Wednesday All Day

My decision to be prayerful and to give students and school safety my attention on Wednesdays still looms large for me.  Because of Spring Break, I’ve spent most of the day thinking and reading about that very thing.  I'm going to be honest. I am growing tired of the whole thing and wish everyone would just shut up.  Yep, I said it.  Stop talking.  Stop being a Republican.  Stop being a Democrat.  Stop hating everyone and everything you disagree with.  Stop blaming.  Stop being stupid.  Media, stop giving opinions and report the news.  REPORT JUST THE NEWS!  This country is divided by so many groups. How about we all decide to be Americans? 

In America, we battle over everything and never bother to look at the big picture.  And we take sides.  No one listens, and no one is willing to do anything to make a change.  There are a few, but life is hard for those folks.  We make fun of people for where they live, we make fun of people because of the way we vote, we make fun of people who are down on their luck, and we make fun of people who are rich.  Adults use words like deplorables, libtards, Bible thumping, hacks, extremists, radical, elitist, nutjob, zealot, idiot, snowflakes, misogynist, gun toting, bigot, Nazi. The list is endless.   I never expected to hear the word Christian used with such disdain, but I’ve heard it too much in the past month or so.  We are more interested in who slept with who 30 years ago than in fixing our public schools.  We only seem to care about mass shootings when there are multiple deaths and ignore when children are killed on the streets, or two students die in another school shooting.  We hate police officers, but if we’re in trouble, who is called?  As a nation we disrespect our president and children are taught to disrespect teachers and administrators.  Black children are taught to hate white children.  White children are taught to hate black children.  Children in general are taught to hate children who are different than them.  Parents are too interested in themselves to notice their children.  Veterans are treated like scum instead of the heroes they are.  And all we can say is, we have a gun problem. We have an arrogance problem, we have a crime problem, we have an apathy problem, and we have a hate problem.  We do not have respect for life.  We do not respect authority or laws.  No wonder kids are in trouble.  I pray God will help those with real problem-solving skills step up and make a difference.  I pray we will remain positive and help or get out of the way.  I pray as a nation we will stop looking for all the negatives and mistakes and we will learn to serve others.  I pray for safe schools with all the training necessary.  I pray for volunteers to step in and help instead of waiting on the government.  If we stop long enough to get out of our bubbles, we will see an entire world out there that needs us.  Every individual has something to give.  Help enforce the laws, help parents who are floundering, help children who need guidance, thank a teacher, a policeman, and a fireman.  Volunteer at a hospital and thank the nurses, doctors and hospital staff for the job they do.  We are all in this together.  We should all be part of the solution.  Be kind.