Shining Thru

I’m not sure where the younger generation is headed, but it doesn’t look good.  Legislators keep trying to increase the curriculum and make everything look good on paper, but what it’s actually doing is forcing kids to give up.  No child left behind is plowing students over by trying to make them keep up with some made up standards by politicians that have never been inside a classroom, other than as a student.  I saw in the news that another student brought another gun to school….I think that it is so sad that we have to worry about such things.  As always the comments on the article were much more interesting that the article itself…people say all sorts of things from where are the parents, to that school is for the trash of the district anyway…Even if it is an alternative school how can we possible call children trash….Schools have a lot of issues these days and it scares me to think that these are the people of the generation that are suppose to be running things in the future.  If we don’t get it together and start worrying about the right issues I don’t understand how we expect improvements. What good are nice looking standardized test scores in the records office if children are running around on the streets or bringing the streets to the schools.  I don’t think that we realize all of the time what kind of issues are in the homes for the young people today, but I also don’t think that we should be making excuses for anyone, I think that the first step to having any real improvement is to hold people responsible for their own actions.

Reading the local news was pretty interesting today.  I read that near by the city counsel voted to impose a daytime curfew for children of school age.  Their new law states that children between the ages of 6 and 16 should not be found in the community between the times of 8:30 am and 2:30 pm.  Police will take care of running into children of school age during the day by offering to take them home or to school, if they refuse than their guardian will get the citation…..Reading the comments was even more interesting.  Some people were complaining that this is forcing the police officers to take care of the parental responsibilities of these young people…however, I feel that it is forcing parents to be held accountable for the actions of their child or children.  Now a days, parents don’t have too many excuses for not knowing where their children are; schools have auto dialers that inform them whenever a child is late or absent, teachers send letters home, and most teenagers I see have cell phones that parents could track them with if they so choose.  Some people may argue that tracking their child is an invasion of their privacy, but I feel that it is your responsibility to know about your child while they are living under your roof and your responsibility.  I think it’s wonderful that law enforcement will help parents out when they see the young people walking around town for no good reason other than to avoid getting an education….However, I do think that it is pretty sad that we, as a society, would have to resort to such matters.  It is interesting the variety of comments on this particular article, one person said that it is a shame that parents will end up paying for their children’s mistakes and that “parent’s are use to footing the bill for their children…I think that is a major problem in our society….why shouldn’t parents be held responsible for their children, they are the ones that raised them.  I know there are some people who feel that they are in a hopeless situation with their children…but I think they are running out of people to blame other than the parents and the way that the children were raised.  If you let a 2 year old run the household, what do you think will happen when that toddler grows into a teenager?

Do you ever find yourself with two personalities…not in the crazy way, but just the way you act and react to different groups of people compared to when you’re on your own or with a separate group of people that you know better and are more comfortable with?  I’ve noticed that some people have work personalities and then are a completely different person outside of the work place, when they are home, or just hanging out relaxing with coworkers as friends instead of work associates.

I know that my personality changes and people notice it sometimes too…if they see both personalities, but I think it’s just the way certain situations and groups of people make me react.

It’s weird to find the balance of always being yourself but being what people expect of you in certain situations as well…I think that we start this struggle at a very young age.  having to be this while knowing it doesn’t quite fit with who you are as a person…so trying to curve it to make the square peg fit in the circle hole by smooting the edges a little…even when it takes a lot of force.

Some people will argue that you shouldn’t change who you are for any reason…but I’m not sure you are changing who you are…I think it’s more of a action and reaction kind of thing…I think that certain situations simply cause people to act differently….

What happens when the followers become the leaders?  Ever heard the phrase, too many Chiefs and not enough Indians?  It seems to be the way some things are working these days.  Everyone wants to be in charge and feel the power, move up on the ladder so to speak.  With everyone grasping for the power stick, a chance to get behind the wheel, people forget to do their own job, fill the position they are already in….

Why is it that people spend so much time trying to prove themselves that they look plain stupid because they look like they aren’t even capable of doing the position that they are already suppose to be doing.  They try to increase their position by sabotaging those around them, or by stepping on toes and trying to do jobs that belong to other people.

I don’t understand people that don’t want to go through the proper channels of things, who can’t simply feel good about doing a good days work and know that they are doing the best they can at what they are suppose to be doing.  Instead they are fighting for something that might not even be in the cards for them ever, much less right then at that moment.  Just because they want to skip steps to get to the top of the pyramid faster, doesn’t mean that it’s right.

The struggle in the game of tug-a-war played by the adults of our society is obvious…and annoying.  Sometimes the adults I observe act more like children than the kids I know….you want to tell them to stop trying to grow up so fast and enjoy what they have while they have it…because when you get to the top you might be disappointed with the view.

What are the lines and boundaries of privacy?  What if you provide the equipment, do you have rights to know everything that happens with that equipment?  Or is there a line?  Who in their right minds, thought that the school district spying on their students through the built in webcams on the school issued laptops?

Reading the article, “School Officials Likened to ‘Peeping Toms,’” I was amazed that a group of people thought that it was a good idea to try and get a student in trouble, using illegal web images as their evidence….

Didn’t anyone think that it was a bad idea to record teenagers in their home without informing anyone or getting anyone’s permission?  Didn’t anyone consider that weird?  Would any of those school officials like to be viewed in their homes?  And know what goes on behind their closed doors?  I have a feeling that they will argue that because they were school computers they had the right to view whatever goes on around them, but I doubt that will go very far….I have to wonder how many charges and what kind of charges will be brought against this school district.

Interesting things pop up in the news from time to time, the stupidity of people continues to surprise me.

Why is it that it always seems like the people who are the most removed from another position and are probably only related in their title, feel they have the right to criticize the people who actually work in those positions…and it never seems to be in a productive, working towards the same goal kind of way, more condescending and in the least productive way possible do they approach an issue or a topic.

I think that the most annoying criticism comes from people who think they have power or authority and don’t, or at least not as much as they think they have…it’s not even the people that spend their time wishing they were in charge, it’s the people who think that they are in charge but really aren’t and you just wish that somebody would knock them down a peg or two.

Somebody needs to call them out and make them realize that what they are talking about is a bunch of BS and that they don’t actually have any power in the situation.  Unfortunately, even if someone calls them out, most of the time they have created such a world in their head where they have authority that simply wont understand that someone is speaking out against them…instead they will try to turn it all around, because of course nobody could be talking to them that way.  It’s even more annoying when what you are doing is your job, and you’re doing a good job at it, you are just not doing it the way that they think it should be done, or the way they did it years and years ago when they were in your same position….things change, but apparently, some people will always be jerks when any amount of power is put into their hands, even if it is just a new title….

Why do some people feel that they have to criticize other people who are doing their jobs to justify their position as a legitimate one.  Some people never feel good about themselves until they find something wrong with someone else….

“Be the change you wish to see in the world”  -Gandhi

Can one person really make that big of a difference?  This is a great sentiment that I ran across while looking at a wall of quotes, but if everyone’s ideals are different then I have to assume that if everyone were to live according to this particular quote, that there would also be someone who is equally determined to act opposite from your personal ideals for the world….what happens at that point?  Does it become a battle of the wills to force your change onto the world?  Or can people co-exist with different idealistic goals?  Is living according to your own ideals suppose to make a difference in the world?

What if your ideals go against the conventions of society?  What if someone’s ideals go against the laws of their country?  Are they still suppose to openly defy the laws and live according to their ideals anyway?  Do they secretly wish for their ideals to be accepted?

Where is the line of living in accordance to your own ideals and still accepting everyone else’s ideals while still living according to the constraints of society?  How far do you push the line of the taboo?

It’s nice to see quotes from people like Gandhi, but you have to wonder if there really is any truth to their inspirational purpose, or if they are just pretty words to see on a wall….

Who determines what is and isn’t worth having a federal holiday?  And, why don’t all of the declared Federal Holidays have to be observed?  President’s Day is a weird one, some people have it off, some schools are closed, some offices are closed….but then others are not, some teachers have to go into work, some offices are open, it’s like a guessing game to decide where you can and can’t go…well you can go, but it’ll be a waste of your time because it’ll be closed due to the “holiday”.

Are there committees formed in order to decide if something is important enough to have its own holiday?  Or does someone just suggest it to the president?  Some of our holidays just seem odd to me.  President’s Day???  What are we suppose to be celebrating?  I wish I knew the history behind the holiday and what the point was….

Columbus day….ugh, don’t get me started on that one.  I really do not feel that we should celebrate someone “discovering” a land that already had people living there.

There are so many holidays and I’m not sure what make some of the days so special, and why we don’t honor other things.  There seems to be a day for everything…even a day for speaking like a pirate, but what makes something leap to a federal holiday?

I’m kind of tried of hearing people complain about people in public service jobs:  the cops only eat donuts and drink coffee, teachers are over paid babysitters, nurses only write things down for the doctors, or couldn’t make it through med school….

People make these complaints until they need that service from someone in the community and we wonder why these people are bitter.  They probably love their job, or they wouldn’t do it for the crappy pay.  But instead of thanks they generally get complaints and people who don’t understand why anything that they dream up might simply not be possible….

Why do people think that only their needs are important?  Or that they should always be the first priority?  Instead the people who try to do public services only end up being complained about and hated.  People only want to complain, without taking the time to understand what others have to do.  I think that people should really take the time to look at what other people have to do instead of wondering why they are not doing what you want them to do.

How do you decide what is right and what is wrong?  How do you decide to believe one person and not the other…especially when the other person is depending on your support.  How do you decide that even though one person goes against the rules, they were in the right?  What makes that change over in your head…is it truly who you know that makes the difference?

I know people complain all of the time about celebrities getting out of traditional consequences for anything from theft, assault, to murder…all depending on who they are and if the news thinks that they will make more money supporting them or making it worse for them.   What gets to me, not that people want celebrities to get justice like everyone else, and face the consequences for their actions, but the fact that this exact scam happens on all levels and as far as I can tell, in all communities.

Even at the high school level, the Principal’s child gets special rights and privileges simply because they know nothing will happen to them.  They know they can choose to obey or disobey the rules and nobody is going to say anything to them…in fact they will probably do all they can to cover up for the child, simply because they don’t want the mama drama of their coworker.

Or what about when a boss is obviously unfairly treating a fellow employee, do you opening support the boss while secretly despising them and just hoping that they will find another job soon?  Or do you stand behind what you know is right….I guess that depends on how important your ethics are compared to your job and in this economy…I guess it’s a situations by situations type of decision.

I can’t blame people for wanting to protect their job security…but how long is our community going to stand behind the it’s who you know and how rich they are policy?  How long are we going to find it a moral dilemma of who we should support when we know who is in the right?  How are we going to continue to let those decisions simply slide under the radar while everyone else turns the other way for just a minute?

I don’t know what makes one thing right and one thing wrong…but I do know that we have only encouraged double standards in our society.