Maya's lesson: gratitude

This is an excerpt from an Oprah interview...My little sister sent it to me today...It is provocative...and known, but so easy to forget.

I live in the space of thankfulness - and I have been rewarded a million times over for it. I started out giving thanks for small things, and the more thankful I became, the more my bounty increased. That's because what you focus on expands, and when you focus on the goodness in your life, you create more of it. Opportunities, relationships, even money flowed my way when I learned to be grateful no matter what happened in my life.

"Say thank you!" Those words from my friend and mentor Maya Angelou turned my life around. One day about ten years ago, I was sitting in my bathroom with the door closed and the toilet lid down, booing and a hooing on the phone so uncontrollably that I was incoherent.

"Stop it! Stop it right now and say thank you!" Maya chided. "But - you don't understand," I sobbed. To this day, I can't remember what it was that had me so far gone, which only proves the point Maya was trying to make. "I do understand," she told me. "I want to hear you say it now. Out loud."

'Thank you.'" Tentatively, I repeated it: "Thank you - but what am I saying thank you for?" "You're saying thank you," Maya said, "because your faith is so strong that you don't doubt that whatever the problem, you'll get through it. You're saying thank you because you know that even in the eye of the storm, God has put a rainbow in the clouds. You're saying thank you because you know there's no problem created that can compare to the Creator of all things. Say thank you!"

So I did - and still do. Only now I do it every day. I kept a gratitude journal, as Sarah Ban Breathnach suggests in Simple Abundance, list at least five things that I'm grateful for.My list includes small pleasures..."

"My thank-you list also includes things too important to take for granted: an "okay" mammogram, friends who love me, 25 years at the same job (and loving it more than the first day I started), a chance to share my vision for a better life, staying centered, having financial security. I won't kid you, having money for all the things I want is a blessing. But as I look back over my journals, which I've kept since I was 15 years old, 99% of what brought me real joy had nothing to do with money.

It's not easy being grateful all the time. But it's when you feel least thankful that you are most in need of what gratitude can give you: PERSPECTIVE... Just knowing you have that daily list to complete allows you to look at your day differently; with an awareness of every sweet gesture and kind thought passed your way. When you learn to say thank you, you see the world anew.

As Meister Eckhart so eloquently stated: "If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is 'Thank you God', that would suffice."

Unacceptable school status quo

Three school shootings in recent weeks are not listed on this map. There may be more that that missing from it, too. This map included 2005 shootings and none from this year.

This is status quo. This includes shootings after Columbine, which is largely thought of as ground zero for school violence.

I called Number One Daughter's school last year and asked about school safety and what they do to prevent shootings. I was assured that they had a program in place.

Last week I sent a message to the Superintendent of Schools and cc: the school board and the principal for Number One Daughter's school, too. The superintendent referred my inquiry to the assistant superintendent of schools. He asked her to reply. She hasn't yet.

In the superintendent's message, he assured me that there is a safety plan in place. This is status quo. All of this is status quo. And status quo is unacceptable.

Among other ideas, I am taking my concerns to the PTA. I am not happy that I was patted on the head and that my ideas and concerns were not taken to heart. I think the reason that I was patted on the head is that the superintendent and school administrators in general believe that there will be a certain amount of knee-jerk reactions to the school shootings. Although I assured them that this wasn't a knee-jerk reaction, my concerns were cast off.

The Wisconsin representative who is calling for teachers to be armed needs to have a refresher course in reality. Arming teachers is not a good idea. Even though he suggested that other countries do so with no major problems. Surely he must realize that there is a far greater danger in arming teachers than exists when you are airline pilots!

We need cameras in and around the school. We need self defense courses for teachers and students so that they have an idea of what to do if they are taken hostage. We need a curriculum that teaches empowerment to everyone so that they realize that they do not have to be victims. We need a national action plan. It is scary, I know. It is very sad, too.

The idea that I am going to float that could help immediately on a national level is very simple: Give every teacher, administrator, librarian, indeed anyone in contact with students a Life Alert necklace. They are monitored 24/7. One push of a button and help is being summoned. No delay looking for a phone-cell or otherwise. The first inkling of trouble is the time to push the button to summon assistance.

In Colorado, the adult who murdered one girl after molesting several, was noticed by many people before school. Suspicions were raised. Hair was standing up on the back of people's necks. See that is the first sign that your guardian angel is whispering in your ear. Indeed, the thing that we must encourage in our schools is for people to listen to that little voice in our minds that says, "Danger!"

I'm ready for the nay sayers who are concerned about prohibitive costs too. What insurance company wouldn't rather spend money to improve security in our schools? They would be preventing lawsuits-potentially. I am a mom on a mission. You can mess with me, but don't mess with children. Not on my watch.

Word processing

I keep telling myself to use Word to write my posts, but I don't listen! So another post is lost in the great void....even when I used "recover post," most of it was gone.

I hate when that happens!

The Wrong War

If some of our children are battling wars on other shores,

Dying for reasons that appear to be
based on fiction and not fact,




And leaving scars imprinted in the hearts and minds of our soldiers who are but Little Big Men and Women...
Children dying on foreign streets in wars that our government representatives themselves would flee...
Much less allow their children to be sacrificed for...




While violence is claiming the lives of our children in our schools and on our streets...

Then we are fighting
the wrong war.

School defense

It pains me greatly that we are going to have to teach our children the same lessons that are taught to passengers on airplanes post 9/11. Prior to 9/11, flight attendants were taught to listen to the instructions of the hijackers. Now passengers are told that they must help keep planes safe by not allowing a criminal/terrorist to take over a flight.

Sadly, we need to teach our children the same message. Of the three school shootings, the Amish school shooting is the most disturbing-that is if one can be more heinous than the other.

It is one thing to want to take your own life, but it is another to decide to take others with you-no matter what has happened in the gunman's past. Exacting revenge isn't an option. Even anger at the Supreme Being isn't a reason to take others with you.

School shooters are terrorists. I do not care how old the shooter is. I do not care what their past reveals about their lives. I do not even care if they are suicidal. There is no reason to take hostages, especially in a school.

Terrorism is rampant in our own country; perhaps it is time to focus on home-grown terrorism. I do not understand when taking innocents hostage became the standard for criminals, but it is time to prepare our students to defend themselves against terrorism.

My fear is that if we do not do something soon, we will have to arm our teachers; it will be like the cockpit of an airplane. Some pilots arm themselves.

We have to teach our children that if something seems out of place, that they shouldn't ignore it. They should report it immediately to school personnel. At the first "inkling" of a problem, school personnel should call 9-1-1.

For a long time schools have had fire and disaster drills. It is time to hold anti-terrorism drills, too. Safety needs to be reinforced. If only someone had known that they should have fought off the shooters.

The principal at the school near Madison Wisconsin was a hero. He fought off the shooter. He took him to the ground. I am deeply saddened that the principal's life was taken, but he saved dozens if not hundreds of other lives.

In the end, parents are the final line of defense against terrorism in our schools. If we suspect that a student is capable of inflicting harm, we should speak up. We should also be alert when we take our children to school. Perhaps we need parents in the classroom to combat the likelihood of an attack. Parents trained to spot trouble. It is a sobering thought.

In the past decade, we have learned that school isn't necessarily a safe haven for our children. It is time to prepare our children for life in this war zone. I am stunned that I wrote it. I am stunned that we need to do this, but we must find a way to protect our children when we aren't with them. They are their best defense-if we prepare them.

Heaven help us.