Zenobia' Life Lessons

Written by C.V. Harris


I was a young girl aged 12, whenrepparttar one person whom I adored and admired was removed from my life. During that time, I was emotionally scarred and abandoned. I didn’t know it then, butrepparttar 145978 outline for my life’s future was being created during those moments that surrounded her death.

Zenobia was a phenomenal woman, raising two girls in an amazing manner. She wasrepparttar 145979 only person that loved my sister and I torepparttar 145980 BONE!! She loved us unconditionally. U-N-C-O-N-D-I-T-I-O-N-A-L-L-Y! A somewhat lengthy word, carrying a penetrating weight. I learned just how much weight that word carried years later when I had my own children. I ended up making all of those sacrifices that Zenobia made, loving my seeds torepparttar 145981 bone, as I was subconsciously taught to do while growing up on Chicago’s south side.

Life is supposed to berepparttar 145982 best teacher. Funny, howrepparttar 145983 lessons that are learned from life aren’t readily understood until years later, isn’t it? Long afterrepparttar 145984 teacher has stopped teaching, or has since passed on. We somehow allow our mental selves to rest in a retrospect mode. The switch torepparttar 145985 light miraculously turns itself on. This is when we mentally go back torepparttar 145986 time whenrepparttar 145987 mentor was telling us “not” to do this or “to do” that. We never paid attention to what was being said atrepparttar 145988 time, never understood, or so we thought. But our subconscious self did. We didn’t want to listen did we? Wanted to defyrepparttar 145989 teacher. Didn’t want to obeyrepparttar 145990 given command. The answer is all too clear now ……isn’t it? Crystalline to sayrepparttar 145991 least.

Unbeknownst to me during her lengthy battle with cancer, her inevitable demise would somehow create a pathway for me to become aware of my inner self and my environment. So aware to this day, as I sit and put pen to paper, I am continually conscious of my progressions and regressions on a daily or monthly or even a yearly basis. I am aware if I am ambitious enough to “get that job” or being responsible enough to set a concrete example for my children to follow, or makingrepparttar 145992 right decision at all times whenrepparttar 145993 future of our children are concerned. Oftentimes, we are given no second chances.

As ironic as it was, during my times of emotional depravation, when I felt my body could no longer persevere, when I toyed withrepparttar 145994 idea of suicide versus life, when I literally had no one around me that cared if I lived or died, or when my children and I had to succumb to living in a shelter because my job downsized and I had no family around me to offer housing. During those times, I allowed myself to take that mental journey back in order to regain my strength and move onward. Back torepparttar 145995 day, torepparttar 145996 moment, when Zenobia was teaching a particular lesson to me.

By recapturing these lessons, whateverrepparttar 145997 lesson may have been that I needed atrepparttar 145998 time, I gainedrepparttar 145999 will,repparttar 146000 courage,repparttar 146001 strength to continue my life journey. The Life Lessons of Zenobia have been sustaining for me yesterday, today and will continue forrepparttar 146002 tomorrows that I have left.

Are Public Schools Anti-Parent?

Written by Joel Turtel


Some public schools try to turn children against their parents with scary classroom stories or lessons about child abuse. Public school authorities have increasingly decided that they are children’s first line of defense against child abuse. This new attitude falls under what is now known as "protective behavior curriculum."

The assumptions behind this curriculum are that every child needs to be warned about and prepared for possible dangers of verbal, physical, and sexual abuse because allegedly every child is a potential victim, not only of strangers but of his or her own family.

Increasingly, school authorities instruct teachers to ask children questions about their parents’ behavior and actions toward them at home. The questions amount to asking kids to spy on their parents and report incidents that make them feel “uncomfortable.” Some school authorities use such tales by children to investigate or file charges of child abuse against parents who often did no more than yell at their children or spank them lightly.

In effect, to allegedly protect children, some school authorities now consider all parents as potential abusers, use children to invade parents’ privacy, or make kids afraid of their parents. Often, children are disturbed and emotionally traumatized byrepparttar insinuations school authorities put into their heads.

The following incident described by Charles J. Sykes, in his book "Dumbing Down Our Kids," illustrates this disturbing anti-parent campaign by many public schools acrossrepparttar 145952 country:

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