Yes, once again a school system and the small inhabitants of it halls was again brought to the attention of the general public, shockingly, because something went wrong…or did it go right, and no one knew what the heck to do about it? You see somewhere in the non-imaginary land of Texas, a little boy with a normal childish imagination and impish delight, tried to make his classmate invisible…heck, how do we know the kid didn’t ask to disappear? Frankly, I wish he’d been successful…because this adult has a few people needing to disappear! Think of the Kickstarter dollars such a project could generate!
I laugh at the absurdity of the situation, because I am one of the dying off Baby Boomers that has always lived life with basic rules, right and wrong, respect for my elders and the ability to use my imagination whenever possible. I was right there with Batman, Superman, Cowboys and Barbie, and my bike was more often than not a stallion, which I rode across the miles to see my best friend, who actually only lived across the street. Imagination… now a terrible thing it appears.
This little boy, thrust forever into a historical media spotlight, apparently brought a copy of the infamous circle of gold from Lord of the Rings to school…yup, the ring…and no, he didn’t go to Jared! After seeing the movie, he apparently took some frustration or play with a classmate to the highest level his obviously loving family background would allow, and threatened to make another child fade from sight. Sadly, if he was like so many other children in this day and age he might have brought a gun, thus truly making his friend disappear from life…but wait, that isn’t shocking news anymore, is it? Nevertheless, the punishment was the same…he was suspended from school, his records will be amended, and in his still growing mind, he has been left to believe he is a bad kid…seriously??????
Reading further, many news articles describe this horrible child (I think not), as having been previously brought up on other “charges” at his school. One such charge was for referring to a child as “black”…hmmm was it spelled with an ‘N’ or was the child actually Hispanic? The other incident, was due to bringing his treasured Book of Knowledge to school…(yes I said a real book, not a tablet immediately linking up to terrorist photos and sexually explicit advertising at a moment’s notice.) You see, his book…a pseudo encyclopedia of sorts, had a picture of a pregnant woman in it! OMG…was she trying to break the Internet with her nude assets or was she on a stage in Tijuana with an animal act? Seriously,I hope he never had a dinosaur or a bible in his pocket, because they might have burned him at the stake and banned him from biology class for life.
If there could be a best part in all of this unthinkable stupidity dancing down the halls of learning, it has to have been the response of his father, who simply said: “Well, if he did make the kid disappear, I’m sure he’ll bring him right back.” The father also added that the book in question was his son’s favorite, since he loved learning about the solar system…again I have to ask, exactly what planet is all this happening on?
When I was raised in the 1960’s and cutting my teeth in the 1970’s, phrases and words were still hanging on from a bygone era, and we were learning what politically correct was. I was also raised to love those around me, have respect for others with no prejudice as to who they were. That being said, people still went from colored to black to African American and women went from ladies, to babes to chicks to shorties, adjectives I personally never use, because Mr., Mrs. or Miss have always worked just fine. However, in the eyes of any child, skin color, sexual orientation or handicaps are often descriptively voiced, and for the most part there is nothing behind it but a learning process. So having this an issue in a school makes all of this even sadder.
I guess if anyone is to understand such behavior, not from a child, but from a ridiculous, overzealous, politically correct, rule-driven learning facility, where a boy brought a book to school, and used his innocent imagination, while seeing life around him with eyes as open as his mind, we will definitely have to use some imagination. Especially, since his father appears to be a supportive, loving and intelligent man, guiding his son towards eventual adulthood…didn’t anyone notice that piece of information when they tossed the kid out on his ear?
I don’t know about you, but we are getting into an area that George Orwell couldn’t have imagined any better, and it does make me wonder just what planet I do live on! Guess I’ll need to look for a book in order to figure it out, because sadly, I remember when such things were allowed in school for knowledge, and I had teachers happy to open the doors of my mind, not locking them behind me because I used it.
#LOTR #imagination #children
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