THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

The acting deputy general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers has suggested the National Curriculum for schools is too restrictive and should be changed to include life skills, like how to walk.
I think this is a wonderful idea – children need to know how to walk under different circumstances such as running for a bus – well, running’s not walking I know; but if lessons in walking are needed, how much harder is it for them to run unless taught correctly? There are so many life skills they could learn under this scheme – walking is only one. How about swinging their arms in time with their legs when walking? Doing that correctly expends less energy and prevents you looking like an ape parading the streets. And then there’s sitting down and standing up too – very hard for youngsters to master.
And the most important life lesson of all! How to deal with the Genghis Khan mothers and their death chariots! THAT is one hell of an important life skill! It’s terrifying enough for an adult who towers over the war machine. How do you think it must be for a kid? There he or she is walking hand in hand with their mum or dad dreaming of a packet of crisps or a burger, when along comes this chariot at eye level. Worse still towering over that is the 21st century Boadicea longing for a chance to mow down some defenceless 5-year old. Knocking a toddler off his feet scores more points than smashing an adult’s ankles. In fact, this may be the reason for so many problem teenagers today – they were traumatised as youngsters. “And why did this not happen when I was a kid?”, I hear you ask.
Simple explanation - when you were a kid pushchairs were basic devices that looked like they’d been folded up even when in use – the McLaren buggie for example. Maybe someone should do research into the link between today’s yob culture and the evolution of larger pushchairs and storm trooper mothers. Only in very recent years have we seen the double and triple death chariot or those built to house the baby plus the kitchen sink. Only in recent years have mothers evolved into 21st century Darth Vadas or Attila the Huns.

Is it really any wonder there are so many problems in Iraq? A Pentagon survey has found that less then half the U.S troops in Iraq think civilians should be treated with dignity and respect – more than 1/3 believed torture was acceptable if it helped get information about insurgents or saved the life of a fellow soldier and 10% of those surveyed said they had hit or kicked a civilian during their tour of duty. I’m not apportioning blame here, but men and women trained to fight a war are not trained to handle civil unrest. Army personnel dying in a war is hard enough – dying in the present situation makes the loss far worse for family and colleagues, especially when the insurgents are as fanatical and dangerous as the ones in this fiasco.

I guess I better go shopping this morning, although I’d rather go back to bed, my left ankle’s so damned painful. The only thing that stops me is, I’ve been fighting this war against arthritis for 20 years now, and I’m not about to let it win this round.

Have a good weekend.

See ya.