I saw a video the other day of someone paging through a book found in the library of her kid’s school.  The book explained how preferred pronouns worked and how important it is to always use them so you can reinforce someone else’s delusion.

The book obviously didn’t use those words, but the message was the same.  I thought to myself, “What a ridiculously useless thing to teach kids.  Surely that time would be better spent teaching things to kids that will actually benefit them.”

It seems like there’s a better use for students’ time.  But what would we teach instead?  Pretty much anything would be better than that woke bullshit. But there must be something we could teach them that would provide a lifetime of practical benefit.

I have a suggestion.  Let’s teach them how to play checkers.

Teach “How” Not “What”

I grew up playing checkers with my siblings.  What I learned from playing those games, and losing more times than I can count, has shaped how I see the world for my entire life.

I think that kids should be taught how to play checkers in grades K-12.  It should be mandatory.  The reason?  It teaches kids how to think ahead.

It doesn’t have to be checkers.  There are other games that can provide similar benefits.  Connect Four or chess are two that come to mind.  Like checkers, those games teach kids to anticipate what reactions their own actions could cause.

The point is, schools should be teaching kids how to think, instead of telling them what to think.

As I see it, that’s one of the main problems we have today.  People don’t have the ability to think ahead and seem only capable of living in the moment.  Ask them to predict what the consequences of their actions may be, and they come up blank.

Let me give you an example.

Long and Winding Road

A couple of weeks ago, my dog and I went for a walk along a busy road.  It was a very windy day with gusts up to 50 mph.  As we walked, we came to a spot where the landscaping funneled the wind causing it to be even gustier.  Probably closer to 60 mph.  In fact, it was blowing so hard I was thinking maybe we shouldn’t be walking under the trees.

As we came around a curve, we saw coming towards us a twenty-something woman pushing a stroller while walking a big German Sheppard.  And talking on the phone.

The stroller was the type with a canopy to keep the kid out of direct sunlight.  You know the kind.  It’s the kind that catches the wind really well.

On one side of the sidewalk, the side next to the street, was a narrow strip of grass.  On the other side was a row of thick, impenetrable bushes.  She pushed the stroller onto the grass.

OK.  She gets points for trying to make room for us to pass.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough room.

The wind was to my back which meant she was walking into it.  Once on the grass, she stood with her back to the wind, which meant she had her back to me.  The stroller was facing her.  Which meant the stroller was situated so it had the potential for it to be caught by the wind and blown away.  And if it rolled away, it was going to go right into traffic.

On a blind curve.

Not Everyone Can Multi-Task

The woman had her arm threaded through the leash up to her elbow and was holding on to the top of the stroller with two fingers.  In her other hand she held her cell phone up to her face.

With her back toward us, she wasn’t paying us any attention.  But her dog was.  It might have been the nicest dog in the world.  Or not.  I have no way of knowing. 

What I do know is that my dog is still learning her manners.  The odds are about even that she’d start barking and pulling on her leash when we got close to the other dog. 

If we were going to go past them, it would have to be on that narrow sidewalk, within a foot or two of her dog.  The dog she wasn’t watching.  The dog that was watching us.

Anyone who doesn’t give a shit about preferred pronouns could see what could happen if we tried to walk past them. 

Once we got close enough, it was highly likely that the dogs would start going at each other.  Maybe my dog would be the instigator, or maybe it would be hers.  They’re dogs so who really knows for sure.  It doesn’t matter anyway.

What does matter is that she would be taken completely off guard because she was still talking on her damn phone, with her other hand trying to hold on to the stroller, while simultaneously holding on to a large dog.

In a Rube Goldberg-ish Sort of Way

Which means that when her dog lunged, or tried to run away, the arm threaded through the leash was going to go with it.  And remember, that arm is attached to the hand holding the stroller and was the only thing keeping it from being blown away.  Except the hand wouldn’t be holding on to the stroller anymore.  It would be going wherever her dog was going.

And with the wind as strong as it was, there was a 100% chance that when her hand was ripped away from the stroller her baby would end up in traffic and be flattened by a car.

That didn’t seem to me like the optimal outcome.  So, we waited.

After about a minute, I guess she realized we hadn’t walked past her yet.  She turned and, still on the phone, attempted to gesture with the elbow of the arm holding the dog and the stroller to indicate we should walk past her. 

Then she turned her back to me and kept talking on the phone.

We waited some more.

After another minute or so, she glanced back and started angrily gesticulating again.

I told her to get off the phone and control her dog.

She gave me a very nasty look and said something I couldn’t hear because the wind was blowing the sound away from me.

I told her again to get off the phone and control her dog.

Sure, I’m the Asshole

She made some faces and said something into her phone which I guessed was her telling the other person that some asshole was telling her to hang up.  Then she made a big show of putting her phone in her pocket, getting a firm hold on her dog’s leash, and waving me to go past.

So, we did.

And everything was fine.  Our dogs behaved and she kept a firm grip on the stroller that the wind was still trying to blow away.

As we walked past her, and her kid, and her dog, she let me know exactly what she thought of me and my unreasonable demands.  I wasn’t really paying attention, but what I did hear was definitely not lady-like.  So…maybe I misgendered her.  Which I couldn’t care less about doing.

She’s lucky it was me with my dog and not another twenty-something that “lives in the moment”.  Because that twenty-something would probably be more concerned about misgendering the woman on the phone, than warning her of a potential danger.

I’d say it’s quite likely I saved her kid’s life that day because I was able to see what might happen and take action to prevent it.

It’s Not That Hard People

This problem isn’t limited to twenty-something mothers out walking their kid and dog.  The same thing applies to politicians who defund the police and then can’t understand why crime has skyrocketed.  Or become sanctuary cities and can’t understand why the homeless population has gone through the roof.  Or give away free everything to illegal aliens and then are surprised when their budget surplus has turned into a deficit.

All of these things are easy to anticipate, as long as you are taught the skills to do so.

Not everybody could have predicted the shit-show that might have happened that day if she didn’t get off the phone and pay attention to her surroundings. 

But I could.  Because I don’t give a shit about anyone’s preferred pronouns.

And I grew up playing checkers.