Yea, Nothing

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away...

Well, yesterday I finished 25 years as a classroom teacher and to say that I have learned a lot about my job and myself would be an understatement.

What I've learned is as follows:

Idiocracy Wasn't Supposed to be a Documentary

It's actually happening.

Idiocracy...the movie which was made as a comedy is becoming, slowly, the USA that we live in.

If you don't know the movie, it's worth a watch, but a regular guy is put to sleep in a military test for one year, but wakes up quite a bit later than one year.

And when he starts to interact with the USA of that time, he's the smartest man in the country...and he's an average intelligent person.

When it came out, we all laughed at it and thought there is no way this happens, but it is.

And this is how.

We live in echo chambers where we only see, hear, and read anything that agrees with our preconceived notions.

Because this happens, we believe that we are smart, when in actuality, we're not.

Social media has made reading books tedious and boring.

We have every desire and need at our fingertips.

And with ChatGPT and other Artificial Intelligence "stuff" becoming more widely used, it is really becoming "why do we need to know anything?".

Seriously, we don't need to know anything because everything can be looked up, done and accomplished without any talent or...knowledge.

We have people who cannot define what a woman is, when life begins or even believe that the Earth is flat and "smart" people supporting Russia and Hamas. 

And I mean...a lot.

So how does Idiocracy happen then? If we're not there yet?

We will become so reliant on our devices that we will not know anything other than what we know right now and what our algorithms lead us into believing, and then, probably, at some time those devices will fail us and we won't have anything that reminds us of the times before. 

Before we relied on our devices to tell us what to believe.

Before we just believed what someone we thought was smart told us to believe or feel.

Before memes were our source of the news.

Then, we can only hope some regular guy from the past, awakens from his slumber and saves the day.

Sigh.....

Sadness Today

I'm tired...

As you age, more people in your life, it seems, die.

People older that you saw as invincible as well as people your own age...they pass away.

But young people, it's just not supposed to happen.

I have ADHD, I have no doubts.

But I grew up in the 1970's and they just didn't diagnose that unless it was blatantly obvious.

So I have grown up adjusting and surviving.

But it keeps me outraged and upset about what seems everything all the time.

And it's tiring.

It seems that so many things have surrounded me, and are smothering me.

Coaching, teaching, my family life...I'm pushed or smothered and I've learned to compartmentalize and deal and distance myself.

But then an email comes through and one of your more recent students has passed away...18 years old.

I'm tired...