Semper Fi

It's Memorial Day 2008. The day when we honor those who serve our country, especially the ones we've lost.

My husband recently returned from an 18-month tour of duty. It was rough, but we are a military family. Military families choose to make sacrifices that others don't understand.

It's always fun when I'm at the university listening to the twenty somethings talk about the uselessness of the military. I wonder how many of those loudtalkers are philosophy majors. I don't argue back much. I made a decision long ago to let reality handle those who know not what they say.

The Self Licking Ice Cream Cone

Allow me to introduce you to the concept of the self licking ice cream cone--a person, persons, committee, organization etc. that exists solely to perpetuate itself. Hmmm.

If you see one of these sinister creatures, run for your life. Have a purpose; don't be a cone!

3rd Annual Power Lunch

It's the Power Lunch today. I love this initiative. It makes me sad that it's likely going away.

A Bully is...

A bully is an insecure person.
A bully tries to rule by fear because she has nothing else.
A bully makes everything personal.
A bully can't handle a mirror.
A bully is not respected.
A bully is the master of her own undoing.

The Know Everythings

One of the conflicts that Huck Finn had trouble reconciling was the hypocrisy of those in charge. For instance, the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons had nice houses, wore nice clothing and even went to church where they listened to sermons on the importance of brotherly love. Nonetheless, the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons still owned slaves and shot each other to bits at any given moment. At one point, Huck even hid in a tree and watched his friend Buck get gunned down.

As Huck floats his way down the Mighty Misssissippi he becomes more and more disgusted by the behavior of the adults who put their own agendas before all else. The Grangerfords and Shepherdsons wanted things their own way as did the Duke, the Dauphin, Pap and others. By the end of the story, Huck knows that headin' for the territories is his only path away from the hypocrite world of the adults who pretend they know what's best.

Learning from a Fly

OK. So, I'm talking to my sophomores today about Sir William Golding's Lord of the Flies, and we got onto the topic of how Ralph smashed that pig skull. My students, who are awesome, were able to surmise that smashing the skull symbolized the hope that good can still rise up in the face of outrageous evil. So true. Evil, in any of its many forms, will never overtake the human spirit. Tut tut, pig-head, you won't win!

The Puritan Work Ethic

The New York school year is long. We won't be completely out of the building until 6/26. With a little more than four school weeks left I am in a constant state of being clenched. My beloved seniors are in the process of going on their mock interviews. I want them to do well, but I'm always worried about any unforeseen complications.

I've seen how these interviews can transform students. All of them deserve this experience.

Today one of my students came to see me before he went on his interview. I like talking to the students before they leave. They are excited, nervous. They look so nice all dressed up. The student who came to see me today told me that he borrowed clothes for the interview. I smiled and told him that he looked great.

I don't think he realizes it, but he made me very proud in that moment. He had a commitment, and he made good on it. He didn't complain. He didn't tell me that he couldn't do it. He just did it. He found a way to make things happen. He's a good boy with a good work ethic, and I know that he will have success in his life. Well done.

Jealousy the Motivator

So I'm walking down the hallway last week and I stumble upon two pockets of crying whispering girls. After a teeny amount of investigation I discovered that somebody said something to someone who didn't like having people say things about her. I did some quick calculating and realized that somebody was jealous of somebody else.

In teenager land, jealousy often leads to mean acts and hurt feelings. In adult land, jealousy is a powerful motivator that leads those afflicted to commit acts that damage more than just the intended target. Great authors remind us of this human shortcoming in some of our greatest novels and dramas. Gene Forester jounced Finny from the tree and ruined his Olympic dreams; Jack Meridew took his hunters away from the tribe and turned into a ruthless tyrant; Abigail Williams set into motion a chain of events that sent the man she loved to the gallows.

If literature teaches us one thing it's that jealousy fuels the weak and the insecure. It also shows us that those who strike out because of jealousy don't possess the self awareness that causes a normal person to take responsibility for his or her own actions. Instead, these sad souls simmer in their self righteous stew and plug on not realizing that the good guy, in reality or in spirit, always wins.

Holden was right; the world is full of phonies.

Punishing Success

One of my favorite students of all time told me recently that his college housing aid was cut because of a scholarship that he won. His mom is doing everything in her power to get the aid re-instated. I hope that she is successful. I've never understood the institutional practice of punishing success. People who work hard, do well, and otherwise positively impact the world deserve the benefits that their success brings.