Hello poppets!

You can tell that you are used to texting on your mobile phone, when you are capable of having your thumb move to precisely the right buttons on the keypad without even checking first!

I have fairly well attained this near nirvana-like state of textability.

That said, I still refuse to truncate my spelling, unlss absltly ncssry.

* * *

(rant!)
On the subject of things literary, I have been loaned a copy of the 1972 New Zealand edition of The Little Red School Book. (Soren Hansen and Jesper Jensen (teachers), translated from Danish by Berit Thornberry)

Full of truthful comments, this book was slammed as being subversive to the education system, and "encouraging" children to have sex/drugs/alcohol....
There was no encouraging, only description of basic medical facts in plain language.
It was subsequently banned from reading lists in many countries.

Was it ahead of its time? In 1972, barely, perhaps.
In today's world - I think that at the very least, the sections pertaining to education should be compulsory for reading, by children, certainly those at intermediate level. (10, 11 yrs.)

Ignoring or hiding issues does not make them go away. It is like taking a lamp away from a walker in the dark.
They "might" navigate their way safetly through the potholes, but with a light at least they'll recognise a danger for what it is, and hopefully step around it. Funny thing, potholes - most people, when made aware of the inherent dangers of stepping into potholes, generally manage to avoid injuring themselves. But then, I speculate, and it is only about potholes.

If you read it yourself, remember what you were like as a teenager.
If any of it is relevant to you (and with much of it you will recognise many things "in hindsight"), then you will know it to be an honest little red book.

There are some who protested against the book "on moral grounds", it is likely that they would still do so, it is their right to do so, but I do wish that for others there had been a choice.
I wish I had been able to read this book as a teenager, but thanks to the virtual non-existence of it when I was a school child, I never even knew it existed.

Thankyou, oh "once-was-a-judging-panel" of adults, on behalf of a kid who could have used that information for better self-esteem.
Personally, I wish it was reprinted (with the minor updating of a couple of things like the far more dangerous drugs of the present day.)

One further thing. If it is deemed still, to be "too much" for kids to handle (on top of what they already have to deal with - attitude problems, peer-pressure, drugs, alcohol, sexuality, i.e. -surprise- the topics discussed by this very book), I think it should definitly be compulsory reading for adults. Especially if you substitute "teacher" for "manager", and principal for "chief employer".

(end rant!)
Now, for something more pleasant, read Lord Dunsany's short stories!