Today I subbed in a second grade classroom. When I entered the school, I was buzzed in by someone who knew me. As I looked up at the camera I thought, " What an important job the person buzzing me in has". So many thoughts ran through my head the rest of the day as I worked with those little children. Their parents sent them to school & intrusted their safety in others. It IS a big deal!
Earlier this year, I was in a first grade classroom teaching the 6 and 7 year olds about 'Needs & Wants". You NEED air, water, food, shelter, certain medicines, etc. You may WANT chocolate milk, candy, an I-Phone, a bike, etc.
I read this morning, that the shooter had enough ammunition to kill every child and adult in that school three times over. I guess he felt he needed an assault rifle.
However we , as a nation, address this problem, it must include a way to keep these types of weapons out of the hands of people who might do this. There are billions of people in our world. How do we know who will do something like this? Putting armed weapons in everyone's hands will create a potentially explosive situation everywhere.Putting armed guards in all our schools, malls, sporting facilities, etc is a maybe. I just don't know. The solution can't be a debate about rights because the Right To Life supercedes it all. We can't waste time arguing who is right & who is wrong. While we do, Kids are being killed. Ask the questions: Why are Assault Weapons made? And Who really needs one? Again I don't know the solution but I do know Something Needs doing & after it's done, we all need to work together as a Nation to see that it works because if we don't....More Kids will be killed. So please don't get defensive.....instead find a way to keep our kids safe.
I don't Want our Kids to be Safe......I NEED them to be. Actually I both Want & Need that.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Let's Talk About It....
Tell me you didn't shed tears this weekend. Tell me you didn't think about 26 innocent victims....20 children ages 6 or 7 RIDDLED with bullets. (the ME found 3 to 11 bullets in each child) Tell me you're not angry. We say over and over that keeping our children safe is our #1 priority. Polititions say that the Nation's security and our people's safety is MOST important. Well, it is time to put our money and their vote where their mouths are. They need to stand up to lobbiests and those who would threaten to pull their support and just do what is right. These forces have held our country and it's people hostage for long enough. At What Cost? Are Twenty innocent babies enough? Yes I am talking about Gun Control and the NRA. I'm talking about creating Laws that will really safeguard our children. If this past Friday's Massacre isn't enough....then what is?
The second ammendment gives Americans the Right to Bear Arms. It was wriiten at a time when all Americans hunted for their food. A time when their was no law enforcement. A time when guns shot off single shots and you needed time to reload. There were no police. There were no super markets where you could buy meat. There were no automatic or semi -automatic guns that could shoot literally hundreds of bullets a minute.
It's time that laws caught up with the times before anymore children are massacred. I'm sure our forefathers didn't have in mind for this law to be so abbused as it is today. It is way too easy for anyone to secure a gun. Ask yourself this: Why would anyone need a semi -automatic or an automatic weapon? You don't use them to hunt. Picture this: I have a gun shop located near me advertising a semi-automatic rifle for Home Security. Have we gone mad? The statistics show that over 10,000 americans were killed by guns this past year. More then in the next 10 countries combined. In Japan, all guns are banned. Automatic guns were banned up until 2004 when a George W. Bush led congress failed to renew the ban inorder to apease the NRA & the anti-gun control lobbiests who supported their elections & reelections. Appeasing them & getting reelected was more important then the safety of our children. What does that say of the most civilized country in the world?
Any type of automatic weapon needs to be banned. If it was, some of those children might be alive. The ability to own a gun needs to be made so only people who can act responsibly should own one or two, not 10 or 15 or more. We need control. Arming everyone is NOT the answer as many anti-gun control people are saying. Can you imagine a country where everyone is packing a gun? I don't know all the answers, but our law makers need to act and act seriously for the safety of all. Help to create a safer America.
Enough of the back room bargaining for votes. We Elected You To Do What is RIGHT. We Elected You To Help Keep Us SAFE. So....What are you waiting for? Replace all our tears with actions. Let those Twenty Angels and 5 Heroes know that they MATTERED.
The second ammendment gives Americans the Right to Bear Arms. It was wriiten at a time when all Americans hunted for their food. A time when their was no law enforcement. A time when guns shot off single shots and you needed time to reload. There were no police. There were no super markets where you could buy meat. There were no automatic or semi -automatic guns that could shoot literally hundreds of bullets a minute.
It's time that laws caught up with the times before anymore children are massacred. I'm sure our forefathers didn't have in mind for this law to be so abbused as it is today. It is way too easy for anyone to secure a gun. Ask yourself this: Why would anyone need a semi -automatic or an automatic weapon? You don't use them to hunt. Picture this: I have a gun shop located near me advertising a semi-automatic rifle for Home Security. Have we gone mad? The statistics show that over 10,000 americans were killed by guns this past year. More then in the next 10 countries combined. In Japan, all guns are banned. Automatic guns were banned up until 2004 when a George W. Bush led congress failed to renew the ban inorder to apease the NRA & the anti-gun control lobbiests who supported their elections & reelections. Appeasing them & getting reelected was more important then the safety of our children. What does that say of the most civilized country in the world?
Any type of automatic weapon needs to be banned. If it was, some of those children might be alive. The ability to own a gun needs to be made so only people who can act responsibly should own one or two, not 10 or 15 or more. We need control. Arming everyone is NOT the answer as many anti-gun control people are saying. Can you imagine a country where everyone is packing a gun? I don't know all the answers, but our law makers need to act and act seriously for the safety of all. Help to create a safer America.
Enough of the back room bargaining for votes. We Elected You To Do What is RIGHT. We Elected You To Help Keep Us SAFE. So....What are you waiting for? Replace all our tears with actions. Let those Twenty Angels and 5 Heroes know that they MATTERED.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Home Needs to Hold Up Their End
I taught first grade in 1975. My first graders played, took naps, had snacks, learned songs. I taught them their numbers and letters and they began to learn to read using basil readers where Jack, Janet, Tip, and Mitten roamed. I have subbed in first grade a number of times this year. Today's first graders read and write complete sentences, add and subtract, learn about solid geometry, and are tested on a regular basis. No more naps & not much time to play. They do get a snack but during snack time, they have a worksheet to work on. Yes they are little sponges & Yes much more is expected of them.
In a first grade class you'll find children who can draw well enough that their people have fingers and toes & all kinds of details. These same kids can write a complete sentence, filling a page with their complete thoughts. You'll also have children in the same room who draw stick figures or circles with eyes as their people and who still can't write their names. Each night, the children take their folders home with all the day's work completed. The first group comes in every morning with their folders empty making room for the day's work. The second group's folder gets thicker every day as the day's work goes unchecked.
The message is clear. Those children who come from homes where education is valued, where their learning is nurtured, where they are read to and spent quality time with, will grow and blossom. But those that are left to fend for themselves, who come from a home where education is left to the schools, where learning means being able to dress themselves and fix their own lunches, will continue drawing stick figures while trying to figure out how to spell their names.
Values are taught in the home. All schools can affectively do is reinforce the good values. A child who becomes an ethical person, who has a good work ethic, who learns to love his/her fellow man, and learns to be kind, learns all that in his home environment. Those that learn to be mean, lazy, and have poor ethics, have gotten their early training in their home environment. It is reinforced by the friends they choose. Schools are fighting the good fight to try and instil good work ethics and values but are fighting a losing battle when these children go home each night.
The best way to fix societies ills are to turn the children over to schools at a earlier age. To mandate pre- school and affective parenting classes. Children who live in a house where good parenting is lacking & have poor role models, many times make the same mistakes with their children.
Schools are only a part of the solution. Putting them under a microscope and holding them to higher standards then we hold parents and society to is not going to cut it. For Home & School to work together means holding home to the same standards we hold schools to. Finally Values & Character matter. We can't sacrifice them for higher scores.
I think we did a better job of that back in 1975.
In a first grade class you'll find children who can draw well enough that their people have fingers and toes & all kinds of details. These same kids can write a complete sentence, filling a page with their complete thoughts. You'll also have children in the same room who draw stick figures or circles with eyes as their people and who still can't write their names. Each night, the children take their folders home with all the day's work completed. The first group comes in every morning with their folders empty making room for the day's work. The second group's folder gets thicker every day as the day's work goes unchecked.
The message is clear. Those children who come from homes where education is valued, where their learning is nurtured, where they are read to and spent quality time with, will grow and blossom. But those that are left to fend for themselves, who come from a home where education is left to the schools, where learning means being able to dress themselves and fix their own lunches, will continue drawing stick figures while trying to figure out how to spell their names.
Values are taught in the home. All schools can affectively do is reinforce the good values. A child who becomes an ethical person, who has a good work ethic, who learns to love his/her fellow man, and learns to be kind, learns all that in his home environment. Those that learn to be mean, lazy, and have poor ethics, have gotten their early training in their home environment. It is reinforced by the friends they choose. Schools are fighting the good fight to try and instil good work ethics and values but are fighting a losing battle when these children go home each night.
The best way to fix societies ills are to turn the children over to schools at a earlier age. To mandate pre- school and affective parenting classes. Children who live in a house where good parenting is lacking & have poor role models, many times make the same mistakes with their children.
Schools are only a part of the solution. Putting them under a microscope and holding them to higher standards then we hold parents and society to is not going to cut it. For Home & School to work together means holding home to the same standards we hold schools to. Finally Values & Character matter. We can't sacrifice them for higher scores.
I think we did a better job of that back in 1975.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Friday, June 22, 2012
Let the "King" be.
I as much as anyone, I wanted the Heat to lose in the NBA championships. To me they embody everything that is bad in professional sports. They are about stars & not team or team play. The "Decision" and the promise of 7 NBA championships showed such arrogance. It's all about me. Lebron's behavior in this regard is anything but as a good role model.
But, is it arrogance or is it immaturity? Afterall, since he was a young teen, he has been touted as the next Michael Jordan. Today he is called the Greatest Basketball Player in the World & maybe ever. Millions of dollars and media attention were thrown at him. What "Kid" wouldn't be engulfed by all of it! How much of what we saw was really him or what the media painted him out to be. Who is the real Lebron James?
What if any counseling was he or any of the young athletes out there given. Will Bryce Harper of the Nationals fall under the same kind of money & attention King Jamnes received? How will they or any future young star deal? Do the professional sports gurus owe it to these Kids to counsel them in how to deal with all the attention. Should these Kids be protected in some way so that they continue to grow up before they are put under such scrutiny?
The NBA says that they do give their draftees counseling. But why do we continue to hear of the kind of behaviors we are hearing? If we want our stars to really be good role models & if they are allowed to live some type of normal life, then we owe them help in doing this.
Funny, we offer young professionals in many lines of work a mentor to help them learn & deal. But we think money will be all these young professional athletes need? Many of them come from almost nothing. I suggest we give them a mentor and counseling so that maybe future Lebron James can avoid the kind of first 9 years King James has had to deal with. I sincerely hope that winning his first title is the beginning of better times ahead for this young man. Maybe now we will get to see the real Lebron James. Afterall, he's still only 26.
But, is it arrogance or is it immaturity? Afterall, since he was a young teen, he has been touted as the next Michael Jordan. Today he is called the Greatest Basketball Player in the World & maybe ever. Millions of dollars and media attention were thrown at him. What "Kid" wouldn't be engulfed by all of it! How much of what we saw was really him or what the media painted him out to be. Who is the real Lebron James?
What if any counseling was he or any of the young athletes out there given. Will Bryce Harper of the Nationals fall under the same kind of money & attention King Jamnes received? How will they or any future young star deal? Do the professional sports gurus owe it to these Kids to counsel them in how to deal with all the attention. Should these Kids be protected in some way so that they continue to grow up before they are put under such scrutiny?
The NBA says that they do give their draftees counseling. But why do we continue to hear of the kind of behaviors we are hearing? If we want our stars to really be good role models & if they are allowed to live some type of normal life, then we owe them help in doing this.
Funny, we offer young professionals in many lines of work a mentor to help them learn & deal. But we think money will be all these young professional athletes need? Many of them come from almost nothing. I suggest we give them a mentor and counseling so that maybe future Lebron James can avoid the kind of first 9 years King James has had to deal with. I sincerely hope that winning his first title is the beginning of better times ahead for this young man. Maybe now we will get to see the real Lebron James. Afterall, he's still only 26.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Character & the Hall of Fame
The government has spent millions of dollars trying to connect pro athletes & drugs. The recently concluded Roger Clemen's Purgery trial was yet another failed attempt by the government, following in the footsteps of the Bobby Bonds & Lance Armstrong cases. We can argue the merits of these trials & the money spent but I would like to discuss just baseball & it's Hall of Fame entrance guidelines as they pertain here, especially the "Character" piece.
The "Character" piece has been used to keep Raphial Palmiero and Mark McQuire out of the Hall of Fame thus far and I'm sure will be the topic of discussion this December when Bobby Bonds, Sammy Sosa, & Roger Clemens are eligible for entry.
Roger Clemen's "Not Guilty" verdict may help him a bit but many feel he's guilty of something & his lawyers just did a great job of creating reasonable doubt. The question for the voters just seems to be....Do these men belong in the Hall? Do their accomplishments on the field warrant their entry?
Will the voters use the "Character" piece to keep these men out? Many might argue that there are those in the Hall with questionable character so why keep these men out? Ty Cobb supposedly is guilty of man slaughter & Babe Ruth of excessive drinking. Are all of the Hall of Famers Perfect people? Cheating has been going on ever since sports began. Athletes looking for ways to improve their performance. Are steroids just another way to do this? Should we put astericks or have a separate category for the "Steroid Era"?
I don't know? And I don't have any answers for the voters come December. All I know is that a Hall of Fame without the leading home run hitter & one of the games best pitchers doesn't seem right. Maybe they need to take out the "Character" Piece. I do believe that Character matters but maybe sometimes it's just All about the Numbers!!!!!!
The "Character" piece has been used to keep Raphial Palmiero and Mark McQuire out of the Hall of Fame thus far and I'm sure will be the topic of discussion this December when Bobby Bonds, Sammy Sosa, & Roger Clemens are eligible for entry.
Roger Clemen's "Not Guilty" verdict may help him a bit but many feel he's guilty of something & his lawyers just did a great job of creating reasonable doubt. The question for the voters just seems to be....Do these men belong in the Hall? Do their accomplishments on the field warrant their entry?
Will the voters use the "Character" piece to keep these men out? Many might argue that there are those in the Hall with questionable character so why keep these men out? Ty Cobb supposedly is guilty of man slaughter & Babe Ruth of excessive drinking. Are all of the Hall of Famers Perfect people? Cheating has been going on ever since sports began. Athletes looking for ways to improve their performance. Are steroids just another way to do this? Should we put astericks or have a separate category for the "Steroid Era"?
I don't know? And I don't have any answers for the voters come December. All I know is that a Hall of Fame without the leading home run hitter & one of the games best pitchers doesn't seem right. Maybe they need to take out the "Character" Piece. I do believe that Character matters but maybe sometimes it's just All about the Numbers!!!!!!
Sunday, June 10, 2012
What's up with Public Pensions?
I see where they are after public pensions. How dare those public employees keep getting paid after they retire!!!! Funny how for years no one cared. You see many of us public employees, with similar experience & skills as those in the private sector, took positions that paid less then in the private sector. Why? Because of benefits like our pensions. My family of four qualified for federal assistance back in the 1980's. No one cared for years because for years the money set aside for these pensions was invested and did so well, that up until 4 years ago, the public paid less then a half a percent annually through taxes into those pension funds. But with the downfall of Wall street due to the greedy actions of the rich, those pension funds have needed a greater input from public taxes putting us in the mess we are currently in. A case of Money goes where Money is. The Rich getting Richer & the gap between the Haves & the Have Nots getting greater basically eliminating the middle class.
Therefore the need to go after Public Pensions. I say...go ahead but be sure you compensate public employees well to make up for this loss. They shouldn't have to work 30 years to finally make what most private sector workers with similar experience & skills make after 5 years. Then, they could start their own 401 K's & whatever so that they will be secure after retirement instead of needing federal assistance.
Public Employees are Not the enemy. Try & survive without them. Let's find a fair and equitable way to dig ourselves out of the financial mess we are in. We have a definite problem when 90% of the money in this country is in the hands of 10% of the people!!!!!! When we pay ball players & entertainers 100's of millions of dollars and CEO's get billion dollar bonuses while their companies are going bankrupt. The little guy gets sacraficed for the benefit of the guy with all the money.
So, what do you think. Are Public Pensions a problem? If so, tweek em...fix the issues.......just be fair & make sure that EVERYONE pays their Fair Share!!!!!! Maybe my 5 cents worth!!!!!
Therefore the need to go after Public Pensions. I say...go ahead but be sure you compensate public employees well to make up for this loss. They shouldn't have to work 30 years to finally make what most private sector workers with similar experience & skills make after 5 years. Then, they could start their own 401 K's & whatever so that they will be secure after retirement instead of needing federal assistance.
Public Employees are Not the enemy. Try & survive without them. Let's find a fair and equitable way to dig ourselves out of the financial mess we are in. We have a definite problem when 90% of the money in this country is in the hands of 10% of the people!!!!!! When we pay ball players & entertainers 100's of millions of dollars and CEO's get billion dollar bonuses while their companies are going bankrupt. The little guy gets sacraficed for the benefit of the guy with all the money.
So, what do you think. Are Public Pensions a problem? If so, tweek em...fix the issues.......just be fair & make sure that EVERYONE pays their Fair Share!!!!!! Maybe my 5 cents worth!!!!!
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