Spelldown

Tomorrow, Saturday, will be the Macomb County Regional Spelling Bee. I will don my tan sweater, dark pants, and comfortable shoes so that I may donate this one day a year to young people that do not have the best hand/eye coordination nor the best depth perception in their schools. This one day each year, I donate to the kids who take the time to listen to the phonics, hear the root words, decipher the language of origin, and spell words. These kids have understood the importance of language. Together, they brave an auditorium half full of parents and teachers who, for the most part, don’t even appreciate nor understand them.

Are the adults just further proof of the caveman mentality that still permeates our civilization? Oowee Grug, may I feel your muscles. Oowee Grug, tell me about the wild boar you brought down with your bare hands. Yeah, yeah Poindexter, very nice round things you invented. Go away, Poindexter, we don’t want to see that stupid fire thing. Oowee, Oowee, look at Grug’s harry chest. In all fairness to the other sex, women are still judged by childbearing qualities (hips and chests) and not by their acuities.

I once knew two young men, Johnny A and Johnny B. Johnny A got a 35 on his ACTs. Johnny B couldn’t quite get a 17 on his ACTs. But Johnny B could play basketball. Guess which Johnny got numerous offers from prestigious west coast, east coast and mid-west universities for full-ride, totally paid even transportation and housing and spending money (!) scholarships? Guess which Johnny was awarded the privilege of borrowing money from the bank at variable interest rates that would have to be paid back or they will destroy his credit forever?

That’s my country. Where Cavemen rule.

Except this one Saturday in Macomb County.