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Friday, November 18, 2016

School Bus Accident


School Bus Accident
A cranky opinion for

CRANKY OPINION SATURDAY

The following is the opinion of a cranky old man, who may have wandered from opinion to random ranting…sorry.  Opposing opinions or random rants are encouraged, but they are wrong.  As usual, no name calling and that means you, you big stupid-head.

We are fast becoming a society of victims.  Now I don’t want to sound insensitive, I think it is great for people to be more inclusive and concerned about the feelings of others.  I think we should expect or seek fairness in society.  Bad people should be disciplined; bad ideas should be disputed but on the way, bad things may happen and it is not always somebody’s fault.

Racism is bad.  Bullying is bad.  Hatred is bad, but it is becoming very difficult these days to not offend someone.  I don’t use the term Orient or Oriental unless I am talking about a carpet, because I’ve been taught it is offensive.  Apparently, you can say Asian.  I don’t know the difference.

Those with a mental deficiency used to be called idiots, then retards, then challenged, then, for now at least, special…I think, I agree idiots and retard does not sound very nice, but it is just a matter of time before special will be offensive.  I don’t know the difference.

People used to be either straight or homosexual.  Apparently homosexual is offensive so now we say gay.  I don’t know the difference.  There used to be a gay community, now it is the LGBT community for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender.  A few months ago, Q was added for queer, meaning gender confused.  Queer used to be offensive.  Just today I found they added two new letters,  I for inter- sexual, and A for asexual.  Couldn’t we just call the LGBTQIA community the NS for nontraditional sexuality community?  I’m afraid of leaving out a letter and offending.

Today I saw an article about a school bus accident.  One father was in a traffic jam that was a result of the accident.  He found out about it when his wife sent him a text.  The article did not say how the wife heard about the accident.

This father was incensed that he did not hear about the accident directly from the school system.  He was worried for his child.  He had no official notice.  He was angry, he was a victim.

This bus was T-boned by a drunk who stole an SUV and ran a red light.  There were five students on the bus.  None were injured, and they were all placed on another bus and driven home. 

The child of the father who was so angry was not on this bus.  Why was he so angry? How was he a victim?  Maybe the school could have disseminated information better, though I’m not sure if they want to alarm anyone over five students who were not injured, and I’m not sure how they should inform everyone.  If they used texts, I guarantee there would be at least one parent without a cell phone who would claim discrimination.

I don’t get it.  I guess I am old and out of touch.  I grew up thinking that sometimes bad stuff just happens and there was not always someone to blame.  I grew up understanding that the world revolves around the Sun and I was just a passenger.  When I stub my toe, I don’t go looking for someone to blame.  If I get stung by a bee, I don’t sue the neighbor who planted the flowers that attracted the bee.  If I get stuck in the snow, I don’t blame the snow plows, I blame the snow, and myself for not staying home.

Perhaps someday children will grow up in a world where no one gets sick, hurt, cold, scared, bullied, called names, or experiences disappointment.  We may have a world where there is no hate and everyone is nice to everybody.  That would be lovely…I guess.

Many years ago, I remember a story in Sports Illustrated about a baseball player who went 4 for 4; four hits in four at bats.  He did this for three games in a row and he was the talk of the baseball world.

After two weeks of going 4 for 4 every game he was a baseball God, he was cheered and worshipped by adults and children alike.  By the third week people were beginning to root for him to make an out.  By the fourth week fans were booing him because he never made an out.  I don’t remember how the story ended, but I was struck by the concept that perfection would at some point become boring and take the expectation and fun out of…in this case the game of baseball, but allegorically, life itself.

Life isn’t perfect, people aren’t perfect, bad stuff happens and it is not always someone’s fault.  Words and names are important, but they are often not used to cause pain intentionally, maybe we could be more understanding.  It is great to strive for perfection, but along the way, shouldn’t we be able to expect and accept flaws?  Is it offensive to be too easily offended?

The preceding was the opinion of a cranky old man, and not that of management, Mrs. Cranky, who apparently can’t tell what part of this is opinion and what part is just random blathering. 

17 comments:

  1. I think nowadays, not that I'm an expert, because I'm not, but a lot of people are of the "me" way of thinking. They want what they want when they want it, even though half of the time they might now know what it is that they want. The father in this case, with no student aboard the bus, wanted something. I'm not sure what. Control of a situation he had no control of or really interest in? Or just something to make waves about? Bad stuff will happen to good people, good stuff will happen to bad people. Its just the way this world operates and we need to accept that, not try to justify our behaviors and feeling we have the right to know something, when in reality we really don't.

    betty

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  2. This is a good and important post for these crazy times. We have to be very careful what we read into the actions and words of others.

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  3. In my opinion it is offensive to be so easily offended. It's got so you can't say anything because someone, somewhere, will dissect every word and find something in there to offend them, even if you weren't talking to them or about them. All this cotton-wool wrapping has gone way too far and I hate it.
    For myself, I know that if anything happens to me, it's usually my own damn fault and I'd better be careful next time. And if someone insults me, I throw them off course by saying thank you and walking away.
    For heaven's sake people, get over it and start living again.

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  4. Actually, it's stoopid to be too easily offended. I hope you look into the fellow who batted a thousand and tell us more.

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  5. Never assign evil intent when lack of knowledge (or even stupidity) could be to blame. If someone says something that might offend you if it is intentional, talk to him/her and find out. That person may simply have not understood, or may be from a place where that term isn't considered bad.

    While i can understand parents being anxious finding out about a bus accident from the news and wondering if their own child is on the bus and if anyone is hurt, you aren't a victim because the school didn't notify you within a millisecond that your child wasn't involved.

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  6. Some people play the role of victim too easily. I never want to play the victim because it means I'm not steering my own life. When something goes wrong i try not to blame anyone other than myself.

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  7. You sure said a mouthful with this one. It's hard to know what to say anymore....to the point where it's easier to just keep walking and don't start talking.

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  8. Brilliant! I just shared it with my friends on Facebook. I swear, most of us could f__k up a one car funeral procession!

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  9. Very well said. I'm the master of my destiny and I've always been the master. I know when I've made the wrong turn and blame no one but me. There are many now that are so special, they haven't done a thing, but they are so special. Bless their hearts. Those are the crybabies that we've been seeing protesting.

    Have a fabulous day. ☺

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  10. Your post and my thoughts. I couldn't have said it so well. I wonder if it's just Americans or is the whole world population acting this way.

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  11. I have been retired for several years, but I can tell you for certain that "sped"
    as short for special education replaced "retard" a long time ago. What we call others will always turn hurtful when the words we use are meant to put a group of people who appear too different. But I think the father who was upset with the school system was angry not as a victim but as seeing others as being accorded something he is not. Here is the exact center of the universe and the school fails to call him about something that really had only the impact of delaying his progress through traffic.

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  12. The school notification thing grew so out of control in our district (and I remember other bloggers complaining) a whole back that we were writing posts about possible notifications on cafeteria menu changes. Glad my kids have graduated.

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  13. This seems to fit here:

    Mac Davis It's Hard To Be Humble YouTube - YouTube
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dg8NPPEms54

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  14. You forgot us hillbillies. We are prefer dentially challenged.

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  15. Sadly those victims usually have a lawyer on speed dial.

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  16. Who will the special snowflakes sue if global warming starts melting them?

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  17. There are several "fast food" generations in the world. They are used to getting it "their way" immediately. They expect the world to be their "drive through." That's why they overreact and point fingers when they think they are "overlooked or ignored" - like not being notified by the school.

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