It’s Official
I’ve told classes that I will not be here next year. Reactions are still coming in. Anger among them.
One of my girls, who is graduating this year, sat me down for a long talk about it today. She told Mandy and I yesterday that she was not sure if she should be happy for us, or pissed off at me for leaving. Did I mention that she is going to be graduating, so she won’t be around anyway? Not the point of course.
She says that she is still processing it: big brother moving away, even if she wasn’t going to see me everyday anyway, like she has for the past three years. Thinking of going to college in Boston now to join us. She’s also lobbying to be the Godmother of our first child. She was hoping that’s what I was going to tell her yesterday. A bit of a let down I guess.
Others are equally unhappy, esp. those who planned on taking a class from me next year, and are currently trying to figure out who will “prepare them for college.” That’s my rep. He’ll beat you to death, but you’ll be ready for the world when he’s done. Funny when juxtaposed with my new job: teaching students how to be teachers. The general reply was “good, we need more like you, regardless of how scary that is.”
Some are taking it as a sign of how the school (and districit) are on a serious decline - “this place is going to crap: we can’t keep any good teachers anymore” - before listing off the others who have left, and the ones they wish they could get rid of. These are the same kids who complain about the workload day in and out. Apparently they are learning something. Others are starting to see the administration as more evil than they previously believed . . .
I’m noticing that some are trying to soak up as much of the Scary Black Guy as they can before I’m gone. Spending more time to ask questions and dig into the old mind. It’s cute and heart-breaking at the same time.None are stupid enough to think that I’m tuned out for the rest of the year; they know that I will be turning it up a notch, or two, or twenty, because I don’t trust anyone else with the welfare of my kids. I’ve got a lot to do in a short amount of time. Some people better stay out of my way.
The Golden Rule Is Crap (a Facebook Debate)
My former co-worker posted a note about the Golden Rule. I replied. What follows is the debate/discussion which ensued.
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“Treat others like you want to be treated” has been espoused by parents, schools, and churches for centuries, if not millenia, as the moral ground to which we must aspire in order to be kind and caring human beings. While this platitude is almost universally accepted as the path to personal fulfillment and world peace, I tell you here and now, in front of God Almighty and anybody else who cares to read my occasional Facebook rant , that it is, in fact, a steaming pile of crap. And here is why…
Exactly what kind of monster egomaniac would I have to be in order to believe that every other human on this planet wants to be treated the same way I do? Have I actually attained God’s ideal state of human perfection to such a degree that all of humanity should imitate my particular wants and needs?
I, like most teachers, see 120 to 150 kids a day. Some of them need a warm, fuzzy hug, and we should give them that when appropriate. Some of them need a swift kick in the ass, and we should give them that, too. Some need someone to listen to them, and some need to be told to shut the hell up and sit down and listen to us. Some need a friend, some need a parent, and some just need a little space and to be left alone for ten minutes of peace and quiet away from everything and everyone who thinks they’re trying to “help” them through a difficult time. But whatever they need, I absolutely freakin’ guarantee that it’s not the same for every one of them, and nine times out of ten, it’s not the same thing I would need in a similar situation.
Now, the very fact that I’ve got the stones to post something so contrary to that which has been accepted as self-evident for hundreds of years indicates that I am, in fact, an egomaniac of legendary proportions (this is not news to anyone who has spoken to me for over ten minutes). But even my mania has not yet aspired to such heights as to make me believe that how I want to be treated in a given situation is how everyone else should/would want to be treated. And yet, it seems to be commonly accepted “wisdom” that this is the case among almost everyone else I know. I just don’t get it. How is it, that in the name of empathy for fellow man, we are admonished to ignore his needs and substitute our own?
Here’s a better version: “Treat others as they want to be treated.”
Here endeth my two cents’….(Subsequent replies in comments)
Latin Phrases
I went to look up the actually meaning of ad hoc and de facto the other night, and came across the wonder of wiki once again:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latin_phrases
List of Latin Phrases
Awesome.
Spending time scrolling through, reading, learning, enjoying. Some are legal or literary terms, others are mottoes and sayings from famous people/institutions. Hours of enjoyment. But I’m a nerd.
Couple of my current “Favorites” (more to follow)
* audacter calumniare, semper aliquid haeret (slander boldly, something always sticks) ~ Francis Bacon, De Augmentis Scientiarum (1623)
* odium theologicum (theological hatred) ~ A name for the special hatred generated in theological disputes.
* omnes vulnerant, postuma necat [omnes feriunt, ultima necat ~ All [the hours wound, last one kills
* si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses ~ “If you had kept your silence, you would have stayed a philosopher (we would have thought you wise)”
* si vis pacem para bellum ~ “if you want peace, prepare for war”
* tu autem domine miserere nobis ~ “But Thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us”
Red Rover
This song’s been on my mind a bit recently. And I just heard it again. Figured I’d post it.Written a few years ago, another I’ve been meaning to come back to in a serious way.Time will tell what will happen with it.
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Red Rover
As my momma says, “It’s a brand new day.” I’ve got a band-aid on my knee,
And all the grass stains are washed away, and those hard falls just a memory.
So put me in, let me try; I promise you, I’ll get it this time.
Red rover, red rover, oh please send me over: I’m ready to play today,
And while my face is the same as yesterday, it’s my heart that has changed.
So what do you say?
So put me in; let me try: You’ll feel my wind, as blow by,
And you’ll realize that you feel pride that I am on your side.
So call on me, cause it’s my turn, you should shield your eyes,
or they may burn,and you will learn what I can do when I break through.
Red rover, red rover, oh please send me over: I’m ready to play today,
And while my face is the same as yesterday, it’s my heart that has changed.
So what do you say?
Red rover, red rover, oh please send me over: I’m ready to play today;
And while my face is the same as yesterday It’s my faith that has change,
So get out of my way
Believe me, I’ve been on my knees and I know nothing ever comes easy
‘Cause yesterday band-aids and blood stains, but I’ve come to play today.
So don’t waste your time on what you can do:I’m sorry dog, I thought that you knew,
that by the time you turn around you’ll have to take two
Cause I’ve just blown through you
I’m Off My Game At The Moment
“Not Myself”
“In Repair”