Dear Kid,

I assume by now you’ve heard that 2 women are graduating from Army Ranger school. And you probably know that the Army Ranger school is HARD—as in only 94 of the 381 men who started the class finished.

Army Ranger School is the Army’s premier combat leadership course, teaching Ranger students how to overcome fatigue, hunger, and stress to lead Soldiers during small unit combat operations.

Amazingly, people are still talking about how men and women are different and therefore women can’t do certain jobs in the military.

For the record, these people are twits.

I could be glib and point out the obvious: that overcoming fatigue, hunger, and stress is the definition of early motherhood, so OF COURSE women can do it. But I’m too mad to be glib.

Let’s be clear. Yes, men and women are different. Tall men are different than short men. Men who grew up in a metropolitan setting are different than those who grew up in a rural area. Men who grew up next door to each other are different.

Different isn’t bad and different isn’t the issue.

Actually different is good, but it still isn’t the issue.

The issue is: Can a person perform a given role and is the role correctly defined for current situations?

There’s been a lot of talk about whether the ability to carry heavy equipment should really be a requirement for being an elite combatant given the type of enemies we’re fighting these days.

Not being a military expert, I have no idea. But it’s a question worth considering.

There should be talk about whether doing it “the way it’s been done before” is the best way.

For the moment, these two women have proven they can do what the men can do, the way the men do it. And they should be given all the opportunities men who accomplished the same thing are being given.

To those women we say Brava! And Congratulations.

You go, Ladies.

Love, Mom

Dear Kid,

I love it when people look at something from a new perspective. (That might be reason enough to learn to do a handstand.)

A group of designers in Minneapolis have done this brilliantly. They have a site called footballasfootball.com where they have taken NFL logos and reinterpreted them as European football (read: soccer) logos. Fab-u-lous. This is their version of the Miami Dolphins’ logo. Check out the others when you have a mo. Really cool.

A less fabulous re-do, is  Channing Tatum’s spoof of Jean Claude Van Dammme’s Epic Split. It’s less than brilliant but it’s all the talk on the internet—you have been warned.

I had lunch with the Amazing Amy yesterday. We were talking about her business when I realized she’d interpreted a comment I’d made differently than I’d intended. When I explained what I’d meant, she looked liked her world had just spun backward for a moment (priceless expression—too bad I didn’t have my camera ready). It opened up a whole new way for her to think. Very cool.

Here’s to finding those moments of unexpected perspective.

Love, Mom

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