Update: Disciplinary action announced by director of schools on The Murfreesboro Post

By: BEVO on 5/16/07
With regards to the Scales elementary school "debacle" I can only state the following: it seems absolutely comical that people profess such a deep concern for the "safety" of children over a "prank" (albeit, a stupid, stupid choice by the individual) ; comical, yet pathetically sad. I am godsmacked, dumbfounded and absolutely stupefied by the hypocrisy of the outspoken Americans who rattle their cages at things so utterly meaningless and pride themselves over the mountains they create out of these molehills. Anyone with a functioning brain can readily state that this was a foolish decision on the part of the "authority figure" – what good is anyone accomplishing by stating the obvious, over and over again ? Truthfully, it was an abuse of the trust that children have towards their teachers. However, how can anyone in this nation leap on top of such a pretentious soapbox and highlight this exceedingly minor transgression while such horrible things are happening to children around this country 24 hours a day, 360 days out of the year ? This, unfortunately, is the sad reality of the mindset of Americans today. We are 100% brainwashed by the media into believing whatever they choose for us to not only hear and see but also to believe. How can all of these Americans turn a blind eye and deaf ear to the thousands of American youths (and adults, too) that die in our very own streets every year, shot, stabbed, beaten or otherwise murdered ? Where is the self-righteous outrage at this unnecessary death of America's youth ? Where are your voices when these kids need to hear that they can do better for themselves ? Where is the intense interest in the situation ? A deafening silence fills the air around this sober reality. It seems painfully evident that Americans don't care about anything more than what is in their oh-so-narrowly-defined everyday life. If American's don't live with it on a daily basis and personally experience it, then it is ignored and has no significance – at least not until it hits home.

Americans, thanks to the selective American media, spend a lot of time complaining about the stories that, in the grand scheme of things, are rather insignificant – this is only one example of many greater sad truths. Everyday, across the nation, more Americans are shot in our own towns than in the war in Iraq – where is the outrage for this ? These things are happening in our towns and communities and no one wants to lift a finger to better the situation, much less even acknowledge that it is happening. In my youth, I too walked around with the attitude that "it didn't concern me; I wasn't involved in it, I was being good, going to school, working to better myself". I ignored it, and it was easy to do so. But, with some age, I am increasingly aware of this sad reality - so much happens in this world that we don't hear about because American media has chosen for us to not hear it, so much so that we should all be screaming for new media outlets. What of the poor Africans who lost their arms and even their lives for no better reason that for women to wear diamonds around their fingers and necks ? While on the topic of Africa, why do we hear so much about Aids in Africa when the former Soviet Union has a much worse epidemic of Aids that is currently threatening to destroy an entire region there ? Where are the rock stars and reporters to bring attention to that painful reality ? Just yesterday, I was informed that Channel 4 reported that radioactive waste has been found in the Rutherford county landfill (is it true, perhaps not but I'd like to know) – where are the voices screaming and demanding that this be investigated and either confirmed and addressed or denied and proven false ? What will affect the development of the children more, an extremely poor choice of a joke, or radioactive pollutants in the drinking water ? This school administrator's bad choice, or the drugs and the weapons that follow them which are becoming more and more prevalent in American youth culture ? Is the choice you make going to be exaggerating the importance of this one stupid incident while at the same time teaching the children, through the actions they see performed by their parents, that this is what is far more important than the deaths in our streets ? What will you choose ?

I know that there will be very negative reaction to this message. People don't like to be reminded of these harsh truths – I don't like thinking about them either. But, they are there, every single day whether we want to admit it or not. It won't go away by ignoring it. I won't be returning to this to read the reviews or opinions that follow this because I didn't write it to see my own words or feel good about them, nor did I do it to stir up a controversy. I simply wanted to post the truth and hope that maybe someone will think about these things. Some will want to angrily deny what I wrote, but all that really matters, in the end, is can the truths be denied, can you disprove the facts as they are presented ? If so, then great for everyone, but facts, by their very nature, are what they are – absolute and irrefutable. Denying it won't bring back the dead; denying it won't undo the wrongs; denying it may make one feel better inside but what will that teach the children ? Take from it what you will; take none of it, even. We choose our actions daily and in doing so either permit things to continue as they are, or chose to act differently and make a change. Today, I chose to act.