Notes from McTeach
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
-William Ernest Henley, Invictus
Leave it to Lee!
I just came across this excerpt from Lee Iacocca’s book Where Have All the Leaders Gone? I credit the folks at Leadership Now for the excerpt, but the feelings are definitely all Lee Iacocca! I’m adding this book to my summer reading list this year.
Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, “Stay the course.”
Stay the course? You’ve got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I’ll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!
You might think I’m getting senile, that I’ve gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies. Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don’t need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we’re fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving pom-poms instead of asking hard questions. That’s not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I’ve had enough. How about you?
I’ll go a step further. You can’t call yourself a patriot if you’re not outraged. This is a fight I’m ready and willing to have.
My friends tell me to calm down. They say, “Lee, you’re eighty-two years old. Leave the rage to the young people.” I’d love to — as soon as I can pry them away from their iPods for five seconds and get them to pay attention. I’m going to speak up because it’s my patriotic duty. I think people will listen to me. They say I have a reputation as a straight shooter. So I’ll tell you how I see it, and it’s not pretty, but at least it’s real. I’m hoping to strike a nerve in those young folks who say they don’t vote because they don’t trust politicians to represent their interests. Hey, America, wake up. These guys work for us.
Humor Yesterday, Seriousness Today
Yesterday morning I felt the need for a little humor. Today, after reading through the posts on Twitter, I’m feeling a bit more serious. After reading a post by Alec Couros ( @courosa), I felt the need to pass along this information. It is hard to believe, but there are more slaves on our planet today than at any other time in human history according to author Benjamin Skinner in his book A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery. You can read an excerpt from the book on the NPR website, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88102060.
The part of this article that sticks with me the most:
Something disturbing has changed however — the price of a human. After adjusting for inflation, Skinner found that, “In 1850, a slave would cost roughly $30,000 to $40,000 — in other words it was like investing in a Mercedes. Today you can go to Haiti and buy a 9-year-old girl to use as a sexual and domestic slave for $50. The devaluation of human life is incredibly pronounced.”
After reading the article, I reminded myself of my favorite Helen Keller quote:
And then I signed up at the Free the Slaves website http://www.freetheslaves.net/ I will make a mental note to discuss this with my students after spring break. Surely there is something we can do together.”I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do.” — Helen Keller
What's Next?
I’m trying to decide how I will use this tumblr blog. I have my teacher’s blog that I started recently (http://notesfrommcteach.blogspot.com), and I envision this tumblr blog to be something more personal. A place to write about all that happens in my life as a human being, as opposed to my life as a teacher (not that the two are mutually exclusive - although some may argue otherwise).
Today I am sitting in front of the television watching March Madness (Duke just lost! Wow!) Still feeling sick so I probably won’t get much accomplished today, other than updating both of my blogs. Wow! Two blogs! Does that totally make me a geek, or what?
Good Friday
It is the first day of spring break (which I get to call ‘Easter vacation’ since I work at a Catholic school!) and I woke up with a whopper of a cold. I was sick for my entire Christmas break, so I’m feeling more than a little irritated right now. I’m trying to make myself see the upside of this…now I have an excuse to lay my tired body on the couch all weekend and watch March Madness!
At the same time, there is so much that I’d like to get accomplished during my time off from school. Like figuring out the ins and outs of tumblr. Ah well…what gets done, gets done. Everything else will just have to wait until summer vacation.