The consequence of not taking responsibility for our choices

I get so upset, I know. I'm very passionate about what I do.

See, I love these children like they were my own. And a lot of them do not have nearly enough people in their corner. They have plenty of people talking them down. They can be shitty. But they have all also often lived very tough lives by this age. They're resilient. I expect that of them.

But one thing that no child should have to live through is people constantly telling them what they can't do. What they'll never do. What they can't achieve. What they'll never amount to.

That is much of the reason why many of the kids who are in trouble are in trouble. They have had plenty of that message. Far too much. Because they have too many adults in their lives who have given up on themselves. And so they give up on their kids, too.

The whole thing is just so stupidly and needlessly tragic.

But I love these kids like they were my own. And if you talked about my child like they had no chance because you never gave them a chance, I would forgive you. But I could never look my child in the eye and tell them that they should ever take you or anyone who thinks or talks like you seriously. Because you wouldn't deserve it. Not until you could cut that shit out.

And in the meantime, I would feel like fuckin' knockin' your fuckin' clock off.

Children should not have to listen to adults talking them down. Adults should not have to listen to adults talking children down. Noone should have to listen to anyone talking a child or anyone else, for that matter, down.

And if you did that about my child, I would want to fuckin' clock you. Just so you know.

My experience is that the most cowardly people in life, especially those who work with children, have one really serious consequence that they have to deal with when they won't take responsibility for their choices with children, or anyone, for that matter: they won't listen to you.

The long term consequence of avoiding responsibility is that nooone gives a shit what you think. They won't follow your example or your advice. Noone gives a shit about what you think.

And I can't think of a worse consequence to face with my children or with anyone, for that matter, than having a life that is irrelevant.

Cowardice

Why can't people who have given up just shut up?

If you have given up on people or the world or, say, if you're a teacher and you've given up on your kids, why do you have to spend the rest of your fucking life rationalizing why you're such a shithead?

Why is it so tough for, say, a teacher, to say, "I've given up on my kids, even though it's my single most important responsibility. And I'm kind of an asshole for that. And there really isn't any excuse for why I'm such a shithead."

I am so much more down with someone who can be honest and say, "I'm really just kind of a shithead and there really isn't any excuse for it" than "I'm a shithead and the reason is because the world really is rotten, not because of shitheads like me, but because of all of the other shitheads in the world."

That latter excuse is the most common, most cowardly, and most bullshit excuse that people have for what assholes they are than any other excuse in the book.

And when you hold onto that excuse as a teacher, you really do become somewhat worthless.

Because what kid can count on a teacher or a parent or an adult in their life who says, "The reason why I've quit on you is not because I'm an asshole, but because I can see that you're going to be like every other asshole who has ever hurt me (except for me, of course).

It's so fuckin' lame and weak and small-minded and ugly.

It's the smallest kind of person to be.

And, so, if you're going to be that kind of person, why can't you just shut the fuck up and stop pretending like what you say means anything beyond your own tortured bitterness and miserable choices in life?

You want to be bitter, be bitter. But stop acting like the the people you hurt along the way all had it coming because you just had no other choice other than being an asshole. You were forced to be an asshole. It's not that you are a coward. You had to turn in those Jews. You were forced to turn in those slaves. It's not you. It's the system.

And that's why you've given up on the kids who depend upon you to believe in them.

Because you're just too cowardly to face what a shithead you have become.

I am learning that some people know no depths to their cowardice, cruelty, and pettiness. Because they are too cowardly to face their cowardice.

Cowardice is a beautiful thing. Because it always gives you somewhere to hide.

Ultimately, cowardice allows us to hide anywhere, but from ourselves.

Learning to deal with the many faces of terrorism

This is both why the Economist, in my view, is the best news source in the world, and an affirmation of my belief in strong argument and understanding rather than ideology or sanctimonious policy prescriptions to resolve our most critical and difficult issues.

Hamas won't go away

This is a very solid analysis, I believe, borne of much good experience that the British government has had with a similar situation of entrenched terrorism with claims of self-determination at stake, in the case of both Palestine and Northern Ireland, and of the persistent failures of Israel to root out terrorism - particularly in the Gaza Strip, home of Hamas, their most deadly enemy - by military force.

I just read yet another article in the Jerusalem Post, last night, about the discussions by Defense Minister Ehud Barak to carry out yet another military operation in the Gaza Strip to seal up the border and destabilize the Hamas government there. It is indescribably frustrating to watch a government and a people perpetually rationalize a policy strategy that has and continues to result in many unnecessary deaths that lead in no particular positive direction.

Too many Israelis are so wrapped up in their anguish at being the lone liberal democracy of any salt in the Middle East and the number of their civilians who have died in her name that they just cannot imagine that there might be a more constructive route, one that the British government and representatives of Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionists - with the help of Bill Clinton, you will remember - that might finally put Israel and Palestine on a path of self-determination and mutual respect.

The Economist points the way, here, in a way that is refreshing amidst a time of rationalization of aggression and force, by whatever means necessary, as Minister Malcolm here in the States use to preach, to end this and every bitter struggle.

But it will not ever end that way. More than 80 years of violence, bloodshed, and escalating hostilities and animus should convince any objective observer of that fact.

But politics is not only played out in the objective world of fact, unfortunately. It is also played out in the hearts of those who cannot forgive the bitter struggles and deaths of loved ones.

And it is that unresolved grief, and the hostility it animates, which is responsible for the failure to achieve what to any other and objective observer would seem to be a much more realistic and sustainable peace and relationship between Israel and her Arab neighbors, especially her Palestinian neighbors.

If there were ever a history that bore out the failures of force as a governing philosophy, it may be the history of Israel and Palestine (although the history of Nazism and Communism should do).

Let's hope that particular history finds an end, sooner rather than later, in a decent and sustainable peace.