Jane – My Inspiration

I have known Jane since I was 6 years old. We have shared plenty together. I love her like a sister. She now lives 5 hours away from me in another state and I see her once a year. We talk often on the phone.

Three years ago her son was in a motorbike accident. I went over and saw this beautiful alive and vibrant young person lying lifeless in a hospital bed. He was 9 years old. Time passed and most things healed but he is currently in a wheelchair and has many physical issues to deal with. Jane has been a constant carer. She has received support from a team of professionals to deal with things like physiotherapy and other medical problems, but for the day to day caring of Sam, she has retained sole responsibility and has cared lovingly for Sam. He has a great sense of humour and is fully aware of the situation he is in.

There are so many heartaching stories to tell and triumphant ones too. Through Jane’s experiences I have seen another facet of the world. I would have preferred not to have known most of it.

Last night when I spoke to Jane she told me of her latest trial. Sam has been attending school as often as possible. Last term he had to have surgery and missed most of the term and suffered a lot of pain afterward. This term he returned to school. He is in year 7 and it is his final year of the primary school he has been attending. His teacher excluded him from a graduation breakfast held at a local restaurant and then tried to justify her behaviour and refused to apologise to cut the story to the barest details.

So Jane has had to go through the processes of getting justice yet again. I am inspired that she continues to go after these limited people and teach them what appropriate behaviour is when she has so much burden to carry in her life.

This woman has her life totally altered. The school is the same school he was attending when the accident occured. I don’t understand. I am outraged at the treatment Sam has received and the lack of compassion for both parent and student. As a teacher I am totally puzzled about how this other teacher can be so inhumane. What is wrong with these people?

Upsets

Last week was challenging for me. I know I have learnt from the past though because I looked after myself. I had a massage last night, which was great. I continued doing my exercises. I continued to eat as healthy as I could be bothered with. I took some time out during the week and I feel like I am recovering from the upsets. I have had to really search my own behaviour and motives. All Upsets are Opportunities to Know the Truth. Some of the truths I didn’t really want to know!
I love my workplace. I totally enjoy being a teacher and many of my fellow teachers have become very dear friends to me. This week I have learnt who is amongst the people who surround me. I remember other times in my life when I have had this chance to see who’s who in my life. The reliable, perceptive friends who let you blurt out all your anger and hurt and give that valuable feedback and the sheep who go off to find a new person to kiss up to. I kind of knew who they were anyway. There were few surprises and they were mostly pleasant.

Self Sufficiency

I have been reading about the bird flu and terrorism and other possible dangerous consequences of living in cities and thinking it might be time to revisit my old ideas. I don’t want to sit on a hill meditating with the herbal tea but I would like to have some contingency plans for getting away from the insanity of society, should some wastage hit the fan in my world as it is some places all around the planet with seeming regularity. As a teacher I would like to prepare my students to be resilient without scaring them or making them too fearful about thier future.

This article:http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/veneer-of-civilisation-is-easily-eroded/2005/09/08/1125772644245.html reminded me of a workshop we had with our year 8’s last year about Medieval times. The man who was teaching them about knights and castles told them that in three days our civilisation would boil down to basically what happened in New Orleans. When I first heard it from him, it rattled me and reading the above article has yet again rang a warning bell. There are so many fearful scenario’s that could play out.

I don’t want to live in fear. I don’t want to expect the worst. I don’t want to ignore signs and be unprepared though. I have people I love that I want to protect. Where would I draw that line though? I love many, many people.