Shut Up And Listen 82

Fathers
For the first time in . . . well, I can’t remember exactly. Well, my dad just “yelled” at me and I had to try my best not to just laugh at the old guy.
	Apparently I am lucky to have him as a father. No, no, I’m serious. I am lucky to have this man who shows no interest in my life, barely says anything to me, has given me no actual guidance as a father like ever, as a father.
	Why? Because he “allows” me to say what I want.
	There was a discussion about our house and I said I wanted to make a law where I could shoot people who litter on our ground (we live on a corner, which seems to attract garbage) with paintballs as a method of deterrence. This was meant as sarcasm in an effort to show the absurdity of corporal punishment. For some reason, my dad starts in on me.
	He tells me how lucky I am that I don’t have his father for my father. He’s sick of how I express my opinions. Apparently, I’m too blunt. Apparently, I swear too much. Apparently, I have a mind of my own, thanks to his total lack of involvement in my life.
	What put him over the edge was the paintball thing. A man who openly says that he supports the policy of caning people. Smacking people on the backs of their legs with bamboo sticks is okay, but shooting someone with a paintball, something people do for fun is heinous. 
	The problem is, like my sisters, my dad does not understand sarcasm. He just doesn’t seem to comprehend the concept. I can saw the most outrageous things and they’ll believe I’m dead serious. It’s pathetic. If my mom wasn’t as smart as she is, I’d go insane.
	My dad doesn’t like my language. He doesn’t like how I use words like “fuck” and “shit” whenever I feel like it in the comfort of my own home. He doesn’t seem to be able to remember that I first learned those words from him. In our house. At the supper table. Of course, he can say what he wants, but I can’t. He works for a living, don’t you know. I’m just a lazy, disrespectful university student. 
	My mom sat there, looking in my direction to make sure I didn’t do anything stupid. I responded with some smart remarks a few times (very tame remarks though) and then left. When I got into my room I laughed for a few minutes. Mainly because he thinks that anyone in this house takes him seriously or even respects him. After years of pretty much ignoring me, I’m going to listen to him now. Yeah. Right.
	Later I talked to my mom and she pretty much understands my point of view and was glad I was as smart as I claim to be and didn’t say anything back, really. “I knew it was either going to be laughter or jumping across the table,” she said in regards to my response. See, I like living where I do and if I had fought back a bit, most likely, I wouldn’t be living there. Not because my mom would choose him over me, but because I’d leave. I just hope that he doesn’t confuse my not wanting to get into too big while I’m still dependent on them for respect and obedience. There’s a big difference.
	One of these days, I will get into it with the fucker. I’ll give him a verbal beat down and he’ll most likely resort to physical violence as a method to strike back at me. Then I’ll have him arrested because I’m that kind of person. It’ll happen. It’s one of those things I’ve seen coming for a long time. It’s not one of those things I’m looking forward to, really, but it’s unavoidable. It’ll either happen when I move out or just on any given day when he says something that I deem to be “enough.”
	This depresses the hell out of me, you know. This music by Oasis doesn’t help either. Heh. I don’t want my relationship with him to be like this. Who would? But it’s inescapable by now. It seems that each day he does some little thing that makes me dislike him more. There have been a few times where I’ve come close to blowing up at him. Mainly times where he’d yell at one of my sisters in an overly harsh way for nothing or when he’d do the same to me. He seems to try and be a parent on the accumulation plan: he ignores things for months, even years and then just blows up for no actual reason in an effort to make up for all the other shit he let slide.
	Fuck.
	While discussing this with my mom a little, I commented on how he was right in one respect. I was lucky that his dad wasn’t mine too. My grandpa was an alcoholic who beat his kids. My mom told me that he once hit my dad with an electrical cord. I was lucky not to get that, but I’m not too sure that it’s because of who my dad is so much as it’s because of who my mom is. She said that when I was little, he once grabbed me by the cheeks with one hand and smushed my mouth so hard that I had bruises for a while after. My mom then told him that if he EVER did anything remotely like that again, his ass was grass. That later resulted in him punching through the wall rather than me.
	So yeah, I was lucky to not have his dad. Doesn’t mean I was lucky to have mine.

Constitutional Monarchy
I’m a republican.
	Seriously. I am. Not as far as the American political party goes, but in the sense that I support Canada becoming a republic and kicking the British monarchy to the curve. I want Canada to fully stand on its own as far as governing goes. 
	That doesn’t mean I don’t like the Queen on a personal level or anything. I don’t mind her. I don’t see the big fluff about her, really, but I don’t wish her any harm.
	Our Deputy Prime Minister, John Manley said that he wants Canada to eliminate ties with the British monarchy once the Queen dies. That sounds reasonable, right? He did say it the first day she was in Canada on her current visit. The press asked and he answered.
	Many said this was horrible timing and totally inappropriate. Just as many, myself included, praised him for speaking his mind and for expressing an opinion a large group of Canadians believe (possibly a majority).
	But Canada won’t be getting rid of the monarchy anytime soon. To do that, it would require the approval of the majority of the membership in Parliament and every provincial legislature. That isn’t going to happen. For now.
	The problem is that many of the older Canadian citizens were brought up being taught all that respect and shit for the monarchy. They like them. It’s regal. People of my generation don’t give a fuck. We think it’s dumb. So give it thirty years and then more people will think like me than my grandparents and we’ll get rid of the monarchy.
	I just hope the Queen can live that long, because I will not use currency that has Charles’ face on it. I just won’t.