Apathy Jack writes:
Want to know what does the heart proud?
Due to an increasing number of violent incidents at school, form teachers were asked to have discussions with their classes about issues of tolerance and appropriate behavior. Each teacher got a number of ‘discussion starters’ – things like “If someone tries to step you out, how should you react?” and “If someone says something you don’t like, what should you do?”
I looked around my form class – a bunch of seniors that I’ve known for four years, some of the best the school has to offer, and I thought to myself “Bugger this for a game of soldiers. I have good kids here – really good kids. They don’t need this talk.”
Then one of the autistic students walks past the open door of my classroom, and a pack of my boys start hollering and mocking him.
The boys that were yelling at the autistic kid are all youth leaders in their church, and often proclaim their faith to me and the fellow students. The kids that were telling them to stop being so mean and to leave the poor guy alone were the smokers who don’t quite get to every class on their timetable.
As I was yelling (and by god I was yelling) the smokers took my whiteboard markers and covered my board with anti-harassment and tolerance slogans.
I thought about bringing up Matthew 25: 40, but I already wander around muttering Mark 13: 20 to myself, and I’d hate to get Christian spirited out...
3 comments:
Hey, great post. And good on your for yelling at them, the hypocritical little buggers.
it seems to be fairly common for people who believe they are doing everything right to mock people below them.
Somehow it just seems to be easy to go from trying to be the best for yourself, to feeling better than everyone else - and telling them so, or putting them down.
See, 12 years of Catholic school and the occasional glimpse of the bible left with several with several conclusions. Number 1 was that it was a bunch of ass, but 2 and 3 are a bit more pertinent to this discussion: 2. Leviticus must have been the dirtiest old man ever, but certainly gave me some inspiration; 3. That essence of Christianity was being good and serving as an example of goodness to others - not forcing the people around you to be good. In fact the only hymn I remember clearly was called "They will know we are Christians by our love" - not, let's be clear, by the way we destroy other people's temples, shoot abortion doctors and burn crosses of your lawn - but by our love. Now why a confused Agnostic can work that out and hardcore Christians can't is my question that I really, really want God to answer. If he exists. For which the jury is still out.
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