My Golden Retriever is Smarter Than Your Honor Roll Student
On the way to school this morning my kids and I saw a bumper sticker that read: My Golden Retriever is Smarter Than Your Honor Roll Student. I didn’t find it particularly amusing, but my daughter cracked up.
“Why is that funny?” I asked.
“Not all schools are equal,” she said. “An honor roll student someplace else might be a C student at my school. I wouldn’t be surprised if their dog is smarter than some honor students.”
Nothing like a dose of academic elitism to start the morning.
“Well, I didn’t think it was funny,” I said. “Look at the car it’s on – an emerald Lexus with a gold badge.” I believe standard Lexus logos are chrome, so gold would have been a vanity upgrade for which the owner of this sleek SUV paid extra.
“So?” my daughter asked.
“So the car’s owner is saying that no matter how well you do, it’s still not good enough. Even their dog is better than you.” And surely, pure-bred.
We live in Silicon Valley where there are more than a fair share of egotistical and narcissistic people. It’s the psychological force that fuels a lot of high-tech success. I’ve seen it in action plenty of times at work, with people putting down another’s idea, no matter how brilliant, simply because it came from someone else. NIH – Not Invented Here – is a collective battle cry oft heard in Valley cubicles. On a more personal level, I had an ex who put down everything I did, and I react strongly to snobbery. Of course my interpretation of the bumper sticker was correct.
And, for where my daughter is in life and all she’s been through thus far, her interpretation was correct, too.
In other words – the bumper sticker had no intrinsic meaning. The meaning we each ascribe to it comes from individual perspective. It’s all in our minds.
My son offered his reaction: “Can we get a dog?”
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- Play the Game of Life
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Comment by mssinglemama
| March 20th, 2008
Awesome!!! I HATE those bumper stickers. Love your daughter! And you sound like you are an amazing father.
Comment by dadshouse
| March 21st, 2008
Thanks! You sound like an amazing mom. Love your blog. And my daughter was super excited to get some love shouted her direction from a blogger she doesn’t even know. (There’s got to be a bumper sticker in there… I brake for bloggers’ daughters?)
Comment by mama llama
| July 30th, 2008
Interpretation is, indeed, a product of our own personal experiences and, sadly, elitism is rampant. Children here find need to change high schools just because their parents can’t (don’t?) buy them a brand-new BMW for their 16th birthdays. Unhappy families are rampant only because the women don’t want to give up the magnificient multi-million dollar monstrosities just because their husband is a porn addict or sleeps around (and I’m not just saying it’s a male thing–it is what I have seen here, that is all)–they don’t want to be “seen” as imperfect.
My children’s father is described by many as living in his own little world. I need to learn to let go of the constant worrying of what he (or anyone, for that matter) thinks–a big problem of mine, perhaps with roots in a rather judgmental mother.
I suppose my tolerance level is also, well, less than perfect. I have tried for seven and a half years. My spirit is burned out–and to hell with what others think.
Thanks for the backlink. Be well.