I’m extremely proud of my B.S. Degree in Criminal Justice. It’s especially meaningful because I hit the pause button several times and resumed my journey after each life altercation. It took a combined 10 years of fresh starts and one unplanned pregnancy to complete my degree, but mission accomplished! Overall I have no regrets (except the student loan debt acquired), and my critical thinking skills were definitely developed and enhanced from the experience. Later in life, however, I realized I wasn’t fully prepared for the real world and the lessons most relevant to my future (unlike Algebra!) weren’t solved by answers memorized from a hardback book. College didn’t suggest I pay attention to my finances, save money, live on a budget, stress the importance of planning for the future as a backup plan, or minimize the possibility of working my body to exhaustion for survival or to simply pay for…
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*Please note, since writing this the school is in the process of issuing a formal apology to the young man involved and the children are writing sorry notes. My first instinct was to decline, but this issue is one to be remembered and I believe their fresh approach immensely wise.*
Because of the seriousness of this article, I am posting it as my monthly addition to the Insecure Writers’ Group…
Dear Parents,
Your accounts and accolades of our youth on social media can only make them picture perfect. And what an unrealistic example or achievement is this in turn for our children to even fathom they have a chance of living up to. We teach these beautiful souls how to treat themselves and others. The excuse, excuse, of recounting children being children when misbehaving is a direct reflection of taking ZERO accountability in our role of educating them.
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One of my all-time favorite games to play as a kid growing up in Louisiana was Hide and Seek. As the youngest, smallest kiddo in my neighborhood, I couldn’t play many games as well as the other kids. They were more athletic, funnier, and more creative than I. They made growing up on that street memorable. They were all like big brothers and sisters to me — allowing me to play whatever they played, but they were just more experienced at everything. The one thing that I did better than all of them, however, was hide — between things, under things, and on top of things. I could hear them out there. “Wow, where could she be? We can’t ever find her. How does she do that?”
Imagine me crouching between the old wash house and the tree that rained down pecans every time the wind blew. No one could…
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Maybe Common Sense Is the Right Solution For Gun Control?I’m not sure where I fall on the gun debate here in the United States. On the one hand I completely understand the Constitution gives citizens the right to bear arms. On the other hand I understand that the creators of our constitution could have never imagined a gun like an AR-15.
I get that a person determined to do harm could do so with a knife or pistol. I also understand that I would rather take my chances with a person with a knife and a pistol than an AR-15.
I am kind of worn out on the “guns don’t kill people, people kill people argument” although I also understand the premise that guns do not pull their own trigger. I think I fall somewhere in the middle. I do believe citizens should be able to own hunting rifles and maybe even a handgun if they should choose. I guess I draw the line at weapons designed specifically to kill human beings.
I will say emphatically that putting guns in the hands of teachers might be the most insane idea our President has ever posted on Twitter. That I cannot imagine in a million years. The thought of a teacher accidentally shooting a kid or a kid disarming a teacher and shooting back horrifies me.
I do think the solution lies somewhere in the middle, which is usually the case with most debates; it will require compromise.
Citizens are not allowed to own tanks or rocket launchers or grenades so AR-15’s should probably be on that list as well.
That makes sense to me, but maybe I’m just crazy.
Danny
Spread the love I have been on this planet for the better part of 45 years. And for those 45 years I have been literally challenged. I mean challenged with literature! I have completed my Elementary English class assignments and had read only the assigned readings. The years in University were spent reading various beer … Continue reading “Seeds of Growth”
Source: Seeds of Growth – Do the things that make life interesting
The Columbine High School shooting that rocked America for years is no longer on the list of the ten deadliest shootings in modern U.S. History. Three of the shootings that are on the deadliest list (Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs, and now Parkland, Florida) have all occurred within the last six months. There is no excuse for this blatant and repulsive disregard for human life.
Somehow, unlike every other country in the world, we have managed to justify the need to own an assault rifle in the face of repeated national tragedies.
Yesterday an 18-year-old named Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people and injured many others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. He had already been
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Last night I was making dinner and half listening to the NBC Nightly News. I rushed around the kitchen, browning the chicken, dicing the red rose potatoes, and making a salad, when I heard a story that literally stopped me in my tracks.
The reporter was talking about the increasing mental health problems on college campuses. More than ever before, students are anxious, depressed, and overwhelmed.
There’s a course at Yale that teaches kids how to be happy. Ingenious.
Psychology professor Laurie Santos developed the class. She teaches students how to live a more satisfying life.
“Psychology and the Good Life” is the most popular course in Yale’s 316-year history. Nearly one-fourth of Yale undergraduates students are enrolled.
That statistic speaks volumes.
Millennials, also known as “the anxious generation,” desperately want to know how to be happier, less stressed, and more fulfilled.
“Psychology and the Good Life” focuses on:
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We live in an age where American History is in our textbooks and all teachers are required to teach it. But the thing about US History in the classroom is that often the stories told in the textbooks are from the point of view of the oppressor, not the oppressed.
We see it so often how those who have not been oppressed think that certain time periods were amazing. There are those who go to civil war reenactments, renaissance fairs, and those who say “I should have been born in the 50s and 60s because life was so much better, and more peaceful.” To which I respond…for whom?
For whom was life better and more peaceful in the 50s and 60s? What exactly was better in the 50s or 60s for anyone really? “Oh, well, we didn’t have to strap kids to car seats.” Welp, at least you had a…
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When you learn, teach. When you get, give.
Maya Angelou (1928-2014)
Have a blessed day all.
