exhale ... inhale ... don't hit anyone ...

yep. that's where we are today. taking down the simple foundations of life: breathe. stop. do it again. be nice.

this is "fall rush" time at the school i work at. this is a time when students are scrambling to get registered for classes that they failed to get into earlier. this is the time when we hear whining, excuses, demands and just plain bad behavior. the "thank you's" are few and far between. the appreciation of those students who take their role as student seriously shoots through the roof. and, as an educator, i have to restrain myself from jumping over the slab of wood that separates me from my student, shaking them til their teeth rattle and yell into their ear - "this is YOUR degree! have some ownership! have some accountability!! HAVE SOME INDEPENDENT THOUGHT!!!!!!!"

after dealing with another challenging patient student i realized that i NEEDED to take a step back and refocus this frustrated school-hating energy ... i haven't succeeded completely at doing that yet. thus the reason i'm writing this ... but that is the goal for this afternoon ~ find a way, find a path to take this insane energy and channel it into change that i want to see.