President Obama and Me

Where in the World is D Today?

Reading the News and Being Reminded Why He Loves President Obama.

You may or may not know that I worked for the Obama Presidential campaign in Missouri last year. I walked many miles, knocked on lots of doors, and would talk to anybody in person who wanted to have a conversation about him. (I didn’t work the phones very much. I would rather walk around in the heat, cold and rain; Anything but phone banks.) Anyway…..

Every morning I check the World and U.S. news online. This morning I saw a rather silly story about the President’s smoking habit. Are you kidding me, you’re busting his chops over the occasional cigarette?! The man’s got a lot on his plate, let’s cut him some slack on the little stuff. I think Mrs. Obama will keep him inline about smoking. Then I stumbled on these two links that affirmed in me many of the reasons I love this man. Here are the links. (Sorry you have to copy and paste. I'm not tech smart enough to get the links to work.)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31451371/ns/fathers_day_guide/?pg=8#tdy_Parenting_ObamaGreatDad

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/10/obama-parenting-pda-slide_n_142625.html

Do Good Because It's Good. More Adventures in Teaching.

Where in the World is D Today?

Wondering will happen to his 6th grade students.

There are few things I desire more in life than to do good. Maybe it's because I have a huge ego, though I don't think it's that. Maybe it's because finding purpose in life. I don't think it's that either. Maybe it's because I feel like an NBA player next to some of these kids. Nope! That ain't it either. It's pretty simple. I want to do good because my daddy taught me to. I love that man! And ultimately, I think every person that goes into teaching does it because they want to do good in the world. Even if they were raised by my Pop.

Is there something personally very cool and affirming when a kid finally understands whatever it was you were trying to teach them. There's this small celebration everytime that happens. But it's a terrible feeling when they don't understand what in the world you're talking about. Every teacher who reads this has experienced the extremes of joy and agony we get from our kids.

Today was the 6th grade graduation at Chungli Elementary School. Even though it's only be 5 months, I can say quite easily, "These are MY babies!" That is the connection I have with them personally, when in fact, they are the babies of their everyday classroom teacher. That is the person who has made the deepest and most important impact in their lives. I'm just the cool foreigner guy who comes in once a week. But I still think I made a positive and significant impact in their young lives.

I wonder what will happen to my babies. Their path is still set for the next 6 years. Will I ever see them again, not likely. How many future teachers are in this group? Many I hope because they have Good Hearts. And the profession needs lots of good hearts.

I love being a teacher. I love my students. And I think they like me a little bit too. A couple of the boys gave me flowers, a mark of deep appreciation. So did I do Good in their world? Yeah, I think so, maybe just a little.

Enjoy the pics from the day.

Is God a Repulican or a Democrat?

I've heard this question asked every four years just like clock work. The gears of the clock is the election of a President for the United States of America. Strangely I hadn't heard the question from anyone until I heard the sound of my own voice asking.

Today I opened an email from my very good and dear friend Mike the Republican. He truly is my good and most dear friends. I was even best man at his wedding! Mike and I loved and nurtured each other through some very trying times in each others life. But every once in a while he says or does something that makes me want to shake the hell out of him.

The subject of today's email, a forward, was a one minute prayer. While it didn't say specifically McCain is good and Obama is evil, the author of the was concerned that Christian might not vote "Christian Values". I seriously snapped when I read that part as well as the Bible quote that followed. My response was, "I pray fervently, I vote Christian Values, AND I volunteer full time for the Barack Obama campaign."

The daring part here is that I replied to all. It's was a list of maybe 15 people. I don't usually go picking fights with people, but Mike drew first blood. He knows me well enough to know my politics. It's hard for me to believe there wasn't a hidden agenda in sending it to me. Thus, I fully expect my email to just blow up tomorrow. That's OK. It's something we should discuss. I just hope we can discuss it in a civil and dare I say christian way.

By the way, the question never gets answered. Personally I think God thinks it's a dumb question.