When I was a frosh at Ball State one day I was eating in the dining room. I was sitting with a young gregarious african american man named Gus. It was a weekend and Gus's younger brother was visiting him. I was sitting next to the brother. I noticed him reach over and start to pick up the sugar jar the type with a little chrome flap that fell open when you tipped the jar. He stopped. I suddenly realized he had not used one before. So I reached over and used it for my tea without ever saying anything. When I was done he used it appropriately.

I cannot remember if we looked at each other and smiled but I like to remember it that way. I thought what a small thing it was but was an example of living a bit of a sheltered life. It made me feel a little ashamed that I had been given these little things and he had not.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Boy howdy, you said it .

I lived the idiot life and didn't realize how little I know until I was in my late 40's..... (insert red faced emoticon here) so I too try to gently teach my foster boys before they get side swiped or sand bagged by those insecure idiots who are always on the lookout for someone who's not as 'hip' (or whatever) as they are then make a big deal out of embarrassing them in front of others .

Me, I don't much care so I'm hard to embarrass, this allows me to turn it 'round on those rude folks when I want .

Fifty was pretty good for me as was most of my forties .

There are _so_ many I wish I could apologize to now .

'My Name Is Earl' has nothing on me ~ not a thing I'm proud of .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

I dislike it when parents tell their kids they're coming and then never do, usually because of dope or getting laid .

Sometimes this rips the hearts right out of the poor kids who don't understand .

Grrrrrr.

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Some here will remember this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-crFnam9rE

Anyway, one of or foster boys has been making big strides towards in the last 12 months .

He's still fully in the grasp of teenage angst but I can see his final person emerging bit by bit .

Last night after he did something to told my Sweet " our little boy is all grown up" .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Foster care kids have a much higher incidence than I expected:

https://www.foster-america.org/the-problem

don't know if statistics are true, if so it's a bigger problem than I realized

You nailed it there .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better