Deep Spirits

I;ve been thinking about posting this thread for a while now. Teachers often try to outsmart us, students, which I'm sure they do with the best of intentions, but their reasoning is often quite faulty.

The other day I was stopped on the way down the stairs by my class teacher. She told me she saw me in the morning, going to school calmly, even though I only had a few minutes till the beginning of the first lesson. Then she told me that if we think of ourselves as adults, we should also act like ones. I have several problems with this statement. First of all, if you don't go to school on time, are you not an adult? Second, what is an adult anyway? It seems to me that it is one of those words that are being thron around every day, like child, love, good and evil, very hard to define and possible subjects of endless debates, yet still used by these individuals as ground for their arguments, which is, in my opinion, quite a shaky one. Third - I told her I don't consider myself to be an adult. This obviously took her by surprise, as she raised her eyebrows, I saw she was reconsidering her words. Then she referred to my age.

So suddenly, it wasn't about me wanting to be an adult, but her expecting me to be one, because of my age. Makes no bloody sense at all, just as going to school this last month as we're pretty much finished and doing nothing all the time (I'm graduating), so we're supposed to be on time for the sake of being on time. On top of it, our teachers love to be late - it's almost like "I'm the teacher, so I gotta be late."

The other situation happened when I was caught smoking and told to go to see the headmistress. The headmistress told me I wasn't supposed to be smoking in the areaof the school. Which is fine. However, I know for a fact that lots of teachers and other personell smoke in the school area and very openly. The law clearly states that no one is allowed to smoke on school grounds, including teachers. When I refered to this in font of the headmistress and another teacher, the said teacher pointed at herself, then at me and said "We're not the same." After a minute I found out what she based this *cough* argument on. This teacher asked me "Do you really think you're equal to the headmistress?" I said "Yes, as a human, I am." And then she started going on about her diplomas.

Which means, the reason for them being allowed to smoke on school grounds and thus break the law is their degree of higher education :) Just imagine a murderer, standing in front of the court, defending his act of murder by saying "Geez, I went to uni, duh!" And getting away with it. This other teacher went as far as to say that they, teachers could anytime prove to us how much we don't know and just let us fail the exams. So now they're even trying to misuse their "power" (even though I could have proven to her how much she can't speak english, because, well, she can't - though I still don't see this as justification for anything)

Oh, and I almost forgot - my classteacher, when she told me off about my late comings to school, also told me that this is gonna turn on me terribly in the future (being 5 minutes late to school) and that I should keep her words in mind and remember them when it's gonna turn on me.


Now a question, which has been bugging me a bit. Am I just your typical teenager who' thinks he's a smartass and really gonna regret his actions in the future? Do I think too highly of myself because I am criticizing these people so much? I'm asking you people because I respect your opinions a lot more than those of the whole school staff put together.

Well?

Young man == you are RIGHT , TOTALLY RIGHT
YOU ARE YOUR OWN BOSS = so you are RIGHT THE TEACHERS
have no right to keep you from smoking where you wish or desire to smoke

i repeat YOU ARE YOUR OWN BOSS UNLESS YOU murder someone
then A PRISON GUARD WILL BE YOUR BOSS.

ADDED. if you are or have SPAINISH BLOOD THEN you
must be CONTRARY toward all ADULT AUTHORITY and you must be
IMMATURE which means you must " fight " with your
parents, siblings , uncles, aunts and neighbors and even strangers
because BEING CONTRARY is in your blood if you HAVE SPAINISH
GENES.

EVIDENCE OR SUPPORT for this STUPID CLAIM I MAKE

Columbus could not find any sailers to RISH DEATH by
falling off the edge of the earth so the queen of spain TOLD
HIM that he could find many in Spain , especialy in
the area where my answers lived.
She told him if you want men who will gladly leave
their loved ones go to where the RUIZ s live
because there folks FIGHT WITH THEIR fathers,
and children and siblings and fight with uncles, etc.
second possible support: PAUBLO PICASSA would not use
his FATHER'S LAST NAME ruiz BECAUSE he sort of hated him
and fought with him a lot.

i repeat you have ABSOLUTE RIGHT TO act like an
UNCIVILIZED son of your mother ( and father)

a man was trying to sell a diomond ON THE street
for a lot of money = so he took it and used it to WRITE
on a very large and very expensive s
store front window.
he said = YOU SEE THAT IS PROOF THAT IT IS A REAL
GENUINE DIOMOND.
the potential buyer said to him
ALL YOU PROVED IS THAT YOU HAD A BAD MOTHER
WHO DID NOT TRAIN YOU TO HAVE
RESPECT FOR OTHER PEOPLE s property or for
the rules civilized groups may create.

and thank y ou for asking us for our foolish OPINIONS.
= Yes your teachers are very foolish for asking you to
obey the rules and your headmistress appears to be
a stupid human being because she POLITELY SUGGESTED TO YOU
that you begin to act like a civilized ADULT

when in Rome do as the Roman s do , my friend
AND WHEN you are the LAW creator or WHEN YOU own
your own school then you are NOT IN Rome anymore
so you can do YOUR OWN THING when you are not
in a civilized man or woman's house or such. thanks
for LISTENING.

Metatron wrote:Now a question, which has been bugging me a bit. Am I just your typical teenager who' thinks he's a smartass and really gonna regret his actions in the future? Do I think too highly of myself because I am criticizing these people so much? I'm asking you people because I respect your opinions a lot more than those of the whole school staff put together.

Well?

No, you are not. And you do not criticize these people too much. What you have told us here deserves such approach.
All your questions about adults were correct and I agree. If we at all would be able to agree what adult means(I do not mean you and me), then I can imagine that this what your teacher had taken as an example for being adult would stay, if at all, at the very last place. Going slowly or coming late is not a proof for anything positive or negative, it is just a personal attitude and she obviously has some personal issues with that. Actually, what you have nicely pointed out, teachers themselves can also be late comers (my life experience too), which obviously doesn’t make them more or less adult or more or less capable for doing their job.
According to my personal ideas about that what teacher should be and how s/he should behave (or better to say how it would be nice if they would behave), this you have presented seems not to belong to this category.
The other issue with a headmaster with quite "important" lesson she wanted to teach you so that you remember and behave accordingly in your life, seemed to be that one should respect and follow automatically authorities. Well, I am again not the best for supporting such approach. I used to be a teacher and tried to be so that my authority will come out of my personality and the way what I bring to my students instead of my position priory. That is probably the reason why I love so much the movie “Dead Poets Society”. Besides, teacher, headmasters, we all, would transmit our messages the best way by the personal example. If that what we advice somebody to do (students for example) is different from that what we personally do, we only send a message of demagogy.
And finally, the last message your teacher sent to you by prophesying your future based on that one attitude you have, wow that shocked me. That is not only contra educational, but mean.
So, all in all, it is nice that you put so many thoughts into all these experiences, but, I would say that already by the way you put your questions, you have already learned what real values are and shouldn’t be influenced, even emotionally, about the assertions that you had experienced.

Metatron wrote:Now a question, which has been bugging me a bit. Am I just your typical teenager who' thinks he's a smartass and really gonna regret his actions in the future? Do I think too highly of myself because I am criticizing these people so much? I'm asking you people because I respect your opinions a lot more than those of the whole school staff put together.

David, you know my answer... the teachers you mentioned are very insecure individuals and not aware of the significance of their role and profession.

I do want to add one very very important thing.
I think it is absolutely beautiful that you are asking these questions... that you asked yourself and that you seek to double-check your own opinion with friends here.
Never ever lose that!
Never lose the "self-doubt" while always keeping the self-confidence. That is a very good combination.

Am I just your typical teenager who thinks he's a smart-ass and really gonna regret his actions in the future? Do I think too highly of myself because I am criticizing these people so much?

I would say yes to each question. Teenagers, typically, are supposed to be smart-asses; they are supposed to question long held assumptions. If you spend your teenage years simply accepting all you are told, then I would question your worth. But, since you are a smart-ass, I feel confident you will find your way just fine.

I'm guessing you've heard of Jack Kerouac, a true smart-ass, an a$$ ⊗ so smart he once said,

"“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue center-light pop and everybody goes "Awww!”"

Damn, what a smart-ass, he was.

Who, throughout history, would you guess have changed the world for the better, smart-asses or dumb-asses? You're a smart-ass; surely you know this. Exactly! The smart-asses! Think of all of the men, women, children, and any other life forms that have had a positive effect on you throughout your life. What do you think, smart-asses or dumb-asses? I mean, if you had to list them, if you just had to, what would you feel more comfortable listing them as, smart or dumb? Exactly!

You asks if you will regret your actions in the future. Depends what you mean by regret. Someone once asked Mark Twain if he felt he had changed much in the past ten years. He said, simply, "Why, I hope so; otherwise, I've wasted ten years."

Point being, that, being the smart-ass you are, you will change much over the years. You will learn from your mistakes, and you will try again. You will observe a wrong way to do something, and you will do it differently. Now, many, dumb-asses, if you will, will continue to repeat the same action expecting a different result. This, as Albert Einstein said, is the definition of insanity. You will change; you will adapt. Will you look back with regret? Well, that's up to you. Will you regret questioning the status quo? Will you regret seeking your own way? Will you regret not stepping into the assembly line with the majority of your peers, awaiting society's final assembly of you, society's final definition of who you are? Will you regret any or all of this? As I said, that's up to you, up to who you are in ten years, twenty years.

I can tell you I once thought that at a certain age, when I was 30, okay, maybe 35, okay, uhh, 40?, life would make sense; all of the questions, the things about life I didn't understand, all of a sudden, at a certain point, I would get it. I would understand and have no more questions. The problem is I'm such a smart-ass, that I always have questions. I now know there is no point, unless I decide, when it will all make sense, when it will be okay to stop asking questions. That's the thing about smart-asses like you and me and so many others (and I promise you, there are many, many others; they're simply not publicized. you're far from the freak you may imagine yourself); we like to ask questions. We even enjoy not knowing, because, we know, the power, the life's energy, is in the question, not the answer. When one finds an answer, action stops. Just as when going on a journey; you reach your destination, and you stop. You found what you wanted; why go farther? But, with a question, there is seeking, there is energy, there is life. We know it will be more difficult to define ourselves than it would to simply accept society's definition of who it wants and needs us to be. But, it's a battle we accept willingly, even, one may say, gleefully; we relish the chance.

I don't know if you read the John Steinbeck quote I posted, but as he basically says, society, as a machine, fears the individual because the individual is the one thing that could bring society to its knees. Society, the machine, needs the individual, each and every one; it needs the energy, the passion of each, to be poured into its engines, to power its ideas, its control of the population. Society will tell you, "You are either with us, or you are against us." Don't take this lightly. Society will fight you every step of the way, throughout your life, because as long as you remain on the fringe, you remain outside its control. And, the one thing society, the machine, fears more than any other, is not having control, to have someone, some smart-ass, trying to think for himself.

You can win this fight, but it may not be in the way you define winning at this point in your life. Right now, you may define winning as receiving some reward, at least some positive affirmation, a pat on the back, "Good job," from your friends. But, to win this fight, the life-long fight for your soul, is to simply survive, to still be standing at the end. If you are still able to look out, from your death-bed, wherever you may be, and say, "I'm me; you didn't get me!" Then you win. There are no prizes, nothing to place on the wall for generations to admire. As for riches, well, remember whose definition of riches you are thinking of. Society's definition of riches is all of the nice things, money, fame, gold, and jewels. But, remember, you have been fighting this fight against society. Society rewards many with these things, but for one such as yourself, one who has fought it as you may have done throughout your life, as you may have guessed, society will offer none of its rewards to you.

If you can accept this, even see it as a good thing, then yes, you will indeed win.

As for whether you think too highly of yourself, hell, they're your thoughts. What do you think? Personally, I think each individual should think highly of himself, and think just as highly, at least as far as possibilities, of everyone else. I know many make it hard to think highly of them, to imagine the potential they may have, but do so anyway. Not for their sake but simply for your own. As long as you can maintain a belief in the possibility of mankind, the beauty awaiting the light, the knowledge being kept locked inside, as long as you believe mankind capable of so many great things, as yet unheard of, then the beauty within yourself will continue to live. If you allow society to take that from you, that light, that belief, you will become one of the living dead. You're better than that. You're a smart-ass, remember?

I would like to go ahead and clarify that I understood the teacher saying:

Metatron wrote:...she told me off about my late comings to school, also told me that this is gonna turn on me terribly in the future (being 5 minutes late to school) and that I should keep her words in mind and remember them when it's gonna turn on me.

... as a threat. Sabina said she understood it that later on in life this "attitude" or "approach" is going to "come back and turn on you".

So, as a guy who blatantly rebelled against the idiots of his surroundings (like those you described), I would only offer words from my experience... rebel, fight back, but do it intelligently... those idiots with power are more dangerous than you might give them credit for... so, don't underestimate them.

If you know a fireman, ask him what he thinks about the whole teachers smoking on campus... If you don't know a fireman... find one... chances are he might not have been very agreeable with his surroundings and could offer you some nice advice... but that is just me and my rebellious ways.

In my opinion, if you were just the typical teenager you would "think too highly of yourself" in regards to all your teachers... and as far as I know... that isn't the case. Recognizing idiots, especially idiots with power, is an important thing to be able to do... in my opinion.

My friend, I see someone complimented you for ASKING.
This , I argree, is an AWESOME and powerful trait you OWN.

And I see many , maybe most recommended that you CONTINUE
to fight people , I think Ryan or some other Man type human being
told you Continue to fight us IDIOTS
until your dying day or words that I interpreted as such.
My strong recommendation is LEARN more and more to
FIGHT YOURSELF , not us idiots.

I rarely use or mention Who or What I am to encourage
folks to behave in a more civilized manner but here goes:
I was almost Literaly "kicked " out of Kindergarden class because
I would not obey the teacher = The principal just transferred me,
I was expelled from the third grade and 7th grade and 10 grade
schools and I flunked the 7th grade mostly because I
HAD TO disobey the teacher -or create an (innocent type ) FUNNY - at LEAST one time per day.
She tried praying for me and then she had the entire
class pray for me. When they finished I stood up and
told them to kneel down again and we would all say a
prayer for the teacher. They obeyed me and I led the prayer.
She tried 5 or six different systems or ways to
control my behavior but Finally made a deal with me.
She gave me permission to == mis = behave ONE
time per day, etc.

They called my dad often, finally he sat in the principal's office
and while crying told them never to call him again about my
misbehavior because he GAVE UP ON ME .
The last time, I think there was 5 teachers in the office
and the principal 3 or two were arguing I was the "devil'
in my behavior and the others 2 or 3 were arguing i was
a Saint. The priest was called in and told me I could stay
in school the few remaining months but NEVER to enroll
in that school again.
This was the result of a teacher running down the hall
shouting HE HIT ME, HE HIT ME, HE HIT ME.
My friend, I have been a saint all of my life so , of course,
it was not true that I hit her.
truth was She swung at me to hit me and I blocked her
arm with my arm so her arm bone almost broke or so she claimed.

So I repeat think about thinking and recognizing the FACT
that you can never overcome over us idiots because
we OUT NUMBER you by a thousand or more to one
If you can come to this decision or if you can recognize this truth
think about this SUGGESTION:
Make it a personal practice to FIGHT YOUR SELF
and not us idiots who WILLINGLY will jump off
high bridges so we want you to JUMP OFF the high bridges,
also, like we often do because we are idiots.

But, as I said , it appears to me that many have
advised you to CONTINUE THE MARCH ==
in other words == they or so it appears to me
strongly suggested that you CONTINUE TO fight windmills.
or the WRONG BATTLES, my friend.


.
use your ENERGY, BRAINS and passion to FIGHT YOUR SELF
and stop Fighting Your SELF and
stop fighting US IDIOTS who will be your supervisors in life.

Rebels like the ones who said they are rebels to you and
LIKE you are are often seeking POWER.
So the ff mite be of some assistance to your SEEKING your
place in this world.
POWER (AUTHORITY) is assignd to us or assumed to us.
you are in the Assuming mode.
power BASICALLY speaking comes from
FRIENDS, u are not making Friends with your superiors
EDUCATION = by asking us for our opinion you are
seeking knowledge = this will help you gain more power
IF Y OU use the offerred knowledge in a profitable manner.
HEALTH both mental health and physical health increase
our Power..
and POSITION == if YOU are the SON of the chief of police, etc

always IDENTIFY == identify your problem or THE problem
if you sincerely WANT TO resolve any problem in life.
You , as i see you, OWN about 5 different problems
but as I say = IDENTIFY the main problem , my friend.
One vital factor or element of
your basic problem is THERE ARE so many of us idiots in the world.

Alvino wrote:...
use your ENERGY, BRAINS and passion to FIGHT YOUR SELF
and stop Fighting Your SELF and
stop fighting US IDIOTS who will be your supervisors in life.

Alvino,
David may not have any supervisors in life.... you never know.
Or he may choose to only be in environments in which his "supervisors" are not idiots.
If you spend too much time with idiots (whether they are your supervisors or something else), you may become an idiot yourself, so my recommendation would always be less time with idiots.
Just that.. :)

David.....great question and wonderful post!

So the System has failed.......another graduate comes spilling out of the process and he still asks challenging questions.
I remember the mind numbing awfulness of having to listen endlessly to teachers who were obviously putting in the time, dead to the idea of Education and the role of proper reasoning in learning.

You do well to examine what people do, rather than listen to what they say with out question.

There is a lot of ignorance in the world, mostly brought about by people not challenging what they are told, or what they read and learn.
If we dont challenge everything with our own mind and intelligence we live by someone else's second hand experience.
You can waste your whole life living as a consequence of anothers blindness.

As for the scenario you describe with the teacher etc, its almost the stuff of a movie trailer, .......you could be the Movie Star in your own production.

It reminds me of Dead Poets Society?
d.

Thank you everyone for you kind words. I can only say this much, because you've all written great ideas and also thank you for supporting me in my way of thinking.

Well Alvino... Everyone cannot be supervised, or do you think supervisors have been created for this purpose? I also keep saying that even if I'm gonna have to live under a bridge, I won't let people treat me like shit... My dignity is the only thing I have. Before you start to think I haven't experienced enough crap in my life, I'll tell you I have. We're not rich either so I don't treat money lightly. I'm just not gonna let a stupid coin take over my mind. As long as that doesn't happen, I will be victorious and that's all I care about.