I am NOT a huge writer of my personal opinions on other people's posts but I have seriously had enough. I shared a post a good friend of mine posted last night about being kind to teachers, and the attacks I read were just hateful. People are taking a bad experience and forming an opinion about a group as a whole! We as a country need to stop doing this. It is NOT OK!
The atmosphere of social media these days is atrocious! People should not be at war with one another's opinions! Reading some of the comments half the time they don't even make sense. People are so strong about their opinion, they don't even want to consider any one elses! Don't get me wrong I am all about people being allowed to form their own opinions but when did we worry so much about whether or not someone agrees with our opinon and makes it the determining factor on our relationships! Seriously people are at war with one another over opinions, friendships are dissolving, and people are banning together based on ways of thinking! From outsiders looking in this is so ubsurd! It is as simple as liking Coke or Pepsi... I mean come on, are we ending friendships over a beverage, I think not, but in essence that is what is being created. We have turned from putting our faith and trust in God to putting it in media and social media and who says what when we form our belief system! STOP! Have your own opinion, don't feed off of everyone elses!
What happened to opposites attract, Ying and yang? I feel like I am stuck somewhere in that Jim Carey movie where he gets sucked into the TV in a world where everyone thinks and acts alike and Little House on the Praire... when Nellie Oleson the daughter of the dry goods store owners threw a temper tantrum every other episode because she didn't get her way and she felt her life was unfair, or she didn't like something Laura got! She drove me nuts, even at a young age, she was what I didn't want to be known for acting like and definitely not to grow up to be like!
In a world where everyone these days seems to scream something is unfair and life and traditions and history as we know it is changed to appease them to be politically correct or to avoid conflict is on the rise. The accomodations that are made to not hurt someone's feelings is at an all time high. Instead of adapting to our circumstances as a society we are trying to prevent, alter or halt situations to avoid such conflict. I try to avoid discussing my opinions as I honestly accept anyone as they are unless they are going to harm me or my family, but I am tired of pushing it under the rug ( I am full of analogies today having used this one twice.)
We received the phone call last night that our district was going back to online learning for 2 weeks to try and slow the progress of our high increasing numbers of Covid in this state and perhaps allow time for those who can to have less contact with this pandemic and what it has caused thus far. And frankly depending who you talk to it is either a devastating crisis or an over exaggerated flu hoax that was planted by someone to instill fear in people and control our population. Whatever you believe you are entitled to your opinon for sure, but when you are dealt a circumstances you CHOOSE how you react to it, end of story. I know I beat on this topic like a dead horse sometimes, but it is true, life isn't fair and we are often dealt circumstances that we don't want, it is how we choose to deal with them that counts. We can bitch and moan to all our friends and the social media world and create not only a negative atmosphere for the world to see, but we are creating a negative atmosphere for those littles who are watching our every move, and every negative goes in their little bodies and is absorbed creating their negative thought base of how they cannot do online school, they cannot be without friends, they cannot possibly "survive" this circumstance without some detrimental thing happening to them or their mental health! (disclaimer I am not a psychologist and individual effects of this can vary from person to person) But the majority of these negatives are coming from the parents being negative and putting these thoughts into their kids heads telling them they cannot do something. We as a society are creating these kids to feel this way by feeding into it instead of letting them learn to cope with their circumstances or creating alternatives. Stop and teach your kids to deal with what they are dealt and not how unfair it is or how if you throw a big enough fit you might change it, you probably won't so stop putting all those eggs in one basket. Find positive in the negative instead of creating more negative!
Believe me my kid doesn't do well self taught, online is anything but ideal but if I keep harping on the negative of it instead of helping him to find ways to make it work... I am not doing him any good, he is young, impressionable and looks to me for how to act, be and respond. I don't want to teach my kid to be negative. I want to be careful what I do and say he is watching always. I want him to find solutions to his problems because in life they can't always be avoided! I am not perfect but I can try my best to be a positive influence for him.
A few years back one of the parents at the school took their kid out of a class because he didn't do well with another student that had the same class, it wasn't a matter of their child getting hurt or bullied in a sense that I know of, and I didn't know all the circumstances of that parent's decision so I cannot form any opinion or judgement, but when my child who wasn't too fond of this particular person either asked if he could switch classes I firmly said "absolutely NOT". By giving into this I would be creating an atmosphere where my child would learn that in every situation you could easily do this and make it go away. My biggest fear is that he would have 27 jobs by the time he is 30 because everytime he didn't agree with a boss or didn't like a fellow co-worker he would believe it was ok to quit and just get a new job. In my life book this is NOT ok. (disclaimer I am not talking about extreme situations or when someone is in harms way).
Within minutes after this phone call from the school last night facebook was filled with negative comments from parents who just wanted their kids to be in school, angry parents, parents who aren't even in our school district but maybe used to be voicing their opinion about our school district, spewing hate and negativity for everyone to absorb. Really? ... Really? The school board based a decision on a majority. No matter what they decide it is going to piss someone off, you will NEVER please all of the people all of the time, because remember we don't all think alike, but that doesn't mean we can't be respectful and get along, it doesn't mean you can't "see" the other person's side based on circumstance and situations that other people may be in. But the naysayers want to blame someone! And immediately in most circumstances that is to bash the teachers... you know the ones who get paid very little to "babysit" your kids and try to teach valuable school and life lessons at the same time and most times take in the lives, personalities, moods of each of their students and try to dissect and help them based on their individual needs while trying to touch 30 to maybe 100 kids in a school year! Remember those teachers who are teaching these kids to become firefighters, doctors, baseball players, scientists, healthcare workers, grocery store employees and every other profession out there that is essential to the make up of our society. I don't know what all of you do for a living but I can have as many as 14-20 clients at a time that I am trying to help, figure out their needs and work with everyone involved in a real estate transaction, including cross agents, sometimes an assistant or two, title companies, lenders, home inspectors, appraisers ALL at the same time! That could seriously be 100 different adults at the same time- and I try to make it run smoothly in every transaction while juggling multiple ones, multiple people, personalities and opinions and circumstances. And I care about all of them so therefore the weight of all those people becomes my weight carried until that person sucessfully closes on their transaction and often times far beyond when clients become repeat customers and often times friends. I cannot imagine juggling 100 different kids at once their parents, guardians, multiple households sometimes, different lifestyles, circumstances and ways of thinking- these kids who are at the most impressionable age of their life and trying to balance that with the rest of my life and being held responsible for contributing to their futures!
Give these teachers a break! Every teacher that I know is more dedicated than you know, does more than you see and spends more time planning, teaching, dealing with different needs, personalities and situations, grading, adjusting and at the same time trying to keep their own families funtctioning. They are NOT glorified babysitters, but sometimes I think people make them feel that way! They are not there to just watch your kids everyday, they are there to shape your kids into whatever they will be one day... that is HUGE and we as a society don't give them enough credit, most don't take their job lightly and do carry the burden of all that weight on their shoulders to make sure they are doing a good job contributing to your child's success!
Not every teacher is good, not every white, black, hispanic, jewish, indian, asian person or the like is good, not every religious person is good, not every blue collar or white collar worker is good... not every republican, democrat, independant person is good... but don't lump each person or type of person into the same category based on an experience you had with one or even a few! For that one teacher you or your child may have had a bad experience with there are 100's who would give their 100% to every single child that walks into their classroom, every single time! Give people the benefit of the doubt! Most people are good until you give them a reason not to be or start making them think otherwise. As a society we need to stop throwing Nellie Oleson fits everytime something doesn't fit into our mold- support each other...we are all in the same storm, we may be in different boats but that doesn't mean we can't be kind to those who are not in ours- when someone is being lifted up for their goodness they will most every time continue to do good. When someone is rewarded they usually keep doing good or work harder to continue to be good and do good and the same is true when you tear someone down, they go down and continue to stay down a lot of the time! Think about that.
Just be KIND, be Respectful to others and the world could be a better place, We have the ability to change for the good, we make these choices, stop looking at everyone as your enemy because honestly we are not all that much different! I don't want to live in world like Jim Carey where everyone dresses the sames, looks the same, acts the same and think the same, HOW BORING, but I do think we can be different and still get along for the greater good of everyone! We all have feelings! Respect others, be kind, show the grace and mercy that God gives you to everyone around you, our boats are not always carrying the same weight and you do not know what has contributed to another persons weight or how they are handling it.
Remember the old saying you probably heard so many times as a kid, that I think has been buried or lost when I read some of the hateful things I see people saying,
If you can't say something nice, don't say it at all!
Reflect on that.
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