Teaching Degree But No Common Sense

Thoughts learning more than I want are on teachers.
This is becoming a regular theme, an educated person with a college degree, and absolutely no common sense. Unfortunately this person is, scratch that, was a teacher in a Pennsylvania high school who was arrested because she allowed a student to do a self piercing in class, her ear. This is not a newbie, young, inexperienced teacher this person is thirty-four years old, yes old enough to know better, one would think. But thinking was obviously not one of her strong points as not only did she allow the student to do a self piercing but then allowed the student to pierce another students belly. This is an adult teacher, what part of any of this process, in this age of litigation, never mind the safety aspect, made any sense. It is scary to think she is supposed to be teaching and watching over minor students all day. The article I read, on this, said she was devastated about losing a career she loved. When you are in the business of taking care of other peoples kids there is no room, or excuse, for a mental lapse of this magnitude.
So the thought today is I am not sure this teacher should lose her job but if she remains employed, as a teacher, she should never be left alone, or put in charge of a class again.  

Talking With An Accent In Another Language

Thoughts starting the week are on trying to speak in another language.
Coming into contact with people whose first language is not English is always interesting. When first meeting them, and hearing them speak, my subconscious is always trying to place the accent before, after getting to know them a little better, the country they grew up in is mentioned. I like to hear accents, I also enjoy hearing different languages spoken, although I can understand none of them.
This leads to a comment I heard a long time ago, upon hearing a woman speak, who I knew had lived in the US a very long time, the question came up as to why she still had such a thick, homeland, accent even though she had been speaking English for many years.
I was talking with some French people, recently, and had them try to teach me some French phrases, in making this attempt it occurred to me. I may learn the phrases, and over time possibly the language, but I would always have my American southern accent stamped on the way I did the pronunciations, no matter what language I was attempting. The region, of any country, we grow up in has a lot to do with the sound and the physical manor in which our tongue and mouth work.
So the thought today is if I were able to learn French would people think I was from the south of France, probably not.

It Is The Noise

Thoughts with the wind in my ear are on driving with the windows down.
Growing up and living in a hot climate you understand, sometimes, it is simply going to be uncomfortable. A line from  "Lawrence Of Arabia" is the normal, when ask by another person, after putting out a match with his fingers, that hurts what is the trick, Lawrence replied, of course it hurts the trick is not minding that it hurts. Summer in the south is hot, it is the way it is. A while back the air condition on my truck went out and for a couple of days I drove to and from work without the cool air. It was no big deal, it was hot but I was able to get to work so all was well. The problem became the noise, with the air not working the windows were down and on side roads it is OK but on the expressway and in heavy traffic the noise becomes quite annoying. Large trucks, motorcycles, any number of mufflers in need of repair, and anywhere with the concrete barricades on the side of the road, those things amplify the noise and through it back at you. This prompted me to get the air conditioner repaired quicker than I had intended surprisingly not because of the heat but because of the noise.
So the thought today is sometimes a problem seems to be one thing and the reality becomes, surprisingly, something completely different.

Smoking And Flying

Thoughts midweek are on smoking on airplanes.
As old people say, "in the old days", remembering when smoking was allowed on airplanes. At one time you could simply smoke in your seat, each seat had an ash tray built right into the armrest. In this day and age imagine the outcry from people sitting beside you or, even worse, people sitting in front of you as you blow smoke through the seats onto them. The looks alone would be enough to kill you, there would be no need to wait for cancer. Somewhere along the way the rules were changed and there was no smoking in the front of the plane but you were still allowed to smoke in the back of the plane. This made no sense because the cabin air was filtered by a system that distributes it back into the entire cabin and in those days air filters were not very sophisticated or very fast.  You ended up with people who could not get seating in the back of the plane, so to smoke they would walk to the back and stand around, sometimes in large numbers, at the lavatory doors. The cloud of smoke would be so thick you had to bend over to get a good view of where you were walking, we probably needed those emergency floor lights the flight attendants are always talking about. As things have evolved, through the years, now you can no longer smoke on planes and in airports there are small designated areas.
So the thought today is I always wondered if the pilots had to make adjustments, in how they flew the plane, with all that added weight in the rear from the smokers.


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Key Ingredients to Religion

Thoughts pondering through the week are on religion.
It seems there are just a few ingredients one needs to have, start, or be a religion. You need a higher being, you can call this higher being any name you choose, it simply has to be other worldly, all powerful, and all knowing. The other thing needed is a book, a book filled with stories, thoughts, lessons, and phrases, that can be read to mean any number of things or interpreted in any manor necessary to justify the actions of the believers. Money is helpful, to religions, but not a necessity.
Most religions are based on the same premise, be an honest person, be kind to others, and help people if possible. Unfortunately too many religions end up on paths manipulated by their leaders and followers inevitably involving corruption, the quest for money, and power, this is true throughout history and with modern day religions. Today if you are born into certain parts of the world you have no choice but to believe as those around you do, it can be very dangerous not to.
The premise of a religious war, or killing another person in the name of religion seems to me to defeat the entire purpose of what religion should be in the first place, this is a practice I will never understand but it is a growing problem in religions of today.
So the thought today is I rarely ever discuss religion because what you believe is completely your choice, as long as it does not affect me.