When my children were smaller, it was my habit to turn on the radio and flip through FM stations looking for a good tune. When my son mimicked, “Who-let-the-dogs-out?” at the ripe age of three, I knew it was time to rid my life of the vestiges of pop culture that I clinged to. I had sponges strapped into carseats behind me.

In my defense, I want to say that I never purposely listened to the above mentioned song.

I was reminded of this because of a phone call I received yesterday from a market research company. In the past I have participated in various focus groups because I like to make a quick buck make sure that my trading is profitable. So the company called again, wanting people “in the younger age group” to participate in a study on local radio stations. She asked what stations I listened to. I replied, “540 and 1350,” to which she answered, “Those aren’t radio stations.” Then I said, “They would be on the AM frequency.”

Right. I know. Talk radio is for the old folks.

Now, don’t think the hypocrisy is beyond me, as I realize that Rush Limbaugh can be worse than letting some dogs out. But that’s why I ditched Dr. Laura and I only listen to Rush when he’s not cussing.

Today, as I was listening to the indictment against “Scooter” Libby, I reflected on the fact that this information was not going to help me this week or next year. There are some things worth paying attention to, but this is not one of them. I was filling my mind with idle chatter, wasting an opportunity to fill it with better things. I plan to make better choices tomorrow.

Let me explain another way. When the uproar in the Christian community transpired regarding the release of the latest Harry Potter book, my husband remarked, “It’s a fad and that’s a good enough reason to reject it.” If the Harry Potter books are truly “great works of fiction,” then they will stand the test of time and still be great in, say, twenty years. So then, I can buy it in paperback and save a few bucks. In the meantime, I have yet to scratch the surface of truly outstanding literature, and so, it makes better sense to fill my time reading that which is proven to be worthwhile.

Truly, if the public deems something worthy, that is reason enough to give it a triple-take. I’ve yet to witness when the mass public has been right when calling a thing “good.”

I want my kids to know that when they look back on their childhoods and wonder why there were no pictures of them wearing oversized glasses and a wizard hat, that there was a deliberate reason behind it. I trust they’ll thank me.

If it turns out that I’m wrong, I’ll give them the twenty dollars for a wizard hat to soothe the scars.