I love collecting cowrie shells.
This admittedly is not the manliest of hobbies, so I'll excuse that chuckle that just slipped out. In actuality, the lengths sometimes required of me to acquire these shells really do put my manliness to the test. But this post isn't about masculinity.
I'm not the only person that wants these shells. Therefore, sometimes I have to get up early, or swim out far, or deep, or hike to a beach that is relatively secluded if I want to find good specimens. I have to carry them in pockets back, sometimes a long walk, and sometimes (not often, because I feel slightly bad about killing them) I have to clean the stinky snail out of the shell.
The point is, I want the shell so I go to great lengths to get them.
Now. What does the snail do to create this neat item that I so desire? Basically nothing, outside of living. It could be argued that in the ocean living in and of itself is quite a task, but thats not what I'm going for here. All the snail does is scoot around eating stuff and wa-la! Beautiful shell.
I was thinking the other day about that; What am I doing to leave something worthwhile behind?
Am I leaving anything of value (whether concrete or abstract) behind for future generations, or even the people in the room I just left?
Will people seek out anything that I'm leaving behind or will it all like "dust in the wind", blow away and be forgotten?
What's worth leaving behind, anyway? According to Proverbs, the answers are...
A GOOD NAME
Proverbs 10:7 says that "The memory of the righteous will be a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot". What you and I do today will effect how we are remembered. We are to live our lives in such a way that just the memory of our life is a blessing to people. Have you ever thought of someone, not necessarily deceased, but just someone who has been in your life at one point and when you thought of them you smiled, or felt good just remembering how they treated you or what they accomplished? We're supposed to be that person.
FAMILY
Proverbs 17:6 says "Children's children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their family". Let me be careful here.. There are plenty of people whose genes don't need to be duplicated. However, if we live Godly lives, are wholesome reasonable, and are determined to pass on these characteristics, we are told to "Be fruitful and multiply". In other words, if you're a good person, make more good people.
INHERITANCE
19:14 "Houses and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the Lord". So what's supposed to take care of those kids (family) left to continue our legacy? Well, we shouldn't leave them penniless setting them up for failure. How many pro athletes, movie stars, etc make millions only to die in debt? It's not about spending your life in pursuit of making a mint- it's about being responsible.
As an (hopefully not too morbid) aside, think of this: whenever I write anything and 'publish' it (make it available for anybody besides myself to view), I think about how it might be the last thing ever that I write. If you think of things in that light, it makes the concept of your 'legacy' a little different. Imagine your funeral... Somebody says "The last thing he ever had to say was..."
What are YOU leaving behind?
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
The case of Free speech vs. Discretion
*From a Yahoo News article*
FEASTERVILLE, Pa. – A high school English teacher in suburban Philadelphia who was suspended for a profanity-laced blog in which she called her young charges "disengaged, lazy whiners" is driving a debate by daring to ask: Why are today's students unmotivated — and what's wrong with calling them out?
As she fights to keep her job at Central Bucks East High School, 30-year-old Natalie Munroe says she had no interest in becoming any sort of educational icon. The blog has been taken down, but its contents can still be found easily online.
Her comments and her suspension by the middle-class school district have clearly touched a nerve, with scores of online commenters applauding her for taking a tough love approach or excoriating her for verbal abuse. Media attention has rained down, and backers have started a Facebook group.
"My students are out of control," Munroe, who has taught 10th, 11th and 12th grades, wrote in one post. "They are rude, disengaged, lazy whiners. They curse, discuss drugs, talk back, argue for grades, complain about everything, fancy themselves entitled to whatever they desire, and are just generally annoying."
And in another post, Munroe — who is more than eight months pregnant — quotes from the musical "Bye Bye Birdie": "Kids! They are disobedient, disrespectful oafs. Noisy, crazy, sloppy, lazy LOAFERS."
She also listed some comments she wished she could post on student evaluations, including: "I hear the trash company is hiring"; "I called out sick a couple of days just to avoid your son"; and "Just as bad as his sibling. Don't you know how to raise kids?"
Munroe did not use her full name or identify her students or school in the blog, which she started in August 2009 for friends and family. Last week, she said, students brought it to the attention of the school, which suspended her with pay.
"They get angry when you ask them to think or be creative," Munroe said of her students in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday. "The students are not being held accountable."
Munroe pointed out that she also said positive things, but she acknowledges that she did write some things out of frustration — and of a feeling that many kids today are being given a free pass at school and at home.
"Parents are more trying to be their kids' friends and less trying to be their parent," Munroe said, also noting students' lack of patience. "They want everything right now. They want it yesterday."
One of Munroe's former students, who now attends McDaniel College in Westminster, Md., said he was torn by his former teacher's comments. Jeff Shoolbraid said that he thought much of what Munroe said was true and that she had a right to voice her opinion, but felt her comments were out of line for a teacher.
"Whatever influenced her to say what she did is evidence as to why she simply should not teach," Shoolbraid wrote in an e-mail to the AP. "I just thought it was completely inappropriate."
He continued: "As far as motivated high school students, she's completely correct. High school kids don't want to do anything. ... It's a teacher's job, however, to give students the motivation to learn."
A spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association declined to comment Tuesday because he said the group may represent Munroe. Messages left for the Central Bucks School District superintendent were not returned.
Sandi Jacobs, vice president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, said school districts are navigating uncharted territory when it comes to teachers' online behavior. Often, districts want teachers to have more contact with students and their families, yet give little guidance on how teachers should behave online even as students are more plugged in than they've ever been.
"This is really murky stuff," she said. "When you have a teacher using their blog to berate their students, maybe that's a little less murky. But the larger issue is, I think, districts are totally unprepared to deal with this."
Munroe has hired an attorney, who said that she had the right to post her thoughts on the blog and that it's a free speech issue. The attorney, Steven Rovner, said the district has led Munroe to believe that she will eventually lose her job.
"She could have been any person, any teacher in America writing about their lives," he said, pointing out that Munroe blogged about 85 times and that only about 15 to 20 of the posts involved her being a teacher. "It's honest and raw and a little edgy depending on your taste. ... She has a deep frustration for the educational system in America."
Rovner said that he would consider legal action if indeed Munroe loses her job.
"She did it as carefully as she could," he said about her blog. "It's so general that it applies to the problems in school districts and schools across the country."
___
Associated Press writer Dorie Turner in Atlanta contributed to this report.
FEASTERVILLE, Pa. – A high school English teacher in suburban Philadelphia who was suspended for a profanity-laced blog in which she called her young charges "disengaged, lazy whiners" is driving a debate by daring to ask: Why are today's students unmotivated — and what's wrong with calling them out?
As she fights to keep her job at Central Bucks East High School, 30-year-old Natalie Munroe says she had no interest in becoming any sort of educational icon. The blog has been taken down, but its contents can still be found easily online.
Her comments and her suspension by the middle-class school district have clearly touched a nerve, with scores of online commenters applauding her for taking a tough love approach or excoriating her for verbal abuse. Media attention has rained down, and backers have started a Facebook group.
"My students are out of control," Munroe, who has taught 10th, 11th and 12th grades, wrote in one post. "They are rude, disengaged, lazy whiners. They curse, discuss drugs, talk back, argue for grades, complain about everything, fancy themselves entitled to whatever they desire, and are just generally annoying."
And in another post, Munroe — who is more than eight months pregnant — quotes from the musical "Bye Bye Birdie": "Kids! They are disobedient, disrespectful oafs. Noisy, crazy, sloppy, lazy LOAFERS."
She also listed some comments she wished she could post on student evaluations, including: "I hear the trash company is hiring"; "I called out sick a couple of days just to avoid your son"; and "Just as bad as his sibling. Don't you know how to raise kids?"
Munroe did not use her full name or identify her students or school in the blog, which she started in August 2009 for friends and family. Last week, she said, students brought it to the attention of the school, which suspended her with pay.
"They get angry when you ask them to think or be creative," Munroe said of her students in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday. "The students are not being held accountable."
Munroe pointed out that she also said positive things, but she acknowledges that she did write some things out of frustration — and of a feeling that many kids today are being given a free pass at school and at home.
"Parents are more trying to be their kids' friends and less trying to be their parent," Munroe said, also noting students' lack of patience. "They want everything right now. They want it yesterday."
One of Munroe's former students, who now attends McDaniel College in Westminster, Md., said he was torn by his former teacher's comments. Jeff Shoolbraid said that he thought much of what Munroe said was true and that she had a right to voice her opinion, but felt her comments were out of line for a teacher.
"Whatever influenced her to say what she did is evidence as to why she simply should not teach," Shoolbraid wrote in an e-mail to the AP. "I just thought it was completely inappropriate."
He continued: "As far as motivated high school students, she's completely correct. High school kids don't want to do anything. ... It's a teacher's job, however, to give students the motivation to learn."
A spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association declined to comment Tuesday because he said the group may represent Munroe. Messages left for the Central Bucks School District superintendent were not returned.
Sandi Jacobs, vice president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, said school districts are navigating uncharted territory when it comes to teachers' online behavior. Often, districts want teachers to have more contact with students and their families, yet give little guidance on how teachers should behave online even as students are more plugged in than they've ever been.
"This is really murky stuff," she said. "When you have a teacher using their blog to berate their students, maybe that's a little less murky. But the larger issue is, I think, districts are totally unprepared to deal with this."
Munroe has hired an attorney, who said that she had the right to post her thoughts on the blog and that it's a free speech issue. The attorney, Steven Rovner, said the district has led Munroe to believe that she will eventually lose her job.
"She could have been any person, any teacher in America writing about their lives," he said, pointing out that Munroe blogged about 85 times and that only about 15 to 20 of the posts involved her being a teacher. "It's honest and raw and a little edgy depending on your taste. ... She has a deep frustration for the educational system in America."
Rovner said that he would consider legal action if indeed Munroe loses her job.
"She did it as carefully as she could," he said about her blog. "It's so general that it applies to the problems in school districts and schools across the country."
___
Associated Press writer Dorie Turner in Atlanta contributed to this report.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)