Rant On!
Ahem....
Why is it that people can't take responsibility for themselves anymore.
There is always a scapegoat. Y2K. El Nino. Guns. Teachers. Parents.
Drugs. Discrimination. The voices in my head. Not enough twinkies. The
list is endless. And they all have the same connection: They are
convenient scapegoats for someone trying to avoid the consequences of their
own dumb mistakes. One kid at the junior high here blamed me for him being
kicked off the football team for too many detentions, because everytime I
subbed for his teacher, I left reports telling what happened and the teacher
kept giving him d-halls. I tried to explain the concept behind him having
earned those for himself by not doing what he had been told to do several
times. There are plenty more examples where that came from. I just spent
the past two days subbing in the alternative schools. Today we had a
discussion on anger management and stuff, and we got to the subject of
fighting. Somehow they think self-defense means that if they get punched
once, then they have a right to beat the snot out of the other guy. They
couldn't grasp the concept of walking away, or running if they attacker kept
after them. And they certainly couldn't grasp the fact that the police are
there to help them. Now these kids seemed to be decent enough kids, and tey
certainly were better behaved than their counterparts in the "regular"
school, but the belief is still prevalent that it's always someone else's
fault. It's not my fault I failed, the teacher gave hard tests that she
knew we couldn't pass. Well, you could have passed the tests if you had
bothered studying. Instead, you're here in the Content Mastery center with
me and the others that I'm helping today because your teacher didn't want to
make the entire class wait while your lazy butt catches up. Don't tell me
you can't memorize where the seven continents and four oceans are and label
them on a map, especially when there's a globe in the room and a bucnh of
maps. You have the names on the paper, for crying out loud! It's a fill in
the huge blank test. Put you damb Pokemon cards down and open your ears!
McDonalds may have nifty commercials and Happy Meals, but if you don't start
paying attention now, you'll be making them (the happy meals, not the
commercials) for the rest of your life, because that's all that you'll be
qualified to do. And the kids aren't the only ones by a longshot. We just
had three officers ambushed and killed down here the other day because the
guy was upset that he was arrested for spouse abuse, and she left him. So
he hides in a bush with a rifle, fakes a 911, and shoots them as they pull
up. Not only that, but he walks up to the car, pulls out the officer's
service sidearm, and shoots them in the head. All three of them. A
standoff started, and after several hours and more wounded officers, the guy
decides the only way out is to shoot himself in the head. The officer
investigating the scene later found over one thousand shell casings that the
guy had fired, with a whole bag of ammo still not used. All this because
the police dared to arrest him for beating his wife, and gave her the advice
to get away from him while she and her baby were still alive. And it's not
just there. Ever hear of road rage? I've actually seen letters to the
editor where people blame the fatalities on a road near where I live (my
area is number three in the state, and on the top ten nationwide, for road
rage fatalities) on the people who dare to block the road by doing the speed
limit. The speed limit here is 70 folks. The only place with higher limits
that I know of is Montana. Try leaving your house earlier. Same for all
the students on my campus who think it's only the school's fault that there
is a parking problem. Yeah, there is enough parking, but no one wants to
park on the big lot because it takes "20 minutes or more" to get to class.
Folks, I was running late one day and had to park there, and I made it to my
class on the other side of campus, carrying 50 pounds in books and other
stuff, in less than ten minutes. And I'm not even close to being in shape.
Get your lazy back end out of bed and leave early enough to get the slots
that are remotely close to the buildings. Butwhat if you have a job that's
you're coming from? Tough. Deal with it. Do what you have to do to leave
in enough time to get there on time. Don't waste the class's time by
showing up late unless it was really an emergency. And if it is, try to
have the decency to call the prof. They'll probably get the message in
enough time, unless you wited until after class started to start driving to
class. And if your're going to miss class, make arrangements ahead of time.
Get the assignment. Find out what the lecture will cover. It's all about
respensibility, folks. If we all did that, then Springer wouldn't be on the
air, and neither would the other shows like America's Dumbest Criminals (my
brother likes that show for some reason). You didn't get the job? Because
you're black/a woman/too old/too young/etc. It's not discrimination (9
times out of ten anyway). It's because you didn't have what they were
looking for. But you had the exact same resume as the one that they hired?
While not likely, it is occasionally possible; my guess is that they were
looking at more than the resume. How many typos are on your resume? How
did you do in the interview? Did you speak proper english, or the slang
that you use around your friends? How was your attitude? Even if everything went good, you also have to understand that personality counts too. If the interviewer felt that your attitude was incompatible with the majority of the office, then they'll save themselves time by not hiring you. That's not to say that you have a bad attitude, it's just not compatible with the others. That will only lead to conflict of one kind or another in the office, and productivity suffers. Even the nicest of the peoplepersonhugtheworld companies have to look at their bottom line. And for the love of Mike, quit suing everytime things don't go your way. Our ratio of Lawyers to Engineers versus the population as a whole is the exact opposite of that of Japan, and guess who leads in technology and education. Not us. Not anymore. We just try to sue our way out of trouble. Well, the court can order your prof to give you an "A" because you "derserved it", but that doesn't mean you know the material at the "A" level of knowledge. Not only are you cheating yourself, but anyone who hires you because they think that you know what you're doing. And then we have more stupid accidents. Folks, it's simple. Take responsibility for yourself. You're never too young to do that. Teens, you want to be treated as an adult? Try acting like one, meaning, you guessed it, taking responsibility. And for those that are handicapped (yes, I refuse to be PC) in some way, deal with it. We all have our problems to overcome; your's just happens to more noticeable than others. Forget this crap in the Americans with Disabilities Act: that damb thing is so vague everyone can be disabled. Deal with it. As Buffy pointed out to Jonathan, "nobody notices you beacuse they are too busy dealing with their own pain and problems" (I know that's not the exact words, but you know what I'm getting at). Responsibility. It's not the easy path, but it's the right one. The best one. For everyone. And the thing that goes hand in hand with it is thinking for yourself, which is another rant. For now, just make sure you read Charley Reese in the editorial section of your newspaper, if they even bother to dare carry him. He speaks his mind. But he thinks about it first. Not only that, but he researches the subject, so he has enough information to think with. Thank you.
*steps down from podium, allowing Natalie to take over the rant*
James
Back
