Locked from the Inside Out

I am sitting in my house at this moment and I just had to share something that is absolutely hilarious! I am locked in my house with the door unlocked! I know! I know! I sound crazy right now but I'm serious! I'm sure that if it were a dark and stormy night, it would be pretty freaky. Having your door unlocked but not being able to get out could be scary, but on a bright sunny day it is just HILARIOUS! Oh maintenance is here! Freedom!

I think I'm cursed!

For the past two months I have been working the evening shift where I have to work till 6:30. Luckily, the other teacher has been willing to switch every other week so that we could both get good enough hours. We have had two people apply for the later position. Yet somehow we still do not have a closer. The first one seemed really perfect but never showed up to the interview. Most recently, we had another who seemed really nice and friendly and good with kids. She showed up to the interview so I was hoping to start at my old morning schedule next week. However, she never called my boss back after the interview! AH! What is going on? I know I've got to learn more patience but I'm starting to lose my mind!

I wrote this over a year ago but I wanted to post it because it is something dear to me! It is long but please bear with it! Thanks!

"Ever since I was a little girl I have struggled with the mantra that the citizens of the United States has put forth. Capture the American Dream! Pull yourself up by your bootstraps! Be a success! I guess I have never followed those steps. All these mantras only talk about "me". What if you can't? What do you do when you have no bootstraps because you can't afford them? Aren't we as a nation supposed to be a "we" not a "me"? What happened to the others? What about those who cannot help themselves? Do we leave them behind in our quest for the American Dream; the sad result of survival of the fittest? When did we begin to believe that we were so much more deserving to be here than those who are not? It makes me really sad. The inscription on our Statue of Liberty says "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door." That inscription stirs a picture of compassion and heart in me. When did this beautiful picture become "Give me your smart, your most successful, those who can afford to get in. I lift my lamp only for those who will pay for its oil." But really isn't that what it has become about? I know that we don't have thousands of people trying to get here from India because it is not close but there are many poor and if they could, we would probably only accept those who could afford it. It would be the smart kid who has all that we desire in order to put him to good use, not the poor little girl who has to roll cigarettes for the rest of her life to pay for a debt her and her family could never pay back. We might feel sorry for her but then we would go on with our lives and praise the smart kid who has put our country ahead of others in technology, medicine, etc!
Lately, with all of the immigration reform, I have heard many people in our "great nation" ranting about Mexican immigrants, how they are here illegally, they should be kicked out and I even read something today which broke my heart and made me REALLY angry: a mother in Phoenix wrote on a blog post on My Fox 10 website, "I think we just need to send all of them home and if we catch them we need to put them on a chain gang and let them break rocks into gravel and pay them, but keep the money and tell them after they earn enough then we will pay their way home. And if we catch them again it's a felony and they get sentenced and deported again." I'm sorry but in this message I hear that she thinks only "Americans" should be free. I mean, really, a CHAIN GANG! Come on! Why do we think it's a good idea to do this to another human being? It’s so dehumanizing! How can we say that we would not do the same thing in their position! Would we not do anything for our family? For our children? How far away are we from being in their position? I know I'm close! Most of us, we live paycheck to paycheck, praying that something doesn't go wrong that would break our family. Is that not just the same struggle they are living through? Instead, we worry that "these people" are taking money from us that is "rightfully ours". WHAT ABOUT THOSE WHO ARE NEXT TO US SUFFERING? Please! Think about them! Most of the people who are crying out "No Amnesty" are those that backed our President to go to war in Iraq. They cried "Weapons of Mass Destruction!" Then "Free the People!" And finally "We must finish what we started or it will come home to us!" Now if they are going to cry that for the Iraqi's, why can't they cry "Freedom for our Neighbors!"? If are going to cry that for Iraq then why can't we say it on our homefront? What about our neighbors who are suffering? What has happened? Why are we so selfish? I say "we" because I fall into this all too often! This selfishness has attached itself to our hearts and leeches off us everyday, causing it to grow!!!!! Lord, please help us! I just don't understand!

My entire life...

is revolving around work lately and it is driving me nuts! I have no life. That is sad.

Speaking of...

For those who are willing to take a chance on an older movie, I suggest If A Man Answers. It is with Sandra Dee. You may recognize the name from Grease. Rizzo sang about her as a prude. Well, this movie is a great one for those who like a whole battle of the sexes in their movies. A classic part is her mother's recommendation to train her husband in the way you train a dog. It's pretty funny. Try it, you may like it! Not the whole training thing of course! Just make sure you don't take it too seriously.

Old Stars

I was sitting watching an old movie. It made me think of this time when I was a freshman or something in high school. You know those games they make you play on the first days of school? We were naming our favorite actor and actress. When they came to me, I said Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn. A school mate asked "Is he related to Hugh Grant?" I guess that I'm just strange that some of my favorite movies are black and white! My sister, Kati, wrinkles her nose and curls her top lip at the mention of watching a black and white. Even on Christmas Eve, she refuses to watch "It's a Wonderful Life". Where did my mom go wrong with her? Just kidding! But it is odd you know?

Ay! Parents!

As a forenote, I am NOT pregnant (Dan!). Saying that, I love my job and my babies and their parents. However, I keep dreaming or rather hoping (because I rather doubt it will happen) of being able to have my own kids and just taking care of them. If parents are upset over something, I am more than happy to fix it! But, when someone finds anything to criticize you, it just starts wearing you down! But I keep up my customer service and pray I can make it till the time may come.