is prevent us from experiencing our consequences.

Maybe I understand this because I was raised by a single dad. I didn’t have the mom around to coddle me, and protect me from myself. If I chose to climb a tree too high and fell out I was also the one who had an ice pack on my ankle later. If I chose to ran through the woods for the umpteenth time in shorts that summer then I was the one sitting out of the pool covered in pink stuff while still itching. My dad told me not to do things. He told me how to behave, but ultimately it was my decision and I had to deal with it. Occasionally he would see that I got in over my head and help me out, but that was few and far between.

The one thing he always did, no matter how much my brother and I screwed up. The one thing I never had to worry about, was that he loved us. He forgave us, and he gave us the opportunity to make better choices in the future. The reason that I believe in God is because I believed in my father. I believed in a relationship that is so much stronger than one could imagine. Now that I am a mother I know how much I love my son. I know that there is nothing he could do to make me not love him, but knowing that his father died of a drug overdose, I know that sometimes the ones you love can make choices that aren’t safe, and aren’t good to be around.

The reason that I believe in God is because God made us in His image. God made us knowing that we would screw up, and that life would be hard sometimes, but God made us because He knew that it would be worth it in the end. Just like my dad made me and just like I made my son. So many people today don’t want to have children because its expensive, or climate change, or some other material issue…. but for those of us who believe in God and know how much bigger life really is. We know that God made us, because it’s worth it. Love always is.

cancel culture, free speech, Homeless, Mental Health, parenting, Politics

School Choice is about the Parent’s choice not the Government’s choice.

Katrina Russell

I belong to so many Facebook groups it’s ridiculous. As a homeschool mom I like keeping in touch with other homeschool parents to see what kinds of curriculum they use, what kinds of activities they have coming up, and of course it’s a great way to keep up on rules and laws in the area.

I only started homeschooling my son last year, but I have been teaching homeschoolers on-line for a few years. I started right before Covid and have seen homeschooling explode since then. The more that I talk with people the more I see how many different reasons people have for choosing homeschool. Some people have had problems with their local public schools. Some people choose to include more religious teaching in their schooling. Some just live in communities that don’t have the best schools. And of course there are those who just feel that between school shootings and Covid schools are safer. Some just want to spend their children’s childhood with their children instead of sending them off for 7 hours a day.

Regardless of the reason for choosing homeschooling they are all happy that they had that choice. Which is why I think it’s so hypocritical that so many homeschool moms are against school choice. They literally made the choice to take their kids out of the public schools for whatever reason and now they want to make sure that other’s don’t have the same opportunity.

A lot of these moms use the excuse that they don’t want the government involved in their kids schooling and that places like California who passed their version of school choice now has the government all up in the business of homeschoolers. That is just BS. California also has homeless people crapping on people’s front doorsteps and shoplifting is no longer a crime. Just because one state is crazy doesn’t mean that every other state needs to be punished. This is the whole purpose of Federalism.

School Choice, real School Choice is about getting the government out of the decisions made about the schools. It’s about a family deciding that the government school is garbage and they want to take the tax dollars attached to the child and putting it towards whichever kind of education the family chooses. Maybe it’s a different town, maybe it’s a private or Charter school, maybe it’s a religious school, or maybe it’s homeschooling. The government doesn’t get a say in the education of the children just because they collect the money from the tax payers.

I don’t know when the American people started to think that the government was in charge. They literally work for us. We elect them. We pay them. They are put into office to safeguard against people who try to take away our rights and to enact new laws that coincide with what the citizens in the area need or want in their communities. Somehow people now think that the government is the boss of the people, and put in office to tell us what to do.

We need to stop telling each other that we can’t have things because the government will stop us. We have to start telling the government that they can’t have things or we will stop them. Our kids are just that… OURS. They are not for the government to raise. They are not for the government to control. Their education is our responsibility and if we CHOOSE to take the money that the community allotted to our kids and spend it on curriculum that we approve of the government just has to hand us a check and say, “you’re welcome”. Or they can find themselves recalled and we’ll find people who do listen to We The People.

cancel culture, free speech, parenting, Politics

Have you lost friends to politics?

Katrina Russell

OK, be honest, have you lost any friends or family members to politics in the last few years? This seems to be more and more a common occurrence. People are incapable of disagreement anymore. They can’t have differing opinions. They can’t have their opinions challenged. They just want to live in a bubble of their own making.

Before the internet people formed their opinions about life primarily from their surroundings. Their family, friends, schools, churches, and whomever else they spent their time with. Now people get their information from invisible entities behind a keyboard. Everyone plugs into the same mainstream media and downloads the same information into their brains without ever questioning who is giving them the information or if it makes sense. They just listen and obey and are told that anyone who disagrees with the mainstream narrative is the enemy.

Thinking for yourself or doing your own research is now considered evil. You are a racist, sexist Nazi if you read something that is not put out by the media which supports one leg of the government while at the same time being convinced the government itself is also evil because there are people in the government who don’t agree with the media. It’s a cycle of ignorance being camouflaged as information.

The best way to tell that something is probably wrong is if no one is allowed to question it. Facts and people who are correct have no problem being questioned because they have the answers and understand how to communicate their point. People who are brainwashed are trained to shut down and turn away from anything that is contrary because those in charge know how flimsy their ideas are and how easily they can be turned over. If you are being told by the people giving you information that questions are not allowed… that is a major red flag.

I have lost family and friends to this ideology, and the saddest part is that they can’t even understand they are being manipulated. My brother and I have never been on the same page politically. We have always had debates and talked about the reality of topics. We both agree on the facts, but just have differing opinions about what should be done about these facts. For instance I am pro-life and he is pro-choice. We both understand that the baby is a baby. We both understand that an abortion kills the baby. We both agree that we would never want our babies to be aborted. He just doesn’t care if other people’s babies are. He doesn’t like most people in general and doesn’t care if their are fewer of them. He thinks we should be able to abort adults if they aren’t contributing to society. I guess he thinks similarly to the Canadians view with “assisted suicide”. That yes, there is a life, but no, the life doesn’t matter. I’m opposed to abortion and assisted suicide and think that all lives matter. We agree to disagree. Facts are facts and we’re allowed to have different opinions on how they are handled.

On the other hand I have 2 Goddaughters who I helped raise. They have 2 cousins that I have known since the say they were born. I have a cousin that I was always there for and even babysat over the years when we were little. All of whom disagree with my opinions on things. I don’t really know which parts, because they don’t talk to me about any of them. They just stopped talking to me. No explanation , no discussion… just nothing.

I’m the same person that was there for them their entire lives. I’m the same person that they know is not racist, sexist, homophobic or a Nazi, but they can’t handle that I have a different opinion than what the screen tells them to believe. They can’t handle that I bring up facts that they haven’t heard. In fact, one of them told me that facts were racist. She’s also a person who has a Master’s Degree, which confuses me because if facts are racist how did she get a degree? Were there no facts in her classes that she had to learn to pass?

There is a whole group of people out there that literally can’t handle information that goes against the grain. They can’t handle critical thinking. They would rather reject and hate people who love them and have been there for them their whole life than admit they may not understand something or may have gotten something wrong, or, in the case of my brother and me, that they are allowed to have different opinions about. And I feel bad for them, because they will never grow as people and will never have real connections in life without being able to think for themselves.

Addiction, Love, Mental Health, parenting, Politics

No one can do everything, and we need to stop telling people that they can.

Katrina Russell

We have to stop telling children, especially little girls, that they can do everything themselves. No one can. We used to understand this. We used to understand the importance of family and marriage and partners, but somewhere along the lines people, and especially girls started being told that they can do everything. That they don’t need anyone else. That, “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle”, as Irina Dunn coined.

In reality everyone needs people. The family unit was set up as a way of complementing each other’s strengths and working together. It’s easier to share responsibilities than trying to do them all by yourself. This seems like commonsense, but somewhere along the line ego got in the way and suddenly “I can do it myself” became the motto.

This is not to say that there are things that women or men can’t do. Of course most people are capable of anything that they put their minds too, but they can’t do everything. There are only so many hours in a day. There is only so much energy to be expended. Eventually you run out and the person told that they can do everything feels like a failure when they can’t.

Telling someone that they can do everything is similar to telling a child that they can have everything that they want in a store. Say you have $300 and you take a child to Target. You can tell them that they can have anything that they want, they just have to choose. Maybe they pick a giant Lego set, and have $100 left to spend and you tell them, “oh that’s great, why don’t you add a book and a game on top of that”. You leave the store and the child is ecstatic.

Now say you have the same child and the same $300 and you go into Target and tell them they can have everything that they want. Now the kid is loading up cart after cart of everything they could possibly desire in the slightest. You head to the register and start piling things out. Then you tell the cashier to stop when they reach $300. The child is confused. They don’t even know what they got. Maybe the thing they really wanted hasn’t even been taken out of the carriage yet. Now the child is devastated and let down. It’s “The worst birthday ever!” even though they got $300 worth of things they kind of wanted.

This is how we treat people, and especially women today. We tell them to go for everything they want. They go to school, they change majors a few times, they date around a bit, they start to work on a career, and everything seems good. They are getting everything they want. Now they’re 35, and single and thinking, “next on my list: husband and kids”. They look around and all the guys are kind of jerks, or giant children because they have also been told that they can have whatever they want and they just spent the last 20 years getting all the hook ups they could ask for without having to put anything into the relationship or grow up at all. Why should they? The women can handle everything.

Now the woman is like, “ok, clock ticking. I want kids, but I need a man for that. I also want to be able to raise my kids myself and not send them off with the nanny.” The world says, “ok, just find a guy and get started”. But those guys were left in the carriage when you ran out of money and some other girl who knew what she wanted came along and bought him already. The woman is left with what ever was the easiest to throw up on the register first and didn’t actually get a chance to choose.

I know, you’re going to say, “Not all women want to get married. Not all women want kids”. That is true, but most do, and all at least want the opportunity to decide for themselves and not just get left with whatever was in the first carriage.

Instead of telling kids that they can do everything we need to tell them that they can do anything that they choose, and then teach them how to make good choices. Otherwise we’re going to have more and more generations of self medicating, drug addicted, miserable people who think the idea of abortion and government sponsored suicide are great ideas, because, “this is the worst life ever” when you don’t understand how to get what you really want.

cancel culture, free speech, Healthcare, Mental Health, parenting

When did victimhood become a goal?

Katrina Russell

Have you been on social media lately? If you haven’t, good on you, stay off. If you have you have probably seen the new trend of young people proudly exclaiming their mental illnesses. Everything from depression to turrets to being a furry is a new “identity”. Everyone has AHDH. Everyone is on the spectrum. Everyone has some sort of depression or anxiety issue.

The crazy thing (no pun intended) is that these people aren’t talking about the struggles that they have and how they overcome these problems with hard work and patience. They are not reaching out for help, or giving advice or inspiration to other’s on how they too can better themselves under these conditions. They are literally telling other people that they have to change their behavior to comply to the mental illness.

People have stopped trying to take responsibility for their actions. People are no longer looking to find ways to contribute to society despite whatever shortcomings or obstacles are in their way. These people are actually telling everyone else in society that problems are the most important thing about a person and that if you don’t have a major mental illness or a major tragedy in your history then you have no rights at all.

If you are a person who has a mental illness or tragedy in your life and have worked hard to overcome, and have made something of yourself then you are an even worse person than the person that never had any problems to begin with. It’s like you are a traitor because you managed to better yourself and being a regular society contributing person is the same as being a Nazi or a KKK member. It’s somehow hateful to those with disabilities or some kind of troubled past.

Victimhood is the new super power. Instead of Captain America or Superman the new heroes are people who medicate themselves into oblivion and yell at anyone who dares live their life without catering to the every whim of self declared victimhood. It’s sick, and we need to stop placating them because it isn’t good for them, and it isn’t good for society, and it sure as Hell isn’t good for the future.

silhouette of four people against sun background
cancel culture, Love, Mental Health, parenting, Politics

Why is feminism not about empowering women?

Katrina Russell

I don’t know when women went from being a group that was celebrated and protected to a group that is isolated and derogated for acknowledging that they exist and are a real thing. There is a definition to the word woman. There are traits to describe a woman. There are features that differentiate women from men. For years women were held back for these traits and features. Women weren’t allowed in certain clubs or organizations and there was no way that they could compete in sports or the military against men. Then women started to push for more “rights”.

I’m not sure how it’s a right that a person should be allowed into a private club owned by someone else. Men’s clubs were a thing created for men to be men. To talk about things that men want to talk about. There were other clubs that were for both men and women that couples could attend, but women didn’t like that. Of course, there’s still women’s only clubs, but that’s… different. I guess. Or at least it was, because now a man just has to say that he’s a woman and he can enter the club all he wants so there’s that.

The excuse for needing to let women into men’s clubs was the “a lot of business happens in the men’s clubs”. If women weren’t allowed in them, they were being prevented from doing business. Most of these clubs were some sort of golf club, but ironically even after letting women into these clubs only about 22% of all club members are women and half of those are young girls just there to play golf. Not a lot of business taking place there, and not a place most women even care to go.

Then there were organizations like The Elks that were sued into allowing women in the mid 90s, and the Boy Scouts of America that was made to admit girls in 2017, even though Girl Scouts is completely a thing. I don’t know when women became so obsessed with thinking all things male was better.

Women used to be proud of who and what they were. They were daughters, and moms, and teachers, and nurses and they loved using their empathy and compassion to take care of people. They were also brilliant. There were so few female writers, scientists, pilots, freedom fighters and yet everyone knows the names of the brilliant women who did accomplish great things in those fields. Being a woman didn’t stop Agatha Christie, Marie Curie, Amelia Earhart or Harriet Tubman. They didn’t have to pretend to be men. They didn’t have to dress, and act like men or sue for men to include them. They did their jobs better than everyone else and they were accepted and appreciated for that.

People say, “Well, yes, but there were so fewer women in those positions. It must have been discrimination.”. Guess what, there’s still less women in those fields. All the lawsuits, all the campaigns, all the shoulder pads in the world didn’t turn women into men and didn’t make women interested in the same things that men are interested or physically capable of the same things as men. Men and women are different. They just are.

Now, before you freak out, I’m not saying that women are weaker than men. I’m a mom. I know what real strength is. I not only carried my baby in my body, but I had a c-section, and carried that baby for years after whenever he needed me. Whether it was in the first 6 weeks after my c-section, and I wasn’t allowed to lift anything as heavy as him, or the years after when he was tired, or hurt, or it was just more convenient at the time to keep track of him and keep him moving. Let me tell you. Kids are heavy. They may be like 30 lbs., but 30 lbs. of dead weight in one arm and 5 bags of groceries in the other because it’s easier to do one trip and it you let him down, he’s going to run, that’s heavy.

Then there’s the emotional strength that it takes to be a mother. You are the one that is there for that child every day, most of the time all day. You are the one that has to teach these little people to be strong, and kind. You have to comfort them when they are in pain and support them to work through it. You also have to correct them when they are wrong and sometimes that means hurting them as well. We make our children cry more than anyone else because we have to, and it breaks our hearts. “No, you can’t watch TV right now. No, you can’t wear your ballet shoes out in the snow. No, you can’t have skittles for dinner.”. Tears every day. Tears we have to decide how to handle in order to make sure our children grow up to be capable human beings.

Being a woman is an amazing thing to be. We are the diplomats to the men’s warrior. We are the ones they come home to when they want to feel safe. We are the ones that give them purpose when they go to war or to work. We are the ones who create the future they are trying to protect. I don’t know when that became the lesser value in the equation.

Feminism has somehow gone from proving that women are of equal value for being women, through women can and should do all the things that men do, to there’s no such thing as a difference between men and women. Which is just ridiculous, and quite frankly an insult to women, and men alike. To say that we are all just pod people creations with no individuality, with nothing born innate to us, we are all just creations of whatever society implants into us. Which is clearly not true, as there are thousands of societies that have crossed 10s of thousands of miles and 10s of thousands of years, and there has always, in every society, been a difference between men and women.

At one-point women fought to have their own sports. They wanted to prove that they were just as capable of being athletic and competitive but understood that physically they were no match for men. This was a great opportunity for women. They were able to thrive in a physical domain otherwise not available to them. They were able to win scholarships and create comraderies with like-minded other women. They could live out their masculine traits without danger of being with the men who could cause them real harm.

Now that is being taken away as well. Men who just decide they want to be women are competing against women in traditionally physically masculine roles. Men and women are different. Not just in the way they think, not just in their hormone levels. They are different down to their bone structure, their muscle mass, their weight dispersity, and in physical competitions like sports and wars this can get someone seriously hurt, if not killed. It can also take those scholarship opportunities away from women and give it to an actual man.

The other night during one of those award shows Adele got up and said how proud she was to be a woman and how proud she was to win her award in the name of women. This used to be something that was cheered. Now it was offensive. Women are no longer allowed to be proud of themselves. Let’s not even talk about JK Rowling. They are no longer allowed to separate themselves from men. Women have to accept that there is absolutely nothing special about them at all. There is no definition for the word woman. Anyone can be one, and anyone can decide not to be one, depending on their mood.

Political commentator Matt Walsh was on The Dr Phil show with some people who identify as non-binary. Meaning they do not consider themselves either male or female because society makes up those terms. Matt asked them to define the word woman and the response was “womanhood looks different to everyone“. That is not how words work. That is not how reality works.

Let me just state before the crazies come out of the woodwork, that I am not transphobic. I don’t care what you look like, how you define yourself, or what you do as an adult. I have an issue with this idea that being a woman doesn’t mean anything. A few years back Doctor who, one of my favorite shows, decided to swap out the main character who had always been male for a female with the idea that sex doesn’t matter. That there is absolutely no difference between men and women and that it is all a social construct. This was about the same time that the “woke” community starting to change from trans to non-binary and blaming all things gender related on society.

I was annoyed by this. Even though the main character is an alien, he spent a lot of time of Earth (specifically in England) traveling through different time periods. I was afraid that the character was going to be spending too much time explaining why “as a woman” she should be listened to and basically male bashing the whole time. It was much worse. It turned out it was about how sex was irrelevant and his species was so much more advanced than us piddly humans even it had been well established that he was a father and a grandfather, and that their biology was in tune with ours. He had even left his granddaughter on Earth so she could spend her life with a man she had fallen in love with.

They had changed the gender of another main character before this and it was quite well excepted, but it was also played off like it wasn’t common. Then there was some vague mention of it with a background character that most people just ignored. The character even made a comment about “thank God I’m a woman again” or something to that affect. Meaning there was a difference in males and females. The main character who changed gender also changed her name to Missy because “I couldn’t keep calling myself the Master“. Implying that Master is a masculine name, and there was a difference between masculine and feminine on their planet.

I remember the chat all over the internet at the time. So many people applauding the choice. So many people insulting anyone who didn’t agree with it at the time. I remember a specific exchange between a man and a woman. The man said that he hated it, that there was nothing fluid about gender, and that men and women are very different. The woman, of course, just called him sexist. He then replied that he was actually a transman and by stating that there is no difference between men and women the whole movement was invalidating the trans-community of people who feel like that are the opposite gender.

To feel as if you are the wrong gender implies there is a difference between them that is not just how you present and what costume you dress in for the day. Being a man or a woman meant something. There is a direct definition to the word. Now maybe it’s not the same definition that Matt Walsh would give, but most trans people acknowledge the difference between trans and cis individuals. They talk about male and female brains and ways of thinking. Which is different as well, and not just societal. This is why no matter how advanced the society and how much they try to push equality between the genders, more women pick certain careers and hobbies in humanities crafting and more men pick more careers and hobbies in STEM. Men talk about things; women talk about people.

And the thing is, all of that is good. Men aren’t better than women because they like STEM and military type careers, and women aren’t lesser than men because they like helping and teaching people. A person is not more successful if they choose to fight their way through the grind to get the corner office or make the big bucks, and women aren’t less successful if they choose to stay home and take care of the tiny humans they created. Men and women are different. Women have to stop putting themselves and their identities down in order to be more like men. Women have to remember in the battlefield every man cries for his mommy.

person counting cash money
Addiction, Love, Mental Health, parenting

The Love of Money is the Root of all Evil

Katrina Russell

People are born different. Anyone who has ever met children knows this. Anyone that has multiple kids can attest to this. Every one of their babies came out with their own little personalities, likes, dislikes, favorites, what have you. Some kids are relaxed, some kids are bossy, some kids are nothing but trouble. Those are the most hilarious to hear about but the most frightening to have yourself. The point it, people are people no matter how old, and they are all different.

When I was little, I remember having a little field trip with my Brownies group to the local town center where there was a candy store that sold “penny candy” though by the mid 80s it was more $.25 candy. Each of us girls were given a $.25 to spend. I went in, looked around, and found some pieces that were $.10-.15. I ended up with two pieces of candy and my Brownie leaders thought it was hilarious. I was a good bargain hunter and they saw me going far.

My brother on the other hand was all about making as much money as he could. He had a paper route at 11 and forged working papers at 13 so he could get a job at the local grocery store (in our state you have to be 14 to work). He was good at saving and liked the finer things. When we took our first vacation to Disney, he had $555 that he had put away from his paper route money. I had about $3 left over from that week’s allowance.

I wanted to buy presents for everyone I knew so at the end of the day my dad’s girlfriend would give me her left-over change that she had for the say and I would collect it up and find the best things that I could for what little I had. And I did. Even if it was just a magnet or a shoelace, I made it work. Keep in mind this is still the mid 80s, things were much less expensive then. My brother bought himself a couple things and Mickey ears for our 3 little cousins and saved the rest. He was not about to spend all his hard-earned money.

Flash forward, I work hard, I make enough money to pay for what I need, no matter what I need. My brother says, “You’re good at making money stretch.”. He does not mean that I’m good at saving for the future, but I’m great at getting as much as I can with the money that I have, even if my bank account ends up a little low most of the time. I can’t help it. “It burns a hole in my pocket”. As they used to say. Thankfully I make enough so that when something does come up, I can usually pay for it in cash with my next check, but still saving is really not in my DNA.

When I had my son, I had no idea who he would be or what kind of ideas he would have. I started an account for him, that I do manage to save for, and I changed my spending habits a bit to include planning for the future, investments, insurance… you know, grown up adulting things. It’s taken a lot of work and self-discipline to accomplish this goal, but I understand the importance, but I still have a little trouble with Amazon and Target.

He was about 5 when he got some birthday money and I asked him what he wanted to do with it? He responded that he wanted to save it of course. He had to save it for a car so that when he’s old enough to work he’ll be able to get there himself. Swear to God. This is not one of those “kids say the cutest things” made up by a parent. These words came out of my Kindergartener’s mouth. I can assure you; he does not get this from me. He takes his birthday, Christmas, First Communion, and money earned from As he gets on his report cards and puts it in his bank.

Over the last few years, he has spent a little of his saved money, but it’s always a debate. He sees something in the store. Asks me to buy it. I tell him no, but he’s welcome to, and then he decides it’s worth to him. He has trouble saying no to certain stuffed animals. Don’t get me wrong, when he gets gift cards they do get spent in the appropriate place, but always at the appropriate time. He waits till he sees something that he wants, like one of those stuffed animals he can’t live without and chooses to use those instead of cash. Sometimes he’ll even trade me if he sees something at a store not on the gift cards. So, for instance if he sees a videogame at Game Stop and doesn’t have a Game Stop gift card, he will say something like, “Well, if I give you my Target gift card for $20 can you give me the $20 cash and I can buy the game?”. Which I do… because, as mentioned… Target.

I don’t tell this story just to brag about my amazingly perfect son. I tell this story as a reminder to those who may be struggling with money issues or have a spouse who is. Some people are just born with a different idea of money that you are. This does not give them a free pass to spend until bankrupt, but it’s just something that may take more work than you may think. It’s literally a part of them. They have to decide to make a change and learn how to do so. Excessive shopping can be considered an addiction, just like anything else done to access, but it can also just be bad habits.

Habits are the hardest thing to break because it’s not just mental, but it’s physical, like muscle memory. A person who is bad at money has a list of things they know that they want and as soon as they know money is coming in, they have a checklist of what can be paid for with that money. It’s like the food addict who is planning when they can do their next binge. And like any other habit or addiction it is easy to jump off the wagon by simply walking in a store or opening an app and seeing what there is to buy.

If you want to change your money habits it is best to talk to a professional. Come up with a budget and make sure you have some crazy money in there just in case, so you don’t feel deprived. Saving money is the best thing that you can do for yourself and your family. It’s not easy for everyone, but with the right help, it’s not impossible either.

roadway with end racism now title in town
bullying, cancel culture, free speech, parenting, Politics

Redefining Racism

Katrina Russell

racist

noun

  1. A person who believes a particular race is superior to others.
  2. a person with a prejudiced belief that one race is superior to others

That has been the standard definition since it was a thing. It is how slave owners felt. It is how KKK members felt, and much to Whoopi Goldberg’s chagrin, it is how the Nazis felt. Racism has always been about one group feeling superior to another group.

Racism is not when someone points out differences between groups. In fact, differences between groups should be celebrated not treated like an insult. It’s not racism when someone from a different group does, says, wears, or otherwise “appropriates” something from another group. If the person doing, saying, wearing, or what have you was racist they would think that the “others” group was inferior and NOT “appropriate” their culture. I guarantee you no Nazi was “appropriating” Jewish culture.

Racism is also not pointing out how different cultures have different values, traditions, and ideas. Such as some cultures value education, some cultures value religion, some cultures value violence and scamming the system. Racism is, however, claiming that someone from a particular race is unable to break away from their culture and adopt different values, and that the only way anyone from one group could possibly succeed is to either lower the standards or by way of help from the “better, more advanced race”. That’s just full-on racism in it’s true form.

Today people who believe the second version are doing their best to make those who understand the first version are the true racists. So, for instance, one group says, “Society has rules. They are rules that, as a society we have found better the life of everyone involved. If you would like to better your life, then just follow these simple rules and you too will see that your life is better.”. These rules have come from centuries of seeing how different societies all over the world have succeeded and bringing them all together to create something new.

The United States is a great example of this set of rules. They are considered “White” rules because the majority of people in the US are white, but in reality, a lot of these rules come from many cultures not formally considered “white” by traditional standards. Ironically, the racial groups not previously considered white actually can be found to be more successful, because traditionally they place a bigger value on family and tend to live together and support each other longer. In fact, “white” used to be only British people. As white only became a race in segregated America at a time when the dominant race was British. Even Italians, Irish, Germans were all different races in all other terms. But with segregation it was decided that there needed to be a term that separated ex slaves from the common citizenry. Thus “White” was born.

Now “white” is used as a synonym for success. Anyone who becomes successful is now either considered white or “trying to be white”. So, for instance, Asians are now on the hierarchy stage of being white adjacent because they are one of the highest earning groups in American society. They get into elite colleges at a higher rate as well, therefore a cap had to be put on the number of Asians allowed into the elite colleges because of course it wasn’t fair to those whose cultures don’t put hard work and success on the list of values to attain. And let’s not forget any black person that does rise to success and pay tribute to hard work and perseverance… they just “want to be white”.

Now it is the fault of the hard working that those who don’t work hard don’t succeed, because “everyone knows ‘those people’ aren’t capable of hard work”. This is the crap that’s being taught in schools. It’s being taught that one group is oppressed by the system because it is set up for those capable of hard work. The Smithsonian came out with a breakdown of “white supremacist” which included things like hard work and being on time. Groups are pushing to remove tests and having to answer questions correctly because it oppresses a whole group of people not capable of such feats. There are groups of people pushing to stop police from arresting those who steal because they’re not capable of doing real work to earn goods. Today Biden put aside $30 million to give crack pipes out to inner city black people in the name of equity. Because that’s what “those people” really want. There’s a reason why the new Black Heroes are all violent criminals, and people like Dr King and Fredrick Douglas are having their statues torn down.

Racism is alive and well in this country, but we have to call it out when we see it, and we have to use words properly. Racism is not understanding that racial/ethnic groups are different and have different values, traditions, and ideas. Racism is believing that people from one racial/ethnic group is incapable of being successful simply because of their racial/ethnic group.

close up photo of lion s head
cancel culture, free speech, parenting, Politics, Prayer

Speak your mind!

Katrina Russell

Yesterday I was teaching my Catechism class where we were talking about Daniel and Esther. For those who don’t remember Daniel was put into a Lion’s Den after he refused the King’s order to only worship the King and other false gods. Esther was the King’s wife who spoke to the King on behalf of her people for him to allow them to worship their one true God. Both of these people put their lives in grave danger for their faith.

After we finished reading and watching a video about them, I asked the children in my class how they felt about what these people did. I asked them if they thought that people have the right to be able to tell their King or government no and do what they believe. I wasn’t sure how they would answer.

This is a time when authority should never be questioned and what is “right” is listening and obeying what the authority deems to be true. When I first said to compare it to today in society there was a big moan of annoyance at the thought of what I may be asking about society today. I asked them, “With everything going on today, do you think that people have the right to protest the government about things they believe, regardless of whether you believe the same things that they do?”.

There was the one smart ass kid who said, “No, you must always listen to the government. They know best.” but seeing as how I don’t think this kid has ever listened to anyone in his life, I knew he was being facetious and stated so after his friend questioned him. After him there were many different responses ranging from, “of course the government is full of idiots” to “yeah, just because the government think they know best doesn’t mean that they do. In fact, of the 17 kids in the class every single one of them agreed that people have the right to criticize and protest the government.

This exchange has given me hope for the future. This was a class full of middle schoolers in a very Left state that truly believe in personal rights outweighing the collective. I wasn’t sure that was a thing anymore. These kids have grown up in a culture full of canceling anyone who thinks outside the box. The box constructed by a certain establishment. The fact that these kids were able to understand the significance of having not only their voices heard, but the voices of those they don’t agree with as well was quite inspiring. Maybe there’s hope for the future after all.

bullying, cancel culture, free speech, Mental Health, parenting, Politics

Why does fear trump logic in society?

Katrina Russell

I’m mostly talking about American society since that’s the one that a I live in. I just don’t understand it. America was always the land of the FREE and the home of the BRAVE. This is the one country that everyone came to that had nothing to fall back on when they got here. Or at least it was. Now it’s the home of “give me free stuff and if you don’t, I’ll label you the problem”.

I read articles and see news casters all the time talking about how they would never sit down and have a conversation with someone they disagree with. How you should never give them a platform or trying to get someone they disagree with platformed. I don’t care which side of the isle it’s on. I saw the same thing written about The View and CNN from the Right as I see about Joe Rogan from the Left, even before Whoopi’s ignorant racism and the evidence that no one at CNN can keep it in their pants.

I was amazed at how many people either quit or were dragged for not quitting during the Trump administration, because they didn’t like him. So what? You don’t like that man. That has nothing to do with your job. Go to work, do the best job you can and make the difference that you want to make. You like or dislike for your boss should be irrelevant. Imagine if all the firefighters who didn’t like their bosses just quit. The country would be in chaos. When did people get so soft?

The irony is that so many people think if these cowardice acts as brave. As if saying, “naa na nah boo boo, I don’t need to listen to you”, is brave. People have become so used to living in their own little bubbles they have no idea what reality is. They have no idea what true bravery is. Bravery isn’t banning together with a group of people who agree with you and prop you up at all times, while ostracizing anyone who dares have a different opinion that you. Bravery is having open dialog with someone that you disagree with. Listening to their perspective and possibly learning something new that may indicate that you are wrong. No one wants to do that anymore.

If you say someone’s opinion is wrong, it’s like you’re berating their very character. People all over the country are on anti-anxiety medication just because there’s a slight chance something vaguely uncomfortable may happen to them. There are entire internet posts that people share over and over about a thing that happened to them and they can never show their faces again, because they made a mistake one. A mistake. A normal everyday occurrence that happens to everyone. But no… a mistake is a sign of being less than. If I make a mistake, I must shut myself away forever, and if you make a mistake, I must make sure that you are shut away forever. You must never go to college, or get a job, or get married, or have children… or live a life in anyway, because only the perfect who agree with everything that my peer group agrees with and never makes a mistake has the right to live.

The most deranged thing is that this society is one that pushes inclusion and acceptance. We MUST accept everyone regardless of their differences, as long as they’re not different than me, or in any way considered to be better than me. We have to accept fat people but shun anyone who enjoys healthy living. We must accept POC but reject anyone proud of their white heritage. We must accept the LGBT>>> community, but ridicule anyone who believes in Judeo/Christian beliefs. The only beliefs that are criticized, by the way. If you’re Hindi, Muslim, Wiccan you are to be praised yourself for being so brave.

If you want to truly be empowered the key is not to block yourself off from disagreement or feeling uncomfortable; it’s putting yourself out there. Having conversations with those you disagree with. Test your theories. Hear other’s opinions. You never know, you may realize you were actually right after all, or you may realize you didn’t have all the information. Either way you can be proud of yourself for true and good actions instead of lying to yourself into placation.