Sunday, May 24, 2009

You Betcha!


As I recall, the phrase “you betcha” was derided during the last presidential campaign as indication of lack of intelligence or at least an indication of education at lesser schools of higher education. The elites who attended the Ivy League colleges would never use such terms. Sarah Palin was pilloried for speaking in the vernacular so common to the folks of the heartland.

The May/June issue of the AARP magazine contains an article about Maria Shriver, written by Jeanne McDowell. Maria Shriver is executive producer of a documentary dealing with Alzheimer’s disease. Maria is motivated to research this devastating disease because her father suffers from it. This is a sad development in any family and certainly strikes the members of elite families as well as those from humble backgrounds. I commend Maria for her love and compassion for her father and her attempts to learn all she can to educate her children as to the changes in their grandfather and the nation via a book for children and now the four part documentary.

In spite of the seriousness of the article, I had to laugh when McDowell asked Shriver if she was afraid of getting Alzheimer’s and Maria (a member of the Kennedy clan, wife of a governor and a child of privilege with the best educational opportunities our great nation offers) answered YOU BETCHA. BIGTIME.