Some advice from my minister on Sunday:

Never give your love to something that can't love you back.

Imaginary Conversations

Much has been made of the success of the Oklahoma City MAPS program which has revitalized downtown OKC and attracted the NBA Hornets basketball team to the city. MAPS for Kids was touted as an extension of that successful building project. However, in the case of John Marshall High School the students, teachers and staff have been asked to move into a half-finished building and are being asked to do so again in regards to Centennial High School. We have been “challenged” to deal with the problems created by utilizing inadequate space in a “professional” manner. Imagine, however, if this same challenge had been given to the professional sports teams using two of the Crown Jewels of the downtown MAPS programs: the Bricktown Ballpark and the Ford Center.

I think the conversation would go something like this between Mayor Kirk Humphries and the Redhawks owners, and between Mayor Mick Cornett and the Hornets owner.

Humphries: I just wanted to get with you about the Bricktown Ballpark. As you know, you are expected to play in Bricktown the next season. All Sports Stadium is /going to be torn down.

Redhawks: Well, I’ve been to the ballpark, and quite frankly Mayor Humphries, the park isn’t finished yet. Only about a quarter of the stands have been completed and the concessions area is a mess.

Humphries: Yes, but I know that a professional team like your can “work around that.” We’ve promised the public that the ballpark will be open and we can’t go back on our word.

Redhawks: Where is everyone going to sit?

Humphries: We’ll put some folding chairs in the areas where we aren’t working at the time. That way when the construction workers need to get into that part of the park, the fans can just pick up their chairs, and move out of their way.

Redhawks: There is going to be construction going on during the games?!!!

Humphries: Of course, we’ve got to keep on schedule!

Redhawks: That’s going to disrupt the game. We can’t ask the players to put up with that!

Humphries: I thought you were a professional team. Surely, professionals can put up with a little disruption.

Redhawks: Obviously, you know nothing about playing baseball. And what about concessions? How will people get food and drink.

Humphries: We will set up some carts in the foul areas. You don’t really need those anyway.

Redhawks: No way. You get that stadium completed and then we move in. Until then we will stay at All Sports Stadium. It may be old, but at least it’s functional.

Humphries: Sorry, we made a deal with the folks who oversaw the building of that stadium and we’re going to keep it.

Now imagine the conversation between Mayor Cornett and George Shinn, owner of the Hornets:

Cornett: George, I’d like to talk to you about bringing the New Orleans Hornets to OKC for your next NBA season since the Superdome won’t be available. As you know, we have this new arena we call The Ford Center just waiting for an occupant.

Shinn: Thank you, Mr. Cornett, I’d like to see what you have for us.

Cornett: I think I need to tell you in advance that you’ll have a few “modifications” you’ll need to make to use it.

Shinn: What do you mean?

Cornett: It’s mostly about the court itself. We have a first class basketball court, but it’s only half finished.

Shinn: You expect us to play on a half-finished court!

Cornett: I’ve seen half-court games played by the kids in our park. If they can do it, surely a bunch of “professional” players can adjust their game just as well or better!

Shinn: Why do you think that a professional team would be interested in a half-finished product? You do things right over there in OKC or no one will be impressed with what you have. I’m shocked that you would ask any group of professionals to accommodate your schedule.

Well, you get the idea. If we wouldn’t expect professional teams to deal with half finished facilities, why do we get the idea that professional educators should do the same?

Kernel of Excitement

Happy Teacher
I live a day at a time.
Each day I look for a kernel of excitement.
In the morning I say, "What is my exciting thing for today?"
Then, I do the day.
Don't ask me about tomorrow.
--Barbara Jordan, American Congresswoman and educator

Quotations on Teachers

The [person] who can make hard things easy is an educator.--Ralph Waldo Emerson

15 Reasons to Love Education

1. Knowing you make a difference.
2. Creating a better tomorrow.
3. Workign with children.
4. Helping learning happen.
5. Memorable moments.
6. Being in great company.
7. Using your mind, heart, and soul every day.
8. Rewards that money can't buy.
9. Seeing a student's face light up.
10. A sense of accomplishment.
11. Shaping lives, dreams, and futures.
12. Each day can be an adventure.
13. Feeling proud of being a role model.
14. Summer vacation.
15. Recognizing that your job is important even on "bad" days.

(from "Attitude is Everything" Positive Gift Books)

This I Believe

Norman Corwin

In my Advanced Placement class, we have been reading and analyzing essays that come from the NPR "This I Believe" series. I intend to have them write their own belief statements. Here is an example of an essay we studied.

Good Can Be as Communicable as Evil by Norman Corwin

Years ago, while watching a baseball game on television, I saw Orel Hershiser, pitching for the Dodgers, throw a fastball that hit a batter. The camera was on a close-up of Hershiser, and I could read his lips as he mouthed, "I'm sorry." The batter, taking first base, nodded to the pitcher in a friendly way and the game went on.

Just two words, and I felt good about Hershiser and the batter and the game all at once. It was only a common courtesy but it made an impression striking enough for me to remember after many summers.

The blood relatives of common courtesy are kindness, sympathy and consideration. And the reward for exercising them is to feel good about having done so. When a motorist at an intersection signals to another who’s waiting to join the flow of traffic, "Go ahead, it’s OK, move in," and the recipient of the favor smiles and makes a gesture of appreciation, the giver enjoys a glow of pleasure. It’s a very little thing, but it represents something quite big. Ultimately it’s related to compassion, a quality in very short supply lately, and getting scarcer.

But look, let's not kid ourselves. It would be foolish to hope that kindness, consideration and compassion will right wrongs, and heal wounds, and keep the peace and set the new century on a course to recover from inherited ills. That would be asking a lot from even a heaven-sent methodology, and heaven is not in that business.

It comes down to the value of examples, which can be either positive or negative, and it works like this: Because of the principle that a calm sea and prosperous voyage do not make news but a shipwreck does, most circulated news is bad news. The badness of it is publicized, and the negative publicity attracts more of the same through repetition and imitation.

But good can be as communicable as evil, and that is where kindness and compassion come into play. So long as conscionable and caring people are around, so long as they are not muted or exiled, so long as they remain alert in thought and action, there is a chance for contagions of the right stuff, whereby democracy becomes no longer a choice of lesser evils, whereby the right to vote is not betrayed by staying away from the polls, whereby the freedoms of speech, assembly, religion, and dissent are never forsaken.

But why linger? Why wait to begin planting seeds, however long they take to germinate? It took us 200-plus years to get into the straits we now occupy, and it may take us as long again to get out, but there must be a beginning.

copyright National Public Radio and Atlantic Public Media

Got Any Flames?

Frank and Ernest on Blogging

Well, that's one view. Here's another:

Great Minds Discuss Ideas.
Good Minds Discuss Events.
Small Minds Discuss People.

(Think about that the next time you're looking at the supermarket magazine rack!)