For the first part of my life I was sure that the place I lived was the best place in the world. Everything we had was the best. We produced the best and most wheat in the world. We had the best education system in the country. And on it went.
Now all this came from a little boy who lived on an isolated farm. A weekly trip to the small village of 50, but sometimes the kids didn't go for weeks. A couple of times a year we went to a larger center (2000 people) for shopping and the odd dentist appointment. My world was on the little isolated farm. We went to one room school. Our playground was around the land we lived on.
Well, you can see the reason for thinking I lived in the center of the world. We didn't go anyplace and were not exposed to anything outside of our local area. The convenient explanation was that we were the best.
Now I did not stay on the little farm. I ventured away from the farm and village. I was completely unprepared to cope in a small urban area. I discovered that students had been to better schools. Other young people were much more socially prepared to cope in post secondary situations.
So after one year I left the urban area and went back to the comforts of the rural setting. I still had some things in my head that we were best in. Wasn't our provincial football team the best?
Now the final part of my delusion was destroyed when I first taught in a large school. We had 51 teachers. There were teachers from each province in Canada. We had many British teachers. There was the odd American. We also had a couple of Australians. This is one of the best experiences I ever had. Many great discussions were held with people who came from very different areas and backgrounds. I began to understand that the other guys had come from great systems. Once I got it through my head that I didn't come from the best place in the world, I could learn and understand how others thought and lived.
Now this was a good eye opener and there's nothing wrong with an eye opener. The little farm and village were taken out of me and put in their perspective.
How about you? Did you grow up thinking you were the center of the universe?
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| The old farmhouse |
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| Grade three |
About 9:30 this morning the Micro Manager frantically called me to the back of the house. Well, I was stretching and on my back so I don't get up very fast. By the time I got to the back of the house what she was anxious about had disappeared down the street.
Now what the Micro Manager was in a tizz about, was some guy running in the alley and tight up against the fence. She thought this looked very suspicious and that it was some felon running from his recent job. We saw him again about seven houses down the close. Then he crossed the road into the center of the close and ran across.
Well, it didn't take me very many seconds to tell the Micro Manager that the RCMP were out training their dogs. She was very doubtful and far from satisfied with my explanation. Just then two officers came up the alley with a dog that was following close to the fence. I was saved by the action.
The dog got down to where the suspect crossed the road and went across the Close. The dog became confused and frustrated at that point and they stopped the session rather than stress the dog.
Now 20 minutes later, when I left the house the officers were going through my neighbor's back yard with another dog. They crossed my front yard and went that-a-way. Usually when the dog finds the suspect they go nuts and attack. The guy being pursued has a large padding up his arm that they let the dog attack. The dog is then rewarded for finding the suspect.
We are about 30 km (18 m) from the main RCMP dog training facility. Quite often they come into the city to train the dogs in an urban setting. The dogs have to concentrate in the city as there are many other scents to sidetrack the dog. So once in awhile I see a truck with a special kennel built on the back that holds six dogs. The game is to send a suspect out to set up a trail. Give the dog the scent and let the dog follow the scent. Most days the dog finds the suspect. This is the first time I saw a dog fail.
Now with all this going on did I get a photo ? No. I should ask them to phone me the next time so I can be ready with my camera.
A few days ago a friend, colleague and neighbor passed away very suddenly at home. What a shock!
Wendy lived about seven houses away from me. I live on a corner and she drove around my cor
ner several times a day. I noticed her many years ago because she took my corner like an Indy 500 driver.
After a few years I found out she was a teacher. A few more years and I met her. Her sons attended my school.
Over the years we both were involved in professional development. That's when you really get to know who a person is.
Since Wendy was in administration she worked on policy and regulations and putting those things into effect.
Now here's where I really got to like Wendy. Like speeding around my corner, Wendy could cheerfully break or bend the rules. There are many situations with kids, that if you can be flexible things work much better. Wendy excelled at being flexible. With teachers Wendy could be flexible and make things work. She got much more mileage by bending a few rules.
I will never meet a more cheerful person who had a knack of making things work.
Where ever you are Wendy, I hope you can still bend the rules.
One of my facebook friends posted a piece that advocates a straight pride day! The piece contained a statement "Apparently it is now intolerant and bigoted to be straight and proud in the upside down , politically correct society we live in." The proposition made me think for all of one second.
He was directing his comment toward all the Pride parades at this time of year.
So why Pride parades?
I was a middle school teacher for 37 years. Some people think you have to be crazy to teach middle school kids. They are referred to as hormones at times.
So where am I trying to go with this. Puberty kicks in. Boys develop an amazing interest in girls. I don't know about girls!!! Probably the same thing happens.
But for a small group of kids puberty is an absolutely horrible nightmare. They know how things are supposed to work but it's not happening. Gay and lesbian kids cannot understand why they are attracted to the same sex. They become confused anxious and angry. This is something they cannot talk to others about. They are living a secret life. They feel lost . They see all kinds of bashing those who are gay or lesbian. They are not comfortable in sharing this with family. They are cut off. They are scared.
So with this situation support is needed . One way of support then is to have a huge parade.
Straight people have the whole society set up to support them. The world is made for straight people.
Now I retired 19 years ago. We were limited in what counselling could be done or people would accuse us of ,"making their kids gay." At that time gay and lesbian kids had no support from the school and definitely not from home.. Today it's different . The shoe is on the other foot and kids can be supported. Kids can be counselled. They get to understand their sexual orientation early and can make decisions based on what they know. Some of the problems they face are less severe.
So in my teaching experience some of the most troubled kids were gay and lesbian kids who had nowhere to turn in their turmoil.
One student wrote me that no matter what he did in school all the kids taunted him as gay. he said he date a girl and they'd still call him gay. He said at age five he knew something was different. Being a bright kid he knew what his situation was but still did not know how to handle things.
One of the best books I read recently was "All Out: a father and son confront the hard truth" by Kevin Newman and Alex Newman. It's a very good read.
So pride parades do have an important place in today's world.
Tomorrow Canada will be 149 years old. I can hardly wait until next year when we celebrate our 150 th
So Canada is a relatively young country. In 1867 the British North American act was passed and it formed Canada. At first, there were four provinces New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ontario. Quebec and Ontario were only small areas on both sides of the st Lawrence and north of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. It wasn't until the 1920's that they became the size they are today.
Where I live , Alberta did not become a province until 1905. Previously the Hudson Bay co owned all of western Canada. The Hudson Bay Co. traded their land to Canada and Canada set up territorial governments
Some people started to come to western Canada when the railroad was built in the early 1880's. There was a people rush around 1900 when many people came to get free land...homesteads.
So provinces were formed once enough people arrived. So some of us are younger than others...provinces. My province was formed in 1905.
So we're a young country that occupies the top of North America. We're free and happy and I hope we contribute our fair share to the rest of the world to help others.
Yesterday afternoon about 3:30 a dump truck with some asphalt rumbled into my close. A few minutes later a truck with a trailer and bobcat arrived. After a few more minutes a truck with tar and five men arrived. The next truck had the foreman. In the end the sign truck arrived with a sign guy and two woman flaggers. So I think this added up to 11 workers. No traffic went through so the flaggers had nothing to do.
Now what was the job for this crew? They were from one of the largest paving companies in Alberta. They had paved this street before and were coming back to correct a few things from
the original job. There were two small areas that should have had more asphalt ...about 3 sq yards. Within 30 minutes all equipment and crew were gone.
Now I'm sure one little old guy with a shovel and wheelbarrow could have done this patch in about an hour.
I'm glad that the city didn't have to pay for this job.
I got thinking. Many people think that private enterprise is very efficient. I'm not sure this little job was at all efficient. I know the company and they do some very large paving projects and I'm sure are very efficient at the large jobs.
Now there are some people who rationalize that since private companies are so efficient that they should do many things the government does. For example: education, health, justice system. As an example our justice system sentences offenders with the idea that the offenders can be reformed to some extent. I think we have some success in this area as recidivism is reasonable. A private group running a prison would want to make a good profit and not run programs to treat inmates.
Since I worked for the Federal govt. and local school boards you might suggest that I have some bias. I saw one person in the federal govt. who did absolutely nothing. After that they were good workers.
So where am I going with this? I think that there are things the private companies do well and other things the public service does well. In each area there are some notable failures. Failures don't mean that there should be massive changes.
I just don't want people poking a stick in the other guys' eyes. There should be some respect for what each group does well. The things that don't go well should be looked at carefully.
The micro manager's sister phoned a couple of nights ago. The sister is 83 and not doing very well. She has Parkinson's and a couple of other health issues. She lives in a complex where she has her own small suite and has all her meals in the complex.
The micro manager does most of the talking as the sister is somewhat slow in speech and thought.
One thing that bothered the micro manager was that her sister constantly commented that , "she had made so many mistakes"
Now I happen to think that my sister-in-law was a pretty awesome lady. She came here on her own with a brother and sister to look after. She had four children. One's a lawyer, two are teachers and one a supervisor for a large drug company. She's successful financially and has travelled and wintered in Arizona for 20 years. Not bad I'd say.
The micro manager didn't want to quiz about the mistakes but tried to get her to think more positively.
The regrets issue got me thinking about the situation. I guess some people look back on their lives and are not satisfied and regret things. Some people become preoccupied with the issue. They think about every mistake they made and worry about it. They use up a lot of "I shuddas."
Now I've made a mistake or two in my life. I was the typical young male who thought he was invincible and did some pretty dumb things. Alcohol fueled some of this rash behavior.
I made mistakes in my university courses. I can look back and see how easy it would have been to get better mark in high school. The goals I set were far too low.
I can look back and see things in my teaching career that I wish I could take back and do over. There were better ways to deal with a certain student. There were better ways to teach something.
I can see things that I could have done better in raising my kids.
However, what is past is over. It is was what it is. You cannot redo things. The majority of us do not dwell on this aspect of our life. I have a good pair of rose colored glasses. I usually think of only good happy things. Former students see me and some apologize for poor behavior. I don't remember their poor behavior.
However, it's sad when someone gets in a condition when they focus on their past mistakes. I hope this stage of my sister-in-laws's life changes for the better.
