Tomorrow is the first student day at the school where I am employed as a school counselor, North Harrison High School.<\/p>\n
I say BRING THEM ON!<\/p>\n
It is time to get some students in the building. \u00a0That is why we put the place there and fill it with fresh air and fresh ideology and fresh hope and freshman, of course.<\/p>\n
This is the third year for me at North Harrison. I love the place. \u00a0Like every school I have worked in, the first day is filled with optimism and dare I say hope? \u00a0I don’t dare say it. \u00a0I am saying it. \u00a0I work with a great deal of hope for the future. \u00a0We have great young people in the North Harrison Community School system. \u00a0In the past two weeks I have also witnessed some great parents and grandparents I have met with, emailed with, and talked to on the telephone. \u00a0So many of them are on the verge of being apologetic for taking my time. \u00a0I tell them that is why I was hired…to help them out. \u00a0I made that point when I was interviewed.<\/p>\n
The day is framed on two questions:<\/p>\n
Morning: \u00a0What can I do to help?<\/p>\n
Afternoon: \u00a0What did I do to help?<\/p>\n
I told my dear wife, Carrie, I brought that up in the interview I had for my current position. \u00a0She asked if I got that philosophy from Ben Franklin. \u00a0I told my dear wife I actually got it walking around the parking lot of the Meijer store in New Albany. \u00a0She told me Ben got there before me. To say I felt I was in good company is an understatement. \u00a0I always liked that guy, even if he wanted the Wild Turkey to be the National Bird.<\/p>\n
When I was a kid, long before folks kept up with what others had for dinner the night before thanks to a facebook post, the first day of school was reunion first. \u00a0You looked around to see who was still there. \u00a0Invariably a few kids would move never to be heard from again. \u00a0I never got to say goodbye to a girl I was sweet on in the 2nd grade. \u00a0Her name was Robin Osmond. \u00a0She was fun to talk to. \u00a0She was lovely to behold. \u00a0I remember the day she took my arm like we were going to a cotillion and spoke up to our teacher, Mrs. Bobb, and held up our arms for Mrs. Bobb’s approval. \u00a0Mrs. Bobb just shook her head. \u00a0I was 8, but I knew Mrs. Bobb wanted to puke. \u00a0A part of me wanted to also.<\/p>\n
Paul. \u00a0Whatever happened to him? \u00a0He was there in 4th grade and gone in 5th. \u00a0I felt sorry for Paul. \u00a0Lord was he forever easy to want to beat the tar out of. \u00a0He brought most of his ill on himself. \u00a0His mouth and threats that he could not live up to made him a pain in the ass. \u00a0But he was a pain in the ass you could not tune out. \u00a0Look, I know so many of you are not going to buy in to this story…but it is the truth. \u00a0I was the product of Larry and Tressie Johnson. \u00a0Jerry Brown was the product of Tom and Gleda Brown. \u00a0John Johnson was the product of Pete and Helen Johnson. \u00a0Mike Warren was the product of Leroy and Sarah Warren. \u00a0These were my friends….you get where I am going with this. \u00a0One day in the fourth grade, Paul had his head down and was crying. \u00a0I wondered what was wrong. I didn’t want to see him sad. \u00a0Another boy looked at me and said his folks were not getting along. \u00a0Paul then picked up his red eyes and snotty nose and said, and I can still hear it… “My parents are not getting a DEE-vorce!” \u00a0It went through me like a knife. We didn’t even know how to pronounce it. \u00a0How provincial is that? \u00a0 I call it more fortunate than provincial. \u00a0I felt so bad for Paul. \u00a0I still do.<\/p>\n
My how things have changed. \u00a0The culture is different these days for sure. \u00a0Kids are much more resilient than me and my cronies ever thought about being. \u00a0They have to be. \u00a0They have adapted to their environments. \u00a0They are made to face examinations in academia that I am not sure, beyond politics, measures a single thing. \u00a0A test score did not make me care. \u00a0A test score made me a statistic.<\/p>\n
I think we need to care more and govern with statistics less. \u00a0I would hate to think that worrying over a test would ever make me loose sight of Robin and Paul along the way.<\/p>\n
Speaking the rights.<\/p>\n
Danny Johnson<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tomorrow is the first student day at the school where I am employed as a school counselor, North Harrison High School. I say BRING THEM ON! It is time to get some students in the building. \u00a0That is why we put the place there and fill it with fresh air and fresh ideology and fresh […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n