I'll Be Praying For You...

I got this email from a good friend of mine a couple of weeks ago, entitled, "Confusion". It basically slams the door on all of the idiotic things Republicans have been saying about Obama from the get-go. For example, "If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim. Name your kids Willow, Trig, and Track, your a Maverick". My personal favorite comparison is this one, "If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a REAL Christian. But, if you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian."There are quite a few other good ones, but I won't go into anymore detail about that. 

This Blog is about what happened when I forwarded the email to some folks this morning. The majority of the people to receive the email are close friends who share the same political beliefs as I do. BUT... I also included a couple of family members (my husband included) who lean way too far to the right for my liking. Among them are my sister and my step-sister who have sent me ridiculous emails for the past few months about how Obama is going to cause the Apocalypse, how he's going to swear on the Koran if elected, etc... Now grant it... they are from the south, the deep south I might add, where the "N" word is still used to describe those of a different color, and to which I believe ignorance abounds, so I shouldn't be too surprised to the response my step-sister had to my email. It went something like this: 

Stupid Step-Sister - "Are you for Barak Obama? I hear many in your state are. I'm curious."

Me - "Yes, I'm a big supporter of his."

Stupid Step-Sister - "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I'll be praying for you."

Praying for me??? WTF... do I have cancer??? Am I going to die soon??? I couldn't believe her response. Who does she think she is? 

Well to her I say, "Really, don't waste your piddley little prayers on the fact that I can't fathom 4 more years of corruption, lies, and a never ending war." It's really quite simple to me. All you have to do is ask yourself one question, "How much better off today are we, than 8 years ago?" Well let's see: 

1. Osama Bin Ladin has yet to be captured. In fact, as we all know the Taliban has quickly been rebuilding their terrorist forces in Pakistan and Afghanistan, while we look for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Yes, remember, that's why we started this whole thing initially. And how many WMDs did find? Oh yeah, I know, Sadam Hussein was a an evil dictator, and caused lots of harm to many people in his country, but a close friend of ours who just returned from his tour in Iraq, said basically the only type of government that can sustain in that country for about the next 100 years, is one with a dictator, much like Sadam. He was the only type of person who could maintain some sort of order between the 4 major tribes who exist there. 

2. Our economy...We all know how that is doing. Well, at least those of us who have the guts to take an honest look, and speak honestly about where things truly are. And if the past week is any indicator of things to come, it doesn't look like it's going to get better any time sooner. 

3. Healthcare... funny, my mom is always complaining about the cost of her prescriptions, and how difficult it is to get good care at the doctor's office anymore... HELLO... so when did this begin... Oh about 5-6 years ago... Ummmm coincidence??? I don't think so!!!

4. Education... That's a whole other Blog topic... I could go on and on, but the fact of the matter is... Since No Child Left Behind came into play, I've had less resources and more demands placed on me as an educator, and are the children any more smarter, or getting any better jobs??? NO... they are little robots, spitting out useless knowledge to pass some test, designed to make sure a certain percentage of them fail.

5. The Environment - Now this is something to pray for... As an educator I have seen more and more students with severe Asthma and allergies enter my classroom than ever before. I don't believe it is a coincidence either. The air we breather, the food we eat, some thing has got to change. 

These are just a few of the things I was thinking about when I made my decision for which candidate I was going to support. I didn't know, nor do I care that it has caused my family to put me on the prayer list at church...

Be Careful What You Wish For...

On Wednesday, I finally got what I've been wishing for... 

My principal got a new job, which opened the door for our current AP to take her position, which left the AP position open. I was offered and accepted the job! Yipeee!!! Finally...

I've posted before, and truly believe that all things happen for a reason, which is why things didn't quite go my way this summer. 

In reality this is really the best of both worlds. The AP position is only half-time, which means I will be wearing the AP hat in the morning, then returning to my classroom in the afternoon to teach math and science. This works out well, because I think the parents of my students would not be as happy as they are about the whole thing, if I weren't going to be teaching at all. 

The problem is that I now feel pretty schizophrenic. Administration and teaching are 2 VERY DIFFERENT worlds. People don't really see that unless they've had the opportunity to do both. Many people think that because you show up to work in a school that everyone's doing pretty much the same thing, but that just isn't the case. 

As an administrator I do not have a contract. We are "at will" employees and can be let go at any time. As a teacher, I have this insane contract, that covers just about every little possible incident that could ever happen. 

Yesterday, I found myself in an conversation with our PE teacher,  and later our Art teacher about some contractual issues. Halfway through the conversation, I realized that they were not speaking to me as a colleague, but as their boss. Holy Crap!!! I've never been someone's boss!!! 

So I realized this morning that this is what's been keeping me up at night for the past few nights... For the past few years, I've had several opportunities to "play administrator" at our school, but the final decisions have always been made by our principal and AP, and folks just knew that. They came to me as a kind of sounding board, then would go to either of the bosses for the final decision. 

So in one days time, all of this has changed. I can still be the sounding board, but I also get to make the final decisions... God help us all!!!