Perspective Adjustment

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

Isaac Asimov

First day in the Early Childhood Education department.  Please understand that I believe the early years of a child's life are extremely important.  Problem is not how important this is but how schools teach what is happening.  It is only my first day and their topic of study was "What is abuse?"  One of the students answered when a leg or something is broken.  It took a considerable amount of depression to keep down the internal explosion.  I wanted to scream at the fluffy teacher that identifying only this small segment as abuse that hundreds and thousands of people suffer abuse because after all it is not a broken bone.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  No.  The tragedy is the cutesy little sayings like, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me."  I changed this to "Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will rip my heart out."  My counselor helped me piece part of my memory together.  He helped me grasp that I was severely abused but they never broke a bone once.  I was totally out of sorts.  I checked out my sister's blog: 

Some things speak for themselves...

Sometimes violence is the only defense against man's inhumanity to man.  Reading this article put my day back in perspective.  I had a lousy day.  I was taken from a job where I am competent and my help is desired and wanted, moved to a situation where if I really spoke up I would probably be fired.  Instead of sharing knowledge I quietly seethe and babysit teenagers.  I was an X on a spread sheet that was moved at the whim of some high paid administrator that only counts the people and has no idea what those people do.  Same complaint as the soldier, only my X wasn't the cross hairs of a sniper rifle.  I am disappointed that at the new job I feel just as useless as I thought it would be.  My discouragement eased as I read about the soldier.  My struggles are not less just back in proportion.  I am also looking at yet another milestone.  Instead of being sucked into despair, I planted new flowers in my flower garden and turned in an application for a job with computers at an elementary school.  I may not get any more respect but I will drive a shorter distance if I get the job.  :)