Do You See What I See?

I watch the news and I see reports of soaring un-employment. I see stories of tragedy striking families. I hear about friends who are, “cutting back this year” because a cut in hours at work has cut their budget. I see engineers working at a dollar store because that is what was available. I have children on my bus that don’t think Santa can find them in that little trailer they had to move into. I could go on and on about the bad, but I am sure you have heard it too. I will soon be 52 years old and this is the worse I remember things being in general.

But wait what is that at the end of the tunnel? Is that a light I see? The last few weeks I have been hearing strange and wonderful things. In a small town in Colorado a woman paid the balance of a family’s layaway for their kids Christmas. I was talking about this to a friend and he said, no, that was in Florida. So being one to want all my facts straight, I looked it up on the internet. My God people do you know what is happening in this land we love? All over the country people are randomly paying off layaway bills with toys on them.

I watched the news tonight and I saw a story about a family that lost everything in a fire. Today Santa shows up on a fire truck with toys and gifts for the whole family. A free toy store for the needy a few days ago had bare shelves. Today it was full to overflowing. Last week a group was considering canceling their Christmas meal program for lack of food. That day 50 thousand pounds of food shows up at their door.

As we quickly approach Christmas and Hanukah I say to you my friends Christ is not gone from Christmas. God has not deserted us. We will heal the wounds we have suffered and we come back as strong as ever. No government agency will save us. We will do it ourselves with help from on high. I do not care what your faith or religious bent, this tends to be the season we all celebrate something. This year I will celebrate the giving nature I have seen in people.

What do you remember?

As we get older it is a sad fact that people we love pass from this world and our lives. Some times for some reason I just sit and think of the people that I have lost, and what they meant to me. I am not talking about some morbid thoughts of what could have been. I think of the joy I experienced because these people were in my life. Some of you who read this will not feel the same way I do about these people. That’s ok I love you for who you are, and the joys you bring into my life.

Let me begin by saying I was not the best son, grandson, or brother that ever was. I am the best I know how to be and the influence of all these people help make me who I am. When my Grandmother died I indulged in some good old fashioned self pity. I felt she was the last of my parents and I was now an orphan. I was wrong in that thought, I am not and orphan and never will be. At fifty-one I am still learning and growing, influenced by people that love me.

As the youngest of five children, quite often I am sure I was a pain in the neck. But my Grandmother John, my Dads, mom would not let me be left out. One of my fondest memories of her was a two person game of trouble, just me and her. I had the attention span of a gnat and the “big kids” did not want me to mess up their game. All was right with the world.

Grandfather John was somewhat of a patriarch in my mind. That does not mean in reality he was some mythic head of the family. He just seemed so to one child. My best memory of him is a very firm lesson about loaded guns. You can feel how you want about striking a child, but a cuff to the back of the head because I did not check a weapon correctly probably is the reason I never shot my own foot off. To this day I double check any weapon even if I am the one that unloaded it.

Grandmother Newman was simply the most awesome grandmother one could have. From sitting with me or my children telling stories about the past to a thimble to the top of my noggin to jog my memory of spelling words she was the consummate grandmother. The stories she told me about my Grandfather Newman are the only memories I have of him and I thank her from the bottom of my heart for that.

Mother I will miss you for the rest of my life. I hope some day I will get to sing “Buffalo Gals” to my grand children. You know I was probably a teen ager before I realized you were joking about falling asleep and missing that bridge. Sorry folks this part is just between me and her.

Dad was not always there, but he did teach me some things and as an adult I had the opportunity to get to know him better. He taught me respect for others. He taught me to take responsibility for my own actions and try to make a difference in my world. Dad was never happy with his own parenting but I truly believe he did the best he knew how.

Pat, what does one say about and angel? We disagreed on politics and many social issues but you taught me that was ok. My middle sister never compromised her beliefs. She was beautiful inside and out. Pat do you remember when they asked you for your hall pass when you came to get your sick little brother from school? It was in a Jr. high and you were 21, that’s fun for kids of all ages.

Uncle Charles, with out knowing you taught me, never give up. I do not know how many times you started over but you always made it back.

Mrs. May, Your undying love for your Children and Husband were an inspiration. Your tenacity in their defense is awe inspiring.

Homer and Sue Little you were the definition of dedication to family.

Susan Parker, now matter what cards you were dealt you smiled in the face of it and never gave up.

Chris, Marci and Verne, do not think I love you less or that I have learned nothing from you. This was just some lubrication for my soul. This whole article was just me telling my self why my tears are justified sometimes. I miss the ones that are gone and that’s ok.

I wake up every day and, decide this will be a good day. I learned this from the people that have influenced me in my life over the years. No one said I should do it. They taught that lesson quietly and with out words. Look around at the people in your life. What are they teaching you with out knowing it?

Ya’ll are not as smart as you think.

A few days ago, I made the mistake of letting the misinformed opinion of others hurt my feelings. I has come to my attention that some people from above the mason Dixon line assume that people from below that line are somehow less intelligent. Now I first encountered this prejudice in the late 70’s when I was in the Navy and stationed in Connecticut. It again reared its ugly head almost five years ago when I moved to the mid-west. Well let me inform ya’ll of a few things. Just because we are from the south does not make us stupid.

Michael DeBakey was born in Lake Charles Louisiana and even worse to foreign Parents. The hospital he did his research in and the university he served at are both located in Houston Texas.

Howard Hughes, one of the wealthiest men that ever lived, was born in Houston, Texas. Did I mention he was a motion picture maker and an aviator? Oh, and the Hughes Glomar Explorer, helped the CIA recover a soviet nuclear submarine off the coast of Hawaii in 1974.

Louis Armstrong, Southern jazz, cornet, and trumpet player, singer, bandleader, and popular entertainer. Armstrong overcame poverty, a lack of formal education, and racism to become one of the most innovative and influential musicians of the 20th century, and one of the most beloved entertainers in the world. Louis was born in New Orleans Louisiana.

Omar Nelson Bradley was born - literally in a log cabin - near Clark, Missouri, on 12 February 1893, the only surviving child of schoolteacher John Smith Bradley and Sarah Elizabeth Bradley, nee Hubbard.

Patrick Henry, Southern orator and statesman, whose fiery patriotism was influential in leading the colonies toward revolution. Ya’ll remember, “Give Me liberty or give me death”? Mr. Henry was born in Virginia.

George Washington, the father of this great nation was also born in Virginia. Although worn out by years of service to his country, Washington reluctantly accepted the presidency of the United States.  Washington fully understood the significance of his presidency. “I walk on untrodden ground,” he said. “There is scarcely any part of my conduct which may not hereafter be drawn in precedent.” During eight years in office, Washington laid down the guidelines for future presidents.

George Washington Carver, Harriet Tubman, Harry Truman, Woodrow Wilson, William Faulkner, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Babe Ruth are all proud sons and daughters of the south. There is a lot more folks but there is no reason to “beat a dead horse”.

So the next time you here a bit of a twang in someone’s voice or take note of a word that you might not be familiar with, do not assume that person is not that bright. We might just look at you and say, “Bless your heart”, which is southern for several things. Look it up!

Credit for some of the facts in this blog goes to http://www.knowsouthernhistory.net/index.html

Who is driving your children to school?

Bus drivers today are not the bus drivers of my youth. Gone are the Gym teacher and Johnny’s mom. Today, in most cases, a school bus driver is a professional driver. We are trained well and continuously. School bus drivers today are held to standards higher than that of a motor coach driver or an over the road trucker.

Let’s start with the medical exam I have to go through every year. Other professional drivers have a physical every two years. Along with this I must prove I am able to physically perform my duties in an emergency, by undergoing a dexterity test every two years. School bus drivers in my state attend refresher classes every year covering such things as emergency first aid, traffic laws and basic driving skills. This is above and beyond the monthly safety training my company provides.

Some people refer to us as part time workers who should not have all the privileges of full time workers. Please allow me to dispel that myth. By the time field trips and sporting events and after school activities are provided for, most of us put in over 40 hours a week. Not only that, but we do it in split shifts. I personally leave my house before six every morning to start my route at 6:15 AM and return home after 8:00 pm. I could come home between runs, but at over $3.00 a gallon for gas, that would not make economic sense.

What is a School bus driver’s job? In a nut shell it is to transport your children safely to and from school or school events. We also have to clean up after them when they leave trash on the bus. We referee when they can not get along and tend them if they get sick or hurt while under our care. All of this in a 40 foot long yellow box that other drivers just for some reason can not see.

To paraphrase a semi-famous comedian, “Can we talk about your kids?” Moms and Dads, do you really look at how your kids are dressing for school? I do not need to see how much “Suzy” grew up over the summer, if you get my drift. I do not need to see “Billy’s” new boxer shorts. However, if I notice any of this and speak to Mrs. Average mom, I am some kind of freak for looking at her daughter’s chest.  I am sorry Dad your angel is wearing those short shorts you forbade her to wear in public under her warm up pants and is taking off the warm ups in the back of the bus. Oh, and Dad while we are talking to you, please tell “Billy” it is not ok to put his hands on “Suzy” even if he thinks it is funny.

At any given time a school bus may contain as many as 70 children or more, depending on capacity. Do you have any idea what 70 children talking and laughing sounds like inside a metal box? If you hear me raise my voice while driving it is not because I am “yelling” at your kids, I am just trying to be heard. If you see a school bus pulled to the side of the road, chances are the driver just needs to talk to his students for a moment and will be back on the road soon. Every now and then he is tending a student that is sick or hurt. Do you really want to know the feeling of herding that big yellow bus and realizing that “Mary” is having a seizure 8 seats back? Please tell your children’s bus driver if your baby has a health problem they may have to deal with.

Now please do not think this is just a bitch fest. I love my job and get more satisfaction from it that any job I have ever had. When I speak of the students on my bus I refer to them as my babies.  My co-workers for the most part are the most dedicated bunch of professionals I have ever had the pleasure of working with.  When one of our babies moves away we miss them. When tragedy strikes and we lose one of our special babies, we weep openly and with out shame. When they grow up and go off to their own lives we are proud. You may hear us complain a bit about that “one kid that will not behave”, but don’t you dare talk bad about our babies.

So next time you hear about a school board meeting, go to it. When they speak of cutting the transportation budget and keeping the “bass fishing club” and the “war games club”, speak up. I did not make these up folks, these are real school sponsored clubs in the district I work in. You pay the bills, you have a say in how they spend your money.