It's all about money

Let me set the scene for you:

A child is involved in a four-wheeler accident. First Responders and EMS are dispatched to the location, with the First Responders going on location several minutes before EMS. With the First Responders is a thirteen-year veteran Paramedic, who assesses the child's injuries and decides the child needs to be flown by helicopter.

The fire department sets up a landing zone less than 1 1/2 miles away from the accident scene and the helicopter is less than five minutes away. At this point, an EMS paramedic, who is not on the frackin' scene and hasn't even assessed the patient, decides to cancel the helicopter and transport the child by ambulance to the local hospital (which, BTW, isn't trauma certified), over eight miles away.

Does anybody besides me see the problem here?

Patient care my ass....

A quick refresher on the rules of driving...

IF an emergency vehicle (be it FD, EMS, or LEO) is approaching you, either from the front or rear, with its lights and sirens on, you are to pull to the side of the road and stop. THIS IS THE LAW!!!!!

The law does not say continue driving as you already were. It does not say flip off the driver of said vehicle. It does not say to go ahead and make that left turn you were going to make. And it certainly does not say to pull into the path of the emergency vehicle.

And if someone much more intelligent than you, who understands the law, begins to pull over for the emergency vehicle, this IS NOT your cue to pass the other vehicle. They are pulling over for a frackin' reason and you should be also. There's a good possibility that over fifteen tons of bright red and white fire engine, traveling at a moderately high rate of speed, is quickly filling the rearview mirror you've failed to look at in over twenty years. I don't care how tough you think your Expedition or Hummer or Suburban is, it is no match for a fire engine. Don't make me hurt you....

Merry Frackin' Xmas!!!

Hope everyone's Xmas went well!!! Mine did until just before 3:00PM. That's when the tards came out in full force. Eight stinkin' calls between then and 1:00AM this morning. EIGHT!!!!

Hey moron, if the fire department has already been called out to your place because your trash fire got out of control, DO NOT re-ignite said trash fire after they leave. And especially don't complain when the fire department extinguishes your trash fire. Firefighters get kind of pissy when dealing with morons, especially more than once a day. And we have tools that would make a medieval dungeon master cringe.

And I sure wish someone would figure out what's causing all the explosions. Over the last couple of days we've been dispatched twice to reports of multiple explosions. Now these reports are from people over five miles apart, and the reportees are talking about it shaking their house. There's got to be something going on, but we've yet to figure it out. No gas or oil wells are on fire, no demolished houses, etc, etc.

Of course, it would be too much to ask, if these explosions are intentional, for the person causing the explosions to self-nominate for a Darwin Award...

The problem with designing something completely foolproof...

... is underestimating the ingenuity of complete fools.

Another blogger who is a near-and-dear friend quoted (actually slightly misquoted me) on his blog. And while I'd love to take credit for such an eloquent colloquialism, but that is actually a paraphrase from the late, great Douglass Adams (RIP).

Yesterday was a beautiful day. There was a slight breeze, though there were gusts up to 20 or so mph. The sky was virtually cloudless and Mother Nature was adorned in her best Fall finery, displaying colors from brown to amber to straw.

And tards (not retards, that would be TOO good for them) ruin it by deciding today of all frackin' days would be a great day to burn trash. Did I mention the 20 or so mph gusts? How many of you have ever seen a grass fire, not a brush fire or forest fire -- a grass fire, produce head-high flames?

And not once, but twice....

Tards....

I got a compliment from someone I've known for ages and to whom I've always looked up to as one tough SOB. The first fire was started by his neighbor and headed towards his house when I got there. I pull the pre-connect off of the tanker (the brush truck was already there and engaged elsewhere) and tried to head the fire off at the pass. I'm by myself and this person (a civilian) helps me pull hose. As he tells it later, at one point the smoke got so thick that he said screw it and took off. He turned around and I'm still out in the middle of it holding my ground. Thanks CW, those words meant more than you'll ever know...

And they said it couldn't be done...

... and by f'ing God, we went out a did it!!!

The school I work at is moving into a brand-new building once we get back from the holidays. This means that we had to pack everything but the furniture up, including books, computers, supplies, etc., and move it to the new school in the space of less than a month. There were a lot of naysayers that said we were nuts, that there was no way we could pull it off.

Well guess what? We did it!!

My room is ready to go, with everything back on the walls, all my papers filed, my computer hooked up to the network and going, and the first week's assignments already written on the board.

Damn we're good!!!

Though the days are cold...

... they are still nice and sunny. Even if there are clouds in the sky, nothing can erase the smile from face. When things are going right, nothing can go wrong.

Sometimes life just goes in your favor. All I can say is that it's about damn time things turned around...

Give a man a fish...

...and you feed him for a day. Teach a man....

OK, that's the problem today, actually teaching someone anything. Students today don't want to be taught, they want to be given the answers. Not the information, no... they want the EXACT answers to the EXACT questions. That's not teaching and it's certainly not learning.

And please don't ask students to even consider taking notes. They won't, that's below them. Besides, that's actually asking them to take the initiative and learn instead of just spoonfeeding them.

Of course, when the students fail the test, it couldn't possibly be that they didn't take notes, or they didn't do the work, or they didn't study. No, it's obvious the test is simply too hard.

But I won't back down. These students need to learn the subject matter. Thanks to a certain test called the TAKS, they've got to...

Fire - 1, FD - 0

How would you like to play a game? A game for which you are expertly trained and beautifully equipped? But wait, your opponent gets to chose the field of play. And better yet, he gets to start anywhere from five to thirty minutes before you even arrive at the field. Such is the life of a firefighter.

Yesterday morning came the call that every firefighter dreads, that of a fellow firefighter's house on fire. I normally don't run calls after 6:00AM since I'm a school teacher and must be in class not later that 8:00AM. But this was a definite exception. Dispatch informed us almost immediately that it was at the home of one of our own, so minutes later I'm calling the school secretary from the front seat of the engine letting her know why I'll be late.

From five miles away we can see the smoke, from a mile away flames are visible over the treetops. $h!t...

Arrive on location to find the whole back side of the house fully involved, but a couple of front rooms possibly salvagable. Another firefighter and I make the initial attack through the front door, trying to push the fire away from the two rooms. We hit the fire above our heads and tried to push farther into the house, but within two steps the fire is rolling back over us. A few minutes of this and we retreat, hoping to find another way in. But there's not, so it's back to the front door. It seems hopeless, as we're barely making a dent. Second arriving companies pull a second hose and join the attack and we start to make progress.

But by this time my alarm bell on my SCBA is going off, I'm low on air. And I'm spent, exhausted. Outside I go for re-hab. Several minutes later I'm back at it, but by now the fire has done its damage... nothing is left.

I never make it to work, ended up taking the whole day off. I was just too drained, both physically and emotionally.

They had no insurance and they lost everything. The FD has set up a fund at a local bank and is accepting donations. If you'd like to help, go to www.tarkingtonvfd.com for more info.

Well, it sure is Monday....

Oh, my head!!! Ugh, my stomach!!! Slightly too much to drink and staying up long past what should have been my bedtime do not make for a wonderful Monday morning. Which is why I'm posting Monday afternoon...

I nursed a Pepsi all morning trying to keep my recalcitrant stomach in line. It threatened to rebel all morning, but by lunchtime peace negotiations had produced an acceptable truce. I'm still yawning like I was in church on Sunday, but the head no longer feels like an over-pressurized tire, threatening to explode at any time.

I'll never do that again....

Yeah, right.

Of Tragedy and Laughter

Responded to a house fire yesterday evening. The fire had been started by the three-year old grandson of the owners. He had been playing with a lighter in a closet. Sadly, this wasn't the first time they'd caught him playing with lighters.

The fire department went on location and made an excellent stop on the fire, confining the fire damage to the area in and around the master bedroom. The rest of the home sustained smoke and water damage, but with work it could be habitable.

There are two holes in the roof above the master bedroom which we cut to ventilate the house. Civilians often don't understand the reason firefighters are purposely cutting a hole in a roof. It often seems like we are causing more damage than we're preventing. The reason for the hole is to cause the toxic gases to vent out of the roof at a point of our choosing, generally nearest the fire. If we didn't do this, the fire would race along the attic until it found a vent point. This could cause the fire to spread to other areas of the structure.

Anyway, we almost had to have the homeowner arrested for trying to get back into his own home before we had declared the fire out and the structure safe. Twice we had to remove him from inside the house while we were still conducting firefightering operations. He was finally told not to enter again until we gave him permission or he would be arrested. He tried to argue that we couldn't do that since it was his own house. Ummm.... yes we can. Until the FD releases it, it is their fire scene and they have ultimate control.

I can understand this man's frustration, and we're not trying to be @$$holes, but it only hinders our operations to have him going inside while we are still trying to extinguish the fire. Plus, we do this for his safety.

After the fire, the man's sons became upset with some of the firefighters who they felt were laughing about the loss of the home. While there was laughter, it was in no way related to the fire.

Some may ask why we were laughing. Firefighting is a very dangerous job. There are nearly as many firefighters killed in the line of duty every year as there are law enforcement officers. Fighting fire places a person in a very tense situation, one where they must act in a manner that goes against natural instinct. After all, firefighters are rushing into a burning building when everyone else, including the rats and roaches, is rushing out.

After the fire this tension needs to be released. And we release it with laughter. We laugh about someone's hunting mis-adventures. We laugh about getting the firetruck stuck in the yard. We laught about a lot of things. But we don't laught about the tragedy at hand. We see these day in and day out and know the heartbreak involved.

So we laugh. We laugh trying to remember the good times, because we see so much of the bad....

It's been a long time, it's been a long time....

... it's been a lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time.

OK, so I've been slacking lately, not posting for several days. But I do have a somewhat decent excuse, my computer at school has been unable to access this site. I know what you're thinking, I could be posting from home, but my home computer is dedicated to more important tasks. Like downloading porn... ;-)

Anyway, what's on my mind today. Not much really, just the same old, same old. Like wondering why someone's promises of future actions often mean more to people than a person's past actions. Especially when someone hasn't done anything of substance in the past and then people are surprised when the promises are left unfulfilled. I just don't get that...

Maybe I was raised different or I just have a different outlook on life. I mean, if someone hasn't done $#!^ in the past, what makes you think they'll do anything in future. I don't care what they say they're going to do; a leapord can't change it's spots.

But the real problem is that we belong to an ADD society. Everyone has it. We can't remember what happened in the past, what a person did or did not do. So we believe the lies and promises. Over and over and over....

The philosopher Georges Santayana once said, "Those who do not understand the past are doomed to repeat its failures." Hell, we can't remember the past, so why are we so surprised when we repeat its failures.

Another philosopher (whose name I can't seem to remember at the moment) once said, "A fool is someone who fails to learn from his mistakes." Seems I'm surrounded by fools and I'm the court jester.

The Problem with Horror

A good friend sent a short-story that she wrote to me last night to get my opinion. The story was very, very good, but it got me to thinking about the horror genre in general and Hollywood horror movies specifically.

I mean, just how plausable are these scenarios. For instance, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." This is a story about some psycho running around the woods of Texas hacking people up with a chainsaw. Now I must point out that this was the TEXAS Chainsaw Massacre, not the California Chainsaw Massacre or the Connecticutt Chainsaw Massacre... it was the TEXAS Chainsaw Massacre.

This is a state where there are more guns than people and children are taught no later than age eight how to shoot... and kill.

So here's a more likely scenario for the TEXAS Chainsaw Massacre:

(1)Psycho in mask steps out, revving chainsaw
(2)Wiley Texan pulls out his .45
(3)BAM!!! BAM!!! BAM!!!
(4)End of movie

The moral of this story: Never bring a chainsaw to a gunfight....

Shooting's too good for 'em...

Ya' know, some people should just be shot. Summarily executed... right then, right there... for being an @$$.

Yesterday the fire departmet that I'm in was called to a MVA (Motor Vehicle Accident) around 5:00PM. This was our third call of the day since only 2:30PM. Anyway, this was a very bad accident. A log truck had lost control and rolled over while trying to turn from Texas 105 onto Texas 321, losing it's load in the process. The logs crushed a Volvo station wagon and the log truck, now on it's side, runs head-on into a Nissan pick-up. This is a very, very bad wreck, with logs scatterd all over the roadway. Pictures of it can be seen at www.tarkingtonvfd.org.

Anyway, only the northbound lane of Texas 321 is passable, so the Fire Department started re-routing traffic down county roads and around the accident. Of course, this is going to back up traffic. And people are going to be angry and frustrated.

But don't take it out on the firefighters!!! We were out there for three long hours working this accident, when most would have preferred to be at home. Oh, and did I mention that we're all volunteers. Yep, that's right... we didn't get paid a cent for it. And we're getting cursed at by people.

To make matters worse, some jerk in a Jeep actually threw something at one of the firefighters. Bad move, really bad move. State troopers jumped in their cruisers and went in search of the dumb@$$. Last I heard, he was in custody. They should've just shot him right then and there.

The only good thing that came of the whole ordeal was that, miraculously, no one was killed or seriously injured. Look at the pics... someone's guardian angels were working overtime.

The Town Harlot

That would be me for the next two days, standing on the street corner, soliciting money from anybody that happens to pass by. It's that or I'm playing homeless... and all in the name of charity. The fire department I'm in is having a "Fill the Bucket" fundraiser to raise much-needed funds. We try to do these around the major holidays to take advantage of the increased traffic. Labor Day was a bust because everyone was dealing with their own issues following Hurricane Rita.

Now, before you go hollerin' about how the majority of people that are donating probably don't even live here, remember that the majority of people involved in traffic accidents that we respond to... you guessed it.... don't live here.

Regardless, once again I prostitute myself in the name of charity....

Thanksgiving

Well, it's that time of year again. Time to find some poor old turkey and pick it's carcass till there's nothing left. And that's just the shopping on Black Friday.

But seriously, with the holidays comes the time to step back and examine my life. And it's these times that I realize that I have a lot for which to be thankful. I've got family that has stood beside me through the many ups (few) and downs (plenty) of my life. I have my sanity (debatable), health, and sense of humor. I've known love and lost it, only to find it again and again. I've made it through all the trials and tribulations and emerged even stronger than before.

I have a job and a hobby that I enjoy and both give me a sense of pride and accomplishment. I've got friends that I know I can count on and no personal enemies that I know of.

I live in a great country whose freedoms are protected by men and women whose boots I am unworthy to fill. I can sleep in peace at night because they are out there on the front lines ever ready to make the ultimate sacrifice. May God forever bless them.

Though I may bitch, gripe, and moan from time-to-time, deep down I know that there are many, many people in this world that would die for (and many do every day) to have the opportunities that I have.

So tonight I count my blessings, thanking Almighty God for making me who I am and placing me in this exact place at this exact moment.

She Had Me Thinkin' 'Bout Sin

She walked in to church one Sunday
Had a low-cut dress on
Looking so good, it wasn’t even funny
Had every man there turned on

The preacher stood there with his mouth wide open
The deacons didn’t know what to say
Lord knows what I was thinking
Was I’m going straight to hell today

Chorus
She had me thinking ‘bout sin
All the trouble I could get in
What could be worse
The devil stood there in church
Temptin’ all us men

She had me thinking ‘bout sin
All the trouble I could get in
Just like Adam with Eve
Man I do believe
She had me thinkin’ bout sin

She waltzed right down the aisle
Sat right there in the front pew
From the corner of my right eye
I had myself a wonderful view

I couldn’t tell ya’ nuthin’ ‘bout the sermon
My mind just kinda drifted away
Lord knows, she had this ole heart a-thumpin’
In all different kinds of ways

Chorus
She had me thinking ‘bout sin
All the trouble I could get in
What could be worse
The devil stood there in church
Temptin’ all us men

She had me thinking ‘bout sin
All the trouble I could get in
Just like Adam with Eve
Man I do believe
She had me thinkin’ bout sin

by Me

Liquor up front, Poker in the rear....

Ohhhhh, I'm so bad!!! If you don't get the double entendre in the above, get someone with a few more brain cells and and IQ over 70 to explain it to you.

Played a great game of poker last night. Seven guys around a table, playing Texas Hold 'Em. None of this namby-pamby dealer call BS where you could end up playing damn near anything with nearly every stinkin' card wild... NOPE. This was straight-up hard-core poker. Real man's poker.

And don't any of the ladies start griping 'cause we didn't let you play. That would be grossly unfair, inviting you to a game. 'Cause you'd take all our money....

Plus, we couldn't just be men. We couldn't fart or belch when we wanted without you griping. God decreed that there are certain times when men could be in a group of other men and act like the animals they are. He named these two, and only two, times poker night and deer camp. It is written in the Bible (it is, trust me, look it up in Deutorexogenesis) that the sanctity of poker night or deer camp should not be defiled by the presence of the fairer sex. And any man that dareth to break this sanctum of manhood should henceforth be banished and labeled with the title and branded with it's initials - PW.

Of course, to deny the allure of the feminine wiles and turn a deaf ear to the incessant begging to be included in either poker night or deer camp gets you branded with the initials NGA......

And once again, if you don't get the initials, please refer back to the first paragraph of this post.

And label yourself TSTL...

Ahhhh.... Friday....

TGIF, FINALLY!!!! And guess what, next week is a short week!!! I've been slacking in my teaching, showing the students a video the last three days and, guess what, that's what we'll do Monday and Tuesday. Now, it is a learning video off of one of the cable channels (can't say which one for copyright reasons, ssshhhhh!) and in today's world where students need to be entertained, they're probably learning more than if I lectured, but still... I'm sitting on my arse instead of getting up in front of them and teaching. And yet I don't care. I've got a severe case of don't-give-a-$@!%-itis.

I'm ready for the holiday break. Since we started so late to try and give the DOT a chance to finish the highway in front of the school (which still hasn't been completed, but this is the DOT, remember), we've not gotten the normal days off. I'm to the point that I'm about to kill someone... really. I've had just about all of the whining and excuses I can handle.

But life is improving. The holidays are coming, the weather finally has turned cooler, and everything is looking up. Finally....

Like pissing in the desert...

OK, most should know by now that this county is under a burn ban from an earlier post. Well guess what? We got about an inch of rain on Monday afternoon/evening as a cold front blew in, followed by stiff winds that basically dried up all the water. So you know what this means? Every dipwad in the area is calling the FD and asking if the burn ban has been lifted! Oh let me think.... we're eight inches behind on rainfall for the year and we got one inch of rain on one day.... hmmmmm.... NO!!! It's still so dry you could walk out in your yard with socks on. And on top of that, we've got 10-20 mph winds that would really wreak havoc with a fire.

Come on retards!!! Use that thing on your shoulders for something besides a hat rack...

Just Walk Away....

"A faded picture from your heart
Was all you left for me.
I'm still waiting, standing here
To see what I could see.

Your love I borrowed just like time,
It wasn't mine to keep.
But the love we shared,
I thought was there.
And now you have to leave...

Just walk away
There'll be no more tomorrows
Just walk away
You won't be there for me
From far away
I tried to say I'm sorry
But I can't find a way
To just walk away

Couldn't see for I was blind
The hurt you hide inside
I didn't mean to break your heart
I wish it had been mine

And as another day unfolds
Don't know what it means
Was it love we had,
Or love gone bad?
Still the love we need

Just walk away
There'll be no more tomorrows
Just walk away
You won't be there for me
From far away
I tried to say I'm sorry
But I can't find a way
To just walk away

I'm still standing, waiting here
Waiting for a sign
I didn't mean to break your heart
I wish it had been mine...

Just walk away
There'll be no more tomorrows
Just walk away
You won't be there for me
From far away
I tried to say I'm sorry
But I can't find a way
To just walk away

Just walk away
Yeah, walk away
Just walk away... "
---- Dokken, "Walk Away"

Sometimes a song's lyrics sum up exactly what your life is going through right at that very moment. As for myself, once again I find myself standing alone while the person I care for is walking away, with me being powerless to stop it. I know the reasons, there's just nothing I can do to change the outcome.

Here's to love, hate, promises, and.... lies....

"Preaching from the floor again.
The same old sad song.
Bartender, bring another drink,
For their favorite son.
Where did it all go wrong?
What's the use, in even holding on?
Here's to love, hate, promises, and lies...."
---Queensyche, "Promised Land"

Why can't life be easy? Why is it that just about the time you start figuring out all the answers, they change the questions. Or just about the time everything that you ever wanted, ever needed, was just within grasp... only to be snatched away at the last moment. Sad thing is, often I set myself up for these letdowns, knowing full well that my dreams won't ever come to fruition. I'm tired of dreaming and only waking to find a harsh reality...

You can fool some of the people all of the time...

... and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. Someone famous once said that, but can't for the life of me remember who. You could easily substitute "please" for fool and the quote wouldn't change. Seems that might be the problem I've had my whole life, trying to please everyone else except for myself. I've tried to conform to what the world wants me to be and have failed miserably. Well here's a message to the whole rest of the frackin' world: Shove it up your ass sideways!!! I'm tired of trying to be what you want me to be. I may not be perfect, nor anywhere near a saint, but I'm doing the best I fracking can while still trying to maintain what little sanity I have left. Life is too short to spend it catering to everyone else's wishes while ignoring my own. I make it a point to stay out of everyone else's business, stay out of mine.

OK, so maybe that was a rant, but damn it... I'm tired of everyone telling me what I should and shouldn't do. It wouldn't be so damn bad, but I find myself doing the things people tell me to do only to have them tell me I shouldn't have done that. How can I win? And doing what others have wanted me to do is what has gotten me where I am now....

The failed financial planning career. CHECK!!! I was happy being a teacher, content to stay a teacher for the rest of my life, but NOOOOOOO.... I listened to others who told me, "You're too smart for that," or "You could be so much more." I was happy living in a manufactured home, but nope, others just couldn't let it be. So I quit teaching to be a financial planner and bought a nice, new home. Three years later the career was in the tank and I was selling the home. And I was getting a divorce and filing for bankruptcy to boot.

Now I'm hearing the same things about being a teacher, yet again. Well here's a clue by four --- I frackin' like being a teacher. Yes, it doesn't pay the greatest and it can be stressful, but I like it. So just shut up already!!!! Quit trying to live your life vicariously through mine.

AAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!

And the world spins round and round...

Oh my, inner-ear infections are so lovely. For anyone not up on their human anatomy, your inner ear affects your balance. This infection has my balance completely screwed up. It feels like I'm seriously light-headed, almost drunk. Guess I could look on the bright side, I don't have to spend money on beer.

I really should go to the doctor, but I hate going there. It means taking a whole day off of work to spend hours sitting in a doctor's office to see the doctor for a max of 15 minutes, only to have him tell me what I already know. That I have an inner-ear infection and write me a scrip for antibiotics. Nope, don't think so scooter.

Or maybe there's other reasons for my light-headedness (is that really a word?). Stress from the job and the fire department. Blood draining from my head to other parts of my body ;-). Nope, I'm sure it's the ears.

Creative Band Names

Ever thought of starting your own band just so you could have a really cool name? Maybe I do have too much time on my hands, but it's an exercise in mental masturbation to come up with creative names. I mean, I've got to do something to keep my mind sharp while I labor through my normal day. So here's some names I've come up with lately:

• Chainsaw Brain Surgeon
• Goobersmooch (I really like this one)
• Retarded Monkey

I know, they don't measure up to Black Sabbath, Def Leppard, or Metallica (though Goobersmooch smacks of Godsmack ;-) , but they're mine, dammit!!! So if some band comes out in the next few years with one of these names, I'm suing!!

Speaking of suing, I wonder if I could sue all the spammers for the lost time I spend deleting their idiotic messages. I mean, do any of them really think I want to buy a cheap Rolex, some no-name stock, or that I really need Viagra (who have they been talking to). Or better yet, the e-mails from Africa wanting me to help them get their money out of some bank. I get roughly 30 e-mails a day and only 5 or so are legit.

Nearly as bad are the friends who forward every funny e-mail they recieve, despite the fact that you've already received the same e-mail from the same person who sent it to them, with your name cleary in the "To:" line. Jebus, stop for a second and frackin' read it. And please, stop sending me e-mails that promise something good will happen if I forward the e-mail to 7 of my friends. It won't... trust me....

What part of NO don't you understand?

In addition to being a teacher, I'm a volunteer firefighter. Now, the county I live in is under a burn ban. This means ABSOLUTELY NO outdoor burning. We've been under this ban since 10/24 and yet we still get calls about people burning. The favorite excuse is "Well, I didn't know there was a ban." Must've been a big rock that all of these people are crawling out from under.

Then we here the other excuses. "There's no way the fires gettin' out, I've cleared all around it." Or "I'm standing right here with a water hose." Or "It just rained yesterday."

Listen, what part of BURN BAN doesn't sink into your pea-brain. This means NO, I MEAN NO burning!!! AT ALL!!!

See, this is what in-breeding will get you....

Humans tend to fear that which they do not understand...

"Humans tend to fear that which they do not understand, and destroy that which they fear"

Great quote, huh? Made that one up myself... which is where the title of this blog comes from, in case you were wondering.

So what do I not understand? Stupidity, laziness, ineptitude, apathy.... hmmmm.... see a pattern here. Unfortunately, I don't think I have a big enough weapon to destroy those, for the only weapon I have is my mind. And it's quite small. Sadly, it's like a sword that's been hammered against unyielding stone. There's not much of a dent made in the stone, yet the sword becomes dull. That's what I feel like... dull.

See, I'm a teacher. I've been doing this now for seven years, taking a three year break a few years ago. I'm the sword and the students are stone. I fight against their apathetic habits daily. They don't want to learn, they just want to pass the test/class. They want to be spoon-fed, handed just the answers they need to pass. So they can memorize those answers for the test and then forget. These are the people you see on the "Tonight Show" that can't tell you who the first POTUS was.


Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!