The last night of winter vacation

It’s the last night of winter vacation,
tomorrow we must return to school.
Remember the kids whose vacations were filled with nothingness or worse yet trauma.
Remember your colleagues whose personal lives are filled with drama.
Remember the kids whose parents decided Christmas was the best time to announce their impending divorce.
Remember your colleagues drowning in ungraded papers and unplanned lessons frozen with the fear of never being enough.
Reach out to the kids whose lunches weren’t packed.
Bring extra for the colleague whose credit card is maxed.
Give solace to the one rejected from college and to the one who got in but can’t afford to go.
Support the colleague asked not to come back next year who must put on a brave face until June.
Give the cheater, the liar, the faker a second chance.
Don’t demand the colleague who's struggling emotionally to chaperone the dance.

It's going to be really hard for them to put away their phones. If what you are teaching is worth learning, then lovingly make them. 

It's going to be really hard for them to put away their phones. But their lives aren't what they portray on social media. Adult life is messy. Ask how they really are.  

Only if we care for one another can our school be centers of growth and learning.
Tomorrow for whom will you care and who will care for you?

Reponse to Jerk who is being celebrated by social media re the Huffington Post

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Dear Elan,

Congratulations on earning fame and Twitter followers due to your nasty exchange with a woman on an airplane. Although the post was mildly entertaining, in the end I feel a bit sickened by your behavior which was inappropriate and wrong, more so than Diane’s.  Although I hesitate to write, because it will send more people to your story, perhaps my perspective will shape how they see you and your Tweets.  

I have three big problems with you.

1. Your stunt must have stressed the flight attendants trying to get through the busiest travel season of the year. The very people you were allegedly trying to protect, you probably harmed as they wondered if they would need to ground the flight due to a passenger incident.

2. You also display unsubtle and now publicized misogyny as exampled by your description of Diane and your foul “request.” Would you have requested a male passenger to dine on the same body part?  This reeks of serious issues with women that I hope for your sake you address with a professional.

3. Your lack of compassion is troubling. Flying has become a brutal necessity as our families are farther and father apart. You have no idea what Diane’s issues are or why she was wearing a mask. You can’t change a stranger’s behavior on a flight, but you can influence your own personal reaction to her.  You could have put on headphones and ignored her. She wasn't seat encroaching. She was not even really near you on the plane. She did not deserve your attack and your now public shaming of her for publicity.

With all of the negativity in the world, there is no need for the year you have named after yourself.  You are the equivalent of a gross stampede on Black Friday. The ugliness that you are promoting is certainly not in the holiday spirit, and I hope if you fly on New Year’s Eve, your resolution will be to be kinder to everyone around you.