Many of us watched, mesmerized, as rioters attacked their own city, Baltimore, yet again. Some will have asked, "how could this be allowed to happen?" Some will retort, "what do you mean, 'allowed to happen?'"
But, as we all know, the Mayor of Baltimore appears to have stated that, as a matter of policy and tactics, the government of Baltimore intentionally allowed the destruction. It's the quotation every news agency has played, and every political adviser thinks was the most idiotic thing to have said. The Mayor explained, “We also gave those who wish to destroy space to do that as well.”
Hmmmmmmmm.
Imagine how that plays out in your home, as a child begins a tantrum in the dining room near the cherished, antique china, left to you by your revered aunt. "Sweetheart, let's retreat to the bedroom and give her the space she needs to destroy stuff, if that's what she's inclined to do."
Yeah, not so much.
Then, later on, as you examine the two remaining partial plate settings, and your Mom walks into the dining room, in stunned horror, she says, "how could you let this happen?" And you reply, "let this happen? what makes you think I let this happen?"
She's obviously been talking to your hubby, because she immediately quotes your words back to you, "give her the space she needs to destroy stuff?" "What about giving her the paddling that will teach her to STOP destroying stuff?"
Incensed at hearing your words thrown back at you, you reply, "I won't tolerate having my words taken out of context!"
Yeah, so you've got that going for you.
That would be the automatic verbal recalculation power, where the words you spoke, which mean precisely what everyone understood them to mean when you said them, now no longer mean precisely what they mean when you said them. Fortunately for you, that power exists, otherwise, most parenting experts, family members, and friends would think you were some kind of idiot for letting a child run wild in a fit of destruction.
Then, of course, there's the mayor of Baltimore.
