All Posts Tagged as 'Superficiality'

Little Ayaansh Kumar of New Jersey is a mere 22 months old, yet he already knows how to handle a cellphone and — even more hilariously — to supply his family with more furniture than they'll ever need.

Relationships with parents can be tricky, as can be proven by these confessions from people who admit they haven't been able to forgive their mother and father for events from their childhood.

Q. Inappropriate food: My son, “Chris,” is 9. A few weeks ago, we decided to open our bubble to include the family of “Neil,” Chris’s best friend. Both of Neil’s parents are doctors, so this seemed like a safe decision. Both parents were born and raised in India. We let Chris have dinner at their place the other night since both boys were having a great time together. When we came to pick up Chris, Neil’s mom recounted to me how much chicken curry and lentils and vegetables Chris ate. I couldn’t believe that they served my son spicy curries without even calling to ask us if that would be OK! I was taken aback and gently mentioned that spicy foods can be hard on small tummies, but it didn’t seem to register. Thankfully Chris didn’t get sick. My wife says to drop it because any conversation will look racial in nature and to only let the boys play at our place. Please help.

For weeks, 11-year-old Azlyn Hobson buzzed with excitement for the Valentine’s Day dance at her Utah middle school.

Two previous dances at the Laketown, Utah, school had been loads of fun, and this time she had a crush on a boy at school she hoped to dance with. On the morning of the big event, she layered a red-and-pink floral sundress over a long-sleeve T-shirt and leggings, and carefully arranged her hair.

But Azlyn’s enthusiasm waned when a different boy, who made her feel uncomfortable, asked her to share a slow dance.

“She was so excited in the morning when she left,” the girl’s mother, Alicia Hobson, told The Washington Post. “I asked if she got to dance with the boy she liked, and she did and she was happy. But in the same breath she was exasperated because she had to dance with the boy she hates.”

Star-spangled bikinis aside, the Fourth of July isn’t the most sexy of all holidays (it certainly falls behind the romance-heavy celebrations like Valentine’s Day, New Years Eve, and Christmas). Perhaps part of my stance has to do with the fact that this year, my barbecue plate certainly won’t include a side dish of sex. That’s because I’m opting out of my boyfriend’s big July 4th bash this year—one of the recurring social events he’s been having with his friends for a decade. While at this point, his friends are my friends and my friends are his friends, and we all love each other and all that jazz…I just don’t know if I love them at an amount of 10-hours-at-a-faraway-beach-with-no-exit-plan. So, “learn to when to say no” is something I can successfully check off my to-do list.

I get that it appears as though I’m dead in the wrong in my choice to go this route. Because isn’t the golden rule of relationships that old proverb, “If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends”? The argument makes sense to me; in the early days of your relationship, getting “with” your new squeeze’s friends is major. You don’t need to be a walking Cool Girl Who Can Hang trope, but being at least cordial with the people your love loves is a fair expectation if you want to last. That much I can handle, because I love my partner (and also, phew, he happens to know some good people and sometimes my introverted self is surprised by how much fun we can have).

“Climate Apartheid”

If our global climate change catastrophe continues unchecked, vast swaths of the world will likely become harsher and far less hospitable for humanity.

When that happens, an even greater rift will appear between the global haves and have-nots, as many people will be left without the means to escape the worst effects of the climate crisis, according to a new report published Tuesday by the U.N.’s Human Rights Council that describes an impending “climate apartheid.”

While the rich hire private firefighters or move to more expensive habitable areas, the report predicts that 120 million people will be pushed into poverty by 2030 by climate change. Many more will die.

When an acquaintance offered to pay for my therapy, I was so grateful for the opportunity to get the help I needed. But, after just three sessions, I had to call it quits.

A lot had happened before I started my search for therapy. In 2015, I failed to secure a visa that would have allowed me to work at possibly one of the most highly-reputed companies in Africa. When I first received the job offer, I thought that, finally, I had achieved some semblance of comforting stability in my life. Achieving permanent employment had been a rollercoaster ride—but my whole life has been a rollercoaster ride. Often, it has been one with more downs than ups after surviving sexual abuse, emotional abuse, a dysfunctional family, and financial challenges. It’s been overwhelming, for me and for my loved ones caught in the ride.

So you can imagine how relieved I felt when I got the job because I could finally fend for myself. You can probably also imagine how I felt when my application for a work visa was denied.