Leap Year, I have never really understood this concept. Every four years we get an extra day… personally I would rather take those 24 hours and use them for another hour or so of sleep, but those little creatures who turn the wheels of time seem to disagree and we get an extra day. What exactly are we supposed to do with this day? I personally attempted to use mine as a day of reflection, but things never quite turn out the way we plan. I was enjoying a grill cheese sandwich and tomato soup provided by our Renaissance class and their thoughtful sponsor when I received a call to return to the office, Bizzaro World* was under attack...
As any school employee will attest, we live with a constant struggle of good vs. evil on every high school campus. The good influence decorates for school dances, draws your name in secret buddies, secretly puts a box of Cherry Chocolate Diet Dr. Pepper on your desk, and waves to you while you are doing lunch supervision. On the other hand, you also have the evil influence, which promotes gossip in the office, sells drugs to teenagers, and attempts to twist that which is “right” into “wrong.” This last influence is my reason for being in this profession. Just like a child playing Superhero, I am on a quest to rid Bizzaro World* of the Evil Doers! You can call this going “Down a Upward Staircase,” “Situational Ethics” or what ever you wish, but there is a definite influence in our society which attempts to twist everything we were taught as a child was “right” into “wrong.” This is done in the name of the allusive “Gray Area.” No one seems to know where exactly where the gray area begins or ends in Bizzaro World*, but everything we attempt to in the name of “right” seems to infringe on the “Gray Area.” I remember learning in Texas history, prior to statehood there was a place deep in the piney woods of east Texas where all the bandits would hide because it was not controlled by laws of either the Republic of Texas or the United States… I have often wondered if this the origin of the Gray Area?
This evil influence takes intelligent educated people and makes them second-guess their moral decisions such as, should a student be expelled for bringing 120 pills to school… because it isn’t written down anywhere? Or… should a young man who has been bringing a four-inch locking blade knife to school for a month be arrested because he happens to have a learning disability? Should a student be held accountable for ditching ONLY first period? Today I had a mother beg me to change her son’s detention because he needed to do community service for stealing a car! I am the only one in Bizzarro World* who thinks this is totally ludicrous? Each morning when I put on my Super Administrator cape to fight the forces of evil in land of Bizzaro* I am met with an entire cast of super villains to battle for the minds of our young people. I have named them, “Immorality,” “Ignorance,” “Denial,” “Peer Pressure,” and the vilest of them all “Multi-agency Politics.” Luckily, when I am zapped by one of these villains and frozen with a “James Castleman face," (aka my father’s, I can’t believe you are that stupid look) another Super Hero charges to my rescue and we continue this battle together.
When I first arrived in the land of Bizzaro*, I made a comment that I felt that I had a spoon trying to take down a mountain. Over the years, I have found there is actuallya whole bunch of folks with spoons and when we work together we can make a difference. As we walk through life, we are surrounded by wounded Super Heroes who are exhausted fighting the good fight. Maybe I am merely a mislead optimist in the Land of Bizzaro*, but I wonder what would happen if instead of throwing our hands up and giving up, we found others and encouraged them for wearing the cape too?
*Bizzaro is a copyright of DC Comics
