On the Campaign Trail

There are numerous ways to spell “manly”. I saw one of the better spellings as Stephen was all spiffed up in coat and tie heading out for his first all-day high school Speech and Debate tournament at 6:30 this past Saturday morning. Robert is well-known for his ability to address issues long, hard and deep. What is not so known is his slightly younger brother’s fine honed skills at giving Robert a run for his money in sibling debates.

Back at Xi’an International School, one of the boys’ teachers said to me, “I know how you will vote.”

“How do you know?”

“I’ve been listening to your son.”

“Which one?” I asked.

If you listen to both of them as a barometer of how I vote, you’ll be thoroughly confused. They are guaranteed to find the opposite side on any issue and, likely as not, flip back and forth in a race to see who can come up with the more solid line of reasoning.

Two days before the Saturday tournament, Stephen turned 18. He’s joined the voter registration club at school and is doing his civic minded best to get out the vote this November. Both boys are thrilled at their first opportunity to vote in a Presidential election.

Thursday evening of Stephen’s birthday, we had the usual cake (carrot), ice cream and gifts. And we watched the Vice Presidential candidates debate live on TV. The presidential race has been closely followed and vigorously debated in our house by all six of us over the past many months. In a home full of teenagers, a presidential debate or a convention acceptance speech is guaranteed to gather us all together as a family. You can be sure where we’ll be on the evening of November 4.

Recent weeks have had us glued to the radio, too, as we’ve followed the mercurial changes in the economic picture. At least I can track the kids’ discussions when they are talking about international tensions or Wall Street meltdowns. Better than their arguments over quarks and real atom-splitting. Sometimes I wonder what the neighbors make of our backyard dinner conversations.

How do I spell manly? It is getting hot and bothered about injustice in the world and then finding creative and level-headed ways to do something about it. Look out world, my kids are growing up.