Some Things To Say
Michelle on Nov 10 2007 at 2:38 am | Filed under: Uncategorized
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I struggle constantly with the thought of whether or not I am where I am supposed to be, job-wise. I guess I am, since I’m there. Still. Yesterday, one of my kids got arrested for truancy, for crying out loud. As in, they cuffed him and paraded him out of the school in front of everyone. They don’t want the kid in the regular school, they put him in mine, and then punish him when he obliges them by not coming.
I am starting to hate cops–or let’s say, hate what they stand for, which doesn’t seem to have much to do with justice at all.
I saw that Denver passed a law seriously minimizing the legal consequences of the possession of marijuana. Perhaps I’ll move there someday. It freaks me out to live in a place that will seriously lock you up and publish your name in the paper if you have a bit of weed on you. Not that I do–I haven’t smoked in 20 years now. Still.
On the other side of things, perhaps this attitude is the reason I should stay where I’m at. The kids want me to go with them on their Texas Youth Commission “field trip” next week. This, I have been informed, is because I’m “cool”. There is no way I’m going. TYC is the last place I want to visit at the moment.
Maybe I’m the only teacher who understands why they don’t like cops. Most of them are not criminals. I can also accept them for their angry, hyperactive selves, at least most of the time.
I just don’t know, you know? I feel caught in the middle.
ITK code for Singing The Sky:
That’s the dilemma; it’s GOOD for them to have someone like you, but how long before you burn out?It is so difficult to deal with all the issues, the needs, the sadness, the injustice. (P.S.This post, and two previous ones, finally came through on bloglines–it seems like it’s delayed reaction!)
Honestly, I can’t imagine being in your shoes. I (think) I know your politics fairly well and it has to be painfully difficult to live in the environment you do … sending peace & love to you … and bucketfuls of tolerance and understanding to the police and policymakers in your community. xx, JP/deb
Wait, the cops pulled him *out of school* for truancy?
Isn’t that kind of missing the point?!
Two of my students recently got in trouble for having pot (&buying it from an 8th grader). They faced expulsion but ended being sent back, which I think is good. Hopefully, they’re scared straight. At least one of them I thought was really a great student and had just made a dumb mistake.
Arrested for truancy? Give me a break.
I think you are where you should be… for now. But leave before you become one of them - just joking of course. Leave before you burn out.
I can’t imagine what all you see every day but I will tell you that I have had exactly the opposite experience with the cops recently. One of our neighbors is an Austin cop and he’s just the finest example of the police I can think of. He’s just a great guy–a great cop and a great human –and so I feel much more trusting and supportive of the police force now. I guess it’s all in what you see every day.
but you know, it’s their JOB to enforce the laws. Even dumb laws–that’s what they’ve sworn to do. I think it’s important not to confuse their duties as police with the politicians who make the laws.
Reading Barb’s comment I was struck with the fact that everyone seems to always point to someone else for evil and stupidity happening in the world. The police point to the politicians, the politicians point to the judicial branch, etc… When will anyone just stand up and say “Yes, my group has been doing terrible things but I am not going to condone it any more.” I’m not going to hold my breath.
I haven’t had any of the “noble weed” since college in the early 1970’s but if you run across any and accidentally drop it into an envelope addressed to me, I could probably find something to do with it! Probably I would put on a Steppenwolf CD and just let the sound take me away. Let me know if you need my address!
Pink Floyd, Ken! Definitely Pink Floyd.
Actually, listening to Pink Floyd doesn’t require anything mind-altering, because they are successful at accomplishing that just by listening to their music. Or maybe pot really does cause flashbacks many years later! (heh heh)