Saturday, June 27, 2009

One of my favorite jokes...

Hello www, Thank you Lord for your continual blessings on my family and friends. In Jesus' name. Amen. My blogs have been a little too serious lately, even for me!, so I think I'd like to share with my readers one of my favorite jokes. I hope you laugh. It always makes me laugh. I can't let you off that easy, though; there has to be a lesson learned (ever the teacher! he he) in this joke, what do you think that lesson is? :) There is no right or wrong answer, just something to think about when you finish reading. The Pope vs. Moishe About a century or two ago, the Pope challenged the Jewish community of Rome to a debate. The Jews looked around for a champion who could defend their faith, but no one wanted to volunteer. It was too risky. So they finally picked an old man named Moishe who spent his life sweeping up after people to represent them. Being old and poor, he had less to lose, so he agreed. He asked only for one addition to the rules of debate. Not being used to saying very much, he asked that neither side be allowed to talk. The Pope agreed. The day of the great debate came. Moishe and the Pope sat opposite each other for a full minute before the Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers. Moishe looked back at him and raised one finger. The Pope waved his fingers in a circle around his head. Moishe pointed to the ground where he sat. The Pope pulled out a wafer and a glass of wine. Moishe pulled out an apple. The Pope stood up and said, "I give up. This man is too good. The Jews win." An hour later, the cardinals were all around the Pope asking him what happened. The Pope said, "First I held up three fingers to represent the Trinity. He responded by holding up one finger, to remind me that there was still one God common to both our religions. Then I waved my finger around me to show him that God was all around us. He responded by pointing to the ground, showing that God was also right here with us. I pulled out the wine and the wafer to show that God absolves us from our sins. He pulled out an apple to remind me of original sin. He had an answer for everything. What could I do?" Meanwhile, the Jewish community had crowded around Moishe, amazed that this old, almost feeble-minded man had done what all their scholars had insisted was impossible. "What happened?" they asked. "Well," said Moishe, "first he said to me that the Jews had three days to get out of here. I told him that not one of us was leaving. Then he told me that this whole city would be cleared of Jews. I let him know that we were staying right here." "And then?" asked a woman. "I don't know," said Moishe. "He took out his lunch and I took out mine." God bless!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

A Gentle Soul wrapped in a Big Personality*

Hello www, Thank you Lord for good fathers - here on earth and in heaven - and even for fathers who fail/failed their children in some way; they are/were doing the best they can/could. May the children who are disappointed by their fathers find a way to peace. For the fathers who have passed away by some tragedy and have children, may the children be filled with a spirit to fight injustices, and a greater sense of compassion, instead of being filled with revenge and hatred. In Jesus' name. Amen. After hearing of the museum shooting on Wednesday, June 10th, I was, just like everyone else, in shock. An 88-year-old man has no business doing stupid, insane, outrageous acts of pure hatred. The devil had his soul already though. It is in instances like this that I know we have an real, live, enemy, and I'm talking about the devil, in our streets. The devil is constantly looking for souls that are waiting to be overrun by him. When the details of what happened started to unfold, one moment I couldn't stop folding and unfolding, is the one where Johns was doing his job, being the kind, caring, individual he was, seeing an elderly man entering the museum, and John's only thought was to help this man come into the museum, just to be shot to death for his benevolent act. I can't imagine the horror of being in the act of helping someone and getting literally shot for it. I wonder if Johns saw the rifle evil held in it's hand? It was an immediate shot, as if Evil was expecting John's humane act and knew to shoot it down. I cry for this tender spirit our world has lost. Mark Twain once said, "Let us endeavor to live so that when we die even the undertaker will be sad." I think Stephen Tyron Johns did just that. I have talked about this incident with friends, and mentioned how I thought lives were probably saved because Johns was shot first. That sound, from one eye-witnesses account on a morning talk show, was like 'someone dropped a large stack of papers,' alerted the other security guards and allowed them to take the shot they needed to incapacitate wickedness. I don't know Johns personally, but I read an article from the Washington Post that helped me get a better idea of who he was: "Opening the museum door was a final gesture of goodwill for a man who had long opened his own door for friends, family and anyone in need. He was a "care bear" who despite the imposing mass that made him well suited for security -- 6 feet 6 inches and more than 300 pounds -- "wouldn't harm anybody," said Brian Lennon, a longtime friend and onetime roommate. Lennon, Johns and a third friend, Anthony Harmon, shared an Oxon Hill apartment for five years, beginning in 2002, and they had known one another since meeting at a job training program in 1990. They were like brothers, keeping tabs on one an other's families. Harmon, 36, said they fit together like "puzzle pieces." But in the past couple of years, their lives took different directions -- Lennon got married and so did Johns, for the second time -- and they saw less of one another." The friends had recently gone fishing together, but Johns hadn't caught anything and the friends gave him one of theirs. "He was talking, and we was chilling together," Harmon said. "It was just so exciting that we were around each other." They made plans to do it again on Father's Day." Johns and his second wife had recently bought a house closer to Johns' mom and step-dad, AND to his son by his first marriage. Father and son had begun hanging out more since they lived close to each other. "Johns was attached to his job, Harmon said. "It was the best thing that ever happened to him," he said. "We'd do things, and he'd say: 'I can't stay out too late. I've got work in the morning.'" "He was just a delightful colleague, a wonderful individual, a great professional and a very dedicated security officer," said Sara Bloomfield, the museum's director. "But I would say, above all, what a personality. . . . He just had one of those personalities that you couldn't avoid." When Johns decided to be licensed as a "special police officer," which permitted him to carry a handgun on duty, his friends laughed at him, Harmon said. He was too sweet a person for people to imagine him getting into an altercation. "We said, 'You don't need a gun, man,' " Harmon said. Johns explained it to Harmon this way: "It's not really about the gun. I want to step up careers a little bit." *the title for this blog came from the Washington Post article, which has also been quoted in this blog. There is a fund for Johns' family, if you'd like to donate: -- Checks payable to USHMM Officer Johns Family Fund may be mailed to USHMM, 100 Raoul Wallenberg Pl. SW, Washington D.C. 20024. Contributions can also be made by calling 877-91USHMM (877-918-7466) from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. or going to the museum's Web site. -- Wackenhut, Johns's employer, asks that contributions be made by check or money order payable to Zakia Christina Johns in care of WSI Wachovia, 4440 PGA Blvd., Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. 33410. -- Checks payable to the American Jewish Committee, with "Holocaust Museum Memorial Fund" on the memo line, should be mailed to: American Jewish Committee Washington Chapter in care of Melanie Maron Pell, 1156 15th St. NW, Suite 1201, Washington D.C. 20005. Donations will also be accepted at the AJC Web site. God bless.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Hello www, Lord Jesus, help all those who are in need of hope in their lives. Thank you for the many prayers you answer, and for the blessings bestowed on us all. In Jesus Name. Amen. The school year is over, and as I write these words, I know I'm 'free' from teaching, at least until the Fall...But I'm not enjoying this freedom too much at the moment. I'm thinking about the students I had this past year. The year that just ended was among my most trying. I feel like I let my students down academically. They did well on the state tests, thanks be to God, but I wonder if there was another way I could have pushed them even farther. In my 10+ years that I've taught, I think the only other time I've felt this way about a class was when I first began my career as a teacher. I usually feel good about my students, but for some reason these students haunt me. 'My girls,' as I lovingly called them, were sweet and funny...what will they take with them from me academically as I send them on their continuing journey through school, and life? AA, who was goofy and funny, didn't listen to me. It was as if she was in someone else's class when I gave instructions, or taught a concept. She tried hard, but still couldn't grasp what was going on in Math, or Reading. She acted like she understood and then went to her desk and did her work incorrectly. This stumped me. Her handwriting was always neat and she took her time in doing her class assignments, but she took too much time copying something from the board, completely missing the point of the lesson. This was a constant area of contention between us. She got to where she was good at delaying doing the work I wanted her to do because she was writing so neatly and carefully. I made phone calls to mom, and it would get better for a little bit, only to return to where she was in a few weeks. When I ate lunch with 'my girls,' AA made me laugh the most. She had hilarious imitations of a movie star, or a singer. She is Charismatic...Charming. I couldn't reach her academically. Then there was BB. I am NOT for medicating students, and I am not one who recommends medicine every chance a student misbehaves in my class, but BB was an exception. Easily distracted, putting his head on his desk often, shutting down on me when he didn't get a correct answer, or a good grade. I thought the parents should put him on meds for ADD. Of course by law a teacher May Not even offer the suggestion. We are only allowed to hint. I did hint. The older brother went to our school and by the time he was in sixth grade, the parents put him on ADD meds. He was a completely different child. SO, when I spoke to the parents about BB, I mentioned the older brother and asked if mom saw any similarities in the two brother's behavior. She didn't get the hint, and the child went unmedicated. He too has a great sense of humor. As teacher's we are told if we bond with our students, ie have lunch with them, spend time with them during the school day, even for a few minutes each day, the students will want to succeed. The bonding with us will make them want to accomplish great things, since they want to please those they like. I went out of my way with this year's group to 'bond' with them. Any 'off duty' days I had free, I ate with either the boys or the girls in my classroom. Regardless of behavior, etc., they could have lunch with me. 30 min of pure conversation about anything, a time to be silly, a time to get to know each other. When it came time to give awards at the end of the year, my class had the lowest number of achievements. Sure, they are bilingual students, but their bilingualism is an asset; it's just not revealing itself now... Sigh. I continue to reflect on this past year and do my best to remember what I can change with next year's students. How I can be better for them. This year is over, but my thoughts and prayers will go forward with these students. My prayer is that my class this year taught me something: be better, strive to be better each year, do things differently, change things up, and be open. God bless.

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