Distractions

I am a person that is easily distracted from accomplishing what I set out to do. Sometimes my Blog is my distraction and sometimes other people's Blogs distract me from mine and sometimes just turning on the computer distracts me from everything.

I have become very distracted this past week by the aftermath of the vote on Proposition 8 in California - Protests outside Mormon temples, church member's jobs, homes, and businesses being threatened, white powder being mailed to several different religious buildings... I was caught off guard by all that has been happening. It is hard for me to comprehend what has been taking place following a decision made in a democratic election. A statement issued by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says "People of faith have been intimidated for simply exercising their democratic rights. These are not actions that are worthy of the democratic ideals of our nation. The end of a free and fair election should not be the beginning of a hostile response in America." I don't understand why political officials in California aren't willing to stand up for the majority of the people they represent and acknowledge that this decision is the will of the people and affirm that they will uphold it. I try to picture the individuals in favor of Prop 8 behaving in a similar fashion if the final tally had gone the other direction and not in our favor. I can't even imagine it.

I think because I find some of these events so incomprehensible, I keep being drawn to more and more information about them hoping in someway to make sense of the whole thing. I have wasted a lot of time reading articles and news reports about all that is transpiring and still I simply don't understand. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I am sure that part of the issue is that I don't like to see the Church that I belong to and believe in reflected in a negative light, especially when I don't feel that we are the ones that have done anything negative. Also, in the back of my mind I keep feeling grateful that California is where this issue has come to a head and not Arizona (following the passing of Proposition 102) and then being disappointed in myself because of those feelings. I worry, "when will it be my turn to have to stand in the face of dangerous and demoralizing opposition and courageously maintain my position?" I am frightened by the visibility of Satan and his plan going forward in today's America.

Since this issue has been foremost in my mind recently, I thought it was appropriate when I opened to Elder Robert D. Hales conference talk to read in the Ensign today. It is entitled Christian Courage: The Price of Discipleship. It amazes me over and over again how inspired our leaders are in the messages they prepare and share with us. I may have been surprised by what happened in California following the election there, but obviously the leaders of the church, both here on earth and in the heavens above, were not surprised at all. This talk brought me the peace and understanding that I have been searching for in so many ways. God knows what is going on. "The opposition which may seem hard to bear will be a blessing to the Kingdom of God upon the earth." "When we do not retaliate - when we turn the other cheek and resist feelings of anger - we stand with the Savior. We show forth His love, which is the only power that can subdue the adversary and answer our accusers without accusing them in return." However, the message that struck me with the most power was this, "We have a great work to do, which will not be accomplished if we allow ourselves to stop and argue and be distracted. Instead we should muster Christian courage and move on. As we read in Psalms 37:1 'Fret not thyself because of evildoers'."

There is Heavenly Father's message to me. Don't let this distract you. Move away from the computer and go and do what needs to be done.

With that said I guess I better sign out.

I find it ironic that since November, the month to be thankful, started I have been very remiss in writing down what I am grateful for every day. Writing these things down is a very important part of my life and makes a big difference in my daily attitude. I need to step it up again.

Today I am thankful for

Inspired leaders who receive revelation concerning topics to speak on in General Conference and pass that inspiration on to me.
Family Time.
Times when things just seem to work out right. Today the youngest son and I both got to be happy with a trip to the church.

Signs of the Times

I would just like to say that I will be so happy when the upcoming elections are over - for so many reasons. One of which is the fact that I am very tired of seeing political signs on every street corner. For a city with a "No Signs" policy most of the year Tempe sure seems to have its fair share right now.

There do happen to be a few that have made me chuckle though. The red one below is my favorite sign. It says "Return Barry Wong".

There is just something funny about this statement to me. I'm not sure what it is. It could be that Barry Wong just sounds too much like Very Wrong to me, but I think it's the word "Return". This word does not say "Re-elect" to me. When I read it I think more "take back" ie. I returned the shirt to the store because I decided I didn't like it. It also conjours up visions of alien abductions in my head for some reason. Apparently I don't associate positive feelings with this word and that's why it doesn't look right as a campaign slogan to me.

Another one that made me laugh (even though it probably shouldn't have) was for Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Where it said Re-Elect someone had spray painted the word Deport over the top. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not condoning graffiti, but given recent events in the sheriff's department I could agree with the sentiment. I have voted for Sheriff Arpaio in the past, but he will not be getting my vote this year. He has outgrown his famous pink boxers, in my opinion.

Now, having shared with you my aversion to political signs, it may surprise you to know that I was a little upset to see a lot fewer of them as I took my morning walk around the neighborhood this morning. A member of our ward had posted a lot of "Yes on 102" signs in people's yards (with their permission of course) and I noticed today that many of them have disappeared along with a few McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden ones as well. Where did they go?? I can imagine sign thieves sneaking around the neighborhood in the middle of the night pulling up signs, but where do they put them when they are all done? Or maybe everyone just mowed their lawn this weekend and forgot to put the signs back when they were finished. It's a mystery. Just like these signs that I photographed on my way to pick up the son from school that were gone when I returned 15 minutes later.

I wish it were that easy to get rid of some of this years candidates. I wonder if I'd miss them too?

Who Comes Up With These Ideas?

Today one of my teacher friends from the elementary school I use to work at asked me to come in and help her get some stuff accomplished. The school administration doesn't allow anyone to be in the building after 5:00 PM or on weekends and even though she comes in every morning at 6:30 AM (preceded by a 45 minute drive from her home) she was feeling overwhelmed. The powers that be had agreed to let the teachers into the school today and tomorrow to work from 6:30 AM to 2:30 PM, even though it is their fall break. This teacher has a difficult 1st Grade class this year and she says if she turns her back to put a paper in her file cabinet all heck breaks loose so she had a lot of piles that she wanted to get rid of. I enjoyed helping her out and getting caught up on all the school gossip. Talking to her, and the other teachers there, raised some interesting questions though.

#1 - This whole "no school access" on nights and weekends. The principal says it is a district policy, but my daughter taught in this district for the past two years and they were allowed to be in the school at any time and I live next door to an elementary school in this district that also seems to have teachers visiting during the weekend. Now, I know ideally teachers should only have to work their compensated hours and be able to get everything done, but really there are times when that is ideal but definitely not realistic. For example, what if the copy machine is broken for three days and when it gets fixed all 40 teachers need to use it to run off next week's reading seat work that is required to be copied because the district can't afford to buy the workbooks. How many teachers can make their copies in the 1 hour after school on Friday??

#2 - This school has a no recess policy. NO RECESS. NONE. There is way too much learning that needs to take place for us to give the 4 through 10 year olds a 15 minute break. Who ever came up with that great idea has never tried to get a 4 or 5 or 6 year old to sit still for hours at a time.

#3 - This year the state of Arizona has adopted a new plan for the English language learners in all of the schools. All of the non English speaking children in each grade are put in one class and the English speaking children are put in another one. The teacher that I assisted has the English speaking first grade with 23 students and the other first grade teacher has the non English speakers in a class of 17. The non English teacher is required to teach English for at least 4 hours every day. Apparently the rest of the day is spent telling the students repeatedly "No Spanish. No Spanish. No Spanish." At the recent parent teacher conferences one of the non English speaking parents told the teacher "It appears from your class picture that all the children in your class are Hispanic." The teacher said "yes, I have all the non English speaking children". The parent said "where are the English speaking models?" Hmm, a parent that doesn't even speak English can figure out that this is probably not a good idea. Who in the state of Arizona thought it was? The non English kindergarten teacher is also my friend. She has 20 Spanish speakers and a little girl from Indonesia. She told me there has been great progress in her class. The child from Indonesia can now speak almost fluent Spanish. However, it gets even better. If a child in the non English class makes enough progress to pass the English language test then they are transferred out of the non English class to the English class. The non English teacher loses her best student and English role model that she has worked really hard to make proficient and the English teacher gets another student. Apparently the goal is that by the end of the school year the English class will be at 40 and the non English class will be at 0. That makes sense doesn't it?

#4 - One of my jobs today was to remove all the name tags, number lines and alphabet models off of the children's desks. This teacher attended several workshops this summer, offered by the district, that encouraged the teachers to let their students write their own name tags for their desks and decorate them in order to help them feel ownership of their desk and their belongings. A month into school, the district came in and told all the teachers that had attended those workshops that this was unacceptable and that the name tags needed to be replaced with computer generated D'nalian name tags. Also, they must use this specific number line and this specific handwriting model. Perhaps this information could have been shared before school started and not after the desks were all "decorated". It would have saved a lot of time and a couple of blisters, not to mention money, paper, tape and laminating film.

#5 - In this school no student work is allowed to be displayed that is not COMPLETELY PERFECT. Perfect - no misspelled words, no imperfect letter formation, no teacher corrections of any kind. Nothing that is predominately "coloring" can be hung up. Also art work is not a valuable use of time and therefore cannot be displayed. The walls in this school resemble an office building and not an elementary school.

After 8 hours with my teacher friends I was reminded of all the reasons I can't get excited about being a teacher. I miss being around the kids, but I hate all the dumb rules and the fact that the rules change every year. I admire anyone who continues to be a dedicated teacher despite all the setbacks.

On a happier note, I did get a chance to sit on "Cloud 9" for a couple of minutes today, but it wasn't quite the same without the 5 year olds checking on my happiness level.

Today I am thankful for

a friend who pays me to help her.
chances to spend time with old friends.
razorblades.