OMG, I'm a Snob

I've always thought of myself as pretty egalitarian sort of a person. I have friends of every age and many colors, I could give a rip how much money someone has. Country of origin is something of interest, not something to look down upon. But in a recent conversation, I came to the realization that I'm an education snob. Thinking about it, I realize I pretty much always have been.

When I was in the 5th or 6th grade, I was having a conversation with a friend and mentioned Lucrezia Borgia.

My friend replied, "I don't know her, whose class is she in?"

"She doesn't go to school here, she was Pope Alexander Borgia's daughter."

"I thought the Pope's name was Paul."

"No, not the guy who's Pope now, the Borgia's were at the end of the fifteenth century."

That got me the "what planet are you from?" look I have since become so familiar with (and frequently use on my beloved Engineer.)

I was flabbergasted. How could anyone not know who Lucrezia Borgia was? I took a poll. I asked all of my friends and quite a few adults who Lucrezia Borgia was. None of my friends knew, my teacher didn't know. The principal did. Mom did. Dad didn't. It hadn't seemed like an esoteric bit of information until Dad didn't know. That was what convinced me that just because a person didn't know who Lucrezia was it didn't mean they were dumb. They just didn't know. I came to the realization that book-knowledge does not intelligence.

This is a good thing to know.

A couple days ago I was describing my family tree when it was pointed out to me that the qualifier I placed on each branch of the tree was level of education. I took a mental step back and reviewed my description and, dang, that was the thing I mentioned as most important.

So I've been thinking about it. Education is important. Not most important, but very important. I think most important is character. No amount of education can make up for deficits in character. My Creepy Cousin Eddy may have a doctorate of jurisprudence, but he sure isn't anybody I'd ever want to associate with; he's not nice.

The value of education is not that you know who Lucrezia Borgia was, it's that it becomes part of you. It opens wider your window on the world. A good education should teach you how to learn.

Life can throw so much at a person. A person could lose his job, get hit by a car, lose all his savings and end up living in a refrigerator box under an overpass, but if he has an education he has a foundation to rebuild on.

Is education something I should be a snob about?

Probably not. Everyone does not have equal educational opportunity, nor does everyone have equal ability to acquire book learning. That doesn't make they any less of a person, it's just part of what makes them unique.

Don't French the Faucet

For some reason lots of folks seem to think dogs are smarter than cats.

Now I'm not saying dogs are dumb... Heck my childhood dog was one smart little bowser. We got him from the pound as an adult dog. His whole life, to that point, had been spent at the end of a chain in his previous owner's back yard. He'd never been in the house. He didn't know any commands, not even "sit" or "come here".

In my family, the dog was a member, with full house privileges. The first couple days, Butch did not understand that leg lifting inside was a cardinal sin. He quickly learned otherwise and behaved himself thereafter.

There was a continuing problem with the nighttime hours, when he thought he could slip one by the humans, but that was cured by giving him his own bedroom. Every night, he was locked in the pantry in the basement with a nice, soft rug. He discovered if he left a liquid deposit or a "calling card" that he had to sleep in very close proximity to it all night long. Cured him real fast.

Within a couple of months, he was a well mannered and affectionate dog with a whole arsenal of tricks. When he got old and went deaf, he learned to do all of his tricks to hand signs instead of voice commands -- even added a couple new tricks to his repertory.

He was one smart puppy.

In common with most dogs, however, the humans trained him.

Cats are not trained by humans; they do the training.

My cats are waited on hand and paw. I give them food and water on their command, I clean their litter box. Or, as I call it, mining for cat jewels. If they want something, they tell me and I do it -- though occasionally I'm downright obtuse and don't comply.

Sachi's very favorite water comes out of the bathroom faucet. Whenever I make a bathroom trip, she hops up onto the counter and expects me to turn the faucet on to a trickle for her. Sometimes she doesn't realize that I'm in there immediately and comes in after I'm already seated, so the service isn't up to its usual standards.

She has discovered that standing there with her front feet in the sink, alternating stares at the faucet and at me does not get the water turned on immediately. If she starts licking up the inside of the faucet, however, the human will squawk, "Don't french the faucet!" and make great haste to turn it on for her.

Guess that shows who trains whom in this household.