First, Fox News needs to be ashamed of itself.  For that matter, the people who watch it should be ashamed of themselves for supporting such inane fear-mongering.  I lost a portion of my 4th hour yesterday because one student had heard that there was an ebola patient in Detroit and another student heard that ebola was now airborne.  Both got their information from a Fox news station, the airborne scare came from its national news desk.  Both stories were simply not true (although they tried to stretch the truth to make themselves not culpable for the fear that they were spreading).

Second, anyone who thinks that we need to close our borders due to ebola needs to realize that their "logical" suggestion would cause an awful lot more harm than good.  Forgetting that this would be a violation of many people's rights, severely hamper our economy, and cost a great deal of money, people need to recognize that this kind of overreaction actually increases the chances of a serious disease (like ebola) spreading.  Why?  If people are afraid of ostracism, they will hide their symptoms.  They certainly won't self-report them, let alone seek help.  Out of fear of persecution (and often a misplaced sense of invulnerability to disease) these people would not be appropriately treated until after they had been contagious for a while.  Besides, how long will we have our borders closed?  We've known about Ebola for over a decade.

Third, people need to remember the AIDS scares of the eighties.  News agencies were making money hand-over-fist by misreporting to a gullible nation.  It took over a decade for most of the misinformation to finally get cleared up.  Ebola's symptoms DO NOT include coughing or sneezing.  Ebola IS NOT airborne; it can only be passed through contact with bodily fluids (much like HIV and AIDS).  Proper precautions will keep the disease from spreading.

We have more to worry about when it comes to the flu, car accidents, and bathtub falls than we do Ebola.  We must not let fear force us into rash, and even devastating decisions.

Were I to get complete control (and I mean complete control) of a school or school system, there are a few things that I would like to change.  Probably the most important of these things would be the structure of the school day itself.

For one, our schools start too early.  Despite a plethora of studies that show that middle and high school students benefit the most from late starts to the school day, we continue to force students to be to school before 8am (let alone the recommended 9am).  Even college age students do their best to avoid 8am classes.  Yet we have some students who, due to practice schedules, actually have to be at the school by 6:30am.  When you add in hours of homework, after school activities going throughout the evening, and television studios putting their most attractive (to high school age students) shows after 9pm,  it is no surprise that many students are yawning through their school day.

To make matters worse, we throw too many subjects to them through the school day.  A full load at the college is between 12-18 credits (with 18 pushing the limit).  That's the equivalent of three to six classes a semester that meet between one to four times a week.  Most high schools run a six-class schedule, with students having to juggle the maximum subjects of most college schedules while meeting for five hours a week for each subject.  Despite what many politicians claim, our students are actually in school too long.

We also need more selection for our students.  Right now they are packed into classes that supposedly teach the same standards at the same time even though we know that students learn differently and at different paces, and even though we know that not all of our students will need the exact same lesson at the same time.

Later starts and a varied class system with fewer on ground hours is a program that has made our colleges and universities some of the best in the world.  I know that we would still need to supervise our students through the school day (something that colleges don't need to worry as much about), but we could do so by allowing students to pick tutoring centers during the time that they are not in direct instruction classrooms.  These centers could range from study halls that provide a quite place to work, recess areas to give some of our students that much needed activity that they are often denied, "reruns" of courses so they get a double hit of the info, student-led group study sessions, or even one-on-one tutoring.

There are flaws with my proposed system, but I think that it's better than most schools are doing right now.  Granted, any system is going to do poorly under the current financial and legislative constraints that public schools are currently under.  Still, it's nice to dream.

I have gotten spoiled ... well, more spoiled.  Earlier this year the toilet seat which we had used since soon after buying our house finally cracked and had to be replaced.  As long as I was replacing one, I decided to replace the one in the kids' bathroom since they were complaining about the current one anyway.  For them, since Rowen was in potty-training, I got a more expensive seat that included a built-in potty chair (which he hardly ever used since he insisted on using the "big" seat) and a "no-slam" lid.  Considering the abuse my children put their toilet through, I felt the no-slam feature was a good investment.

A few months later, the cheaper seat which we purchased for our own toilet cracked (please, don't comment).  While some might make jokes about my weight, the culprits included the seat itself, which was not the most sturdy to begin with, and a young child or two who were slamming the lid.  Despite my wife's concern about the cost, I again went with a no-slam lid and a higher quality seat.  Now, I haven't had the chance to use it during cold months, but thus far it is the best toilet seat that I've used.

There is, however, one small problem.  I am in the habit of shutting the lid before I flush, a habit I developed after watching demonstrations of how much fecal material ends up on bathroom ceilings if the lid is up.  Because the lid is "no-slam" (and because I am a bit impatient), I have to use a little more force to get the seat to a spot where I am comfortable flushing.  This does not cause any real difficulty while I use the toilets in my house.  Unfortunately, few other places have no-slam lids, and I now find myself using more force than necessary (or at least not being as cautious) when closing other toilet lids.  I have become a toilet-lid-slammer.

I am guessing that this is why my cheap toilet seat took so much abuse in such a short period of time; the boys were used to the no-slam lid on their toilet and had forgotten that we didn't have one on ours.  I now have to give myself a mental reminder when I go to other people's bathrooms that I need to be careful when closing their toilet seats.  I think that I'm getting better about it, but I still have lapses.  I now find myself wishing that everyone got the no-slam lids.

Ah, first world problems ...

Today's readings focus on the Christian responsibility to help others make good decisions, but they each highlight this idea in different ways.

If this summer wasn't good for my professional ego, the past few days have more than made up for it.  The number of students who have expressed how glad they are to see me and the number of staff members who have expressed how much they like having me around has added up to a wonderful boost to my self-esteem.

I like what I do, and I feel that I'm pretty good at it.  Sure, there's room for improvement, but I work hard to make certain that my student's benefit from having taken a course with me.  There will always be those who hate me, and some who claim that having me as a teacher was a detriment to their lives.  For a while this summer, it felt like there were more of them than ever before.  These first days of school have changed that feeling.

This is why we as teachers need to remember the power of positive reinforcement.  It certainly works on me.  In truth, everyone needs to remember the power of kind words and friendly faces.  Whether it's on the job, in the home, or out on the town, a positive word or two can make all of the difference between enjoying life or dreading it.  May I make certain that I am providing that positive atmosphere to the people around me. 

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus tells His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem to suffer, die, and rise again.  Peter wishes that no such thing would happen and Jesus rebukes him saying, "Get behind me, Satan!"  While Jesus does not want to suffer, He knows that it must be done for the salvation of the world.  Without realizing it, Peter is tempting Jesus to stray from His most holy path.

We, too, are often tempted from what we know we need to do by friends and family who have the best of intentions.  While we probably shouldn't call them "Satan," we need to recognize when these distractions are keeping us from being the best possible versions of ourselves.  This doesn't mean that we should completely ignore friends and family, or other diversions, just that we should not use them as an excuse to not accomplish that which we know must be done.

As a practiced procrastinator, I know that I struggle with this problem regularly.  Just look at how much writing I've completed this summer (not counting blogs and some minor school-preparation, the total is three paragraphs).  I have had a great summer even if I have little to show for it.  I'm not going to beat myself up over what I haven't done, but I need to put my failings behind me and move forward.

One of my favorite philosophical quotes comes from the movie "Back to the Future."  Marty McFly is continually told by his father, "If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything."  When he travels to the past, he tells his high-school age father the same thing, only to have it repeated to him again in his present.

As cliche as the phrase may be, it's one that I truly believe.  I have always supported the idea of the Renaissance Man, a person who attempts to excel at everything, one who is both logical and artistic, reasoning and passionate, cerebral and athletic.  In an age when hyper-specialization has become the way of life, this idea is not always accepted.  I often hear from students that they just aren't good at math (or English, or history, etc.) or that they are just like their parent who can't do math (or English, or history, etc.).

I believe that we are capable of succeeding at nearly everything.  There are some limitations in physical and mental ability, but I'm not talking about being the best in the world at everything.  With training, practice, dedication, and persistence, we humans have a nearly boundless potential.  Most of what stands in our way is our own stubborn refusal to try.

We are an amazing species with a grand destiny ahead of us.  We should not let nay-sayers keep us from doing the "impossible," even if the nay-sayers are ourselves.  

There are parts of myself that I don't particularly like.  This is a familiar statement to anyone who has looked in a mirror.  There are parts of my face, my physique, even my movements that I would like to change or improve.  This idea is not, however, merely limited to my physical person, but to certain aspects of my personality and sometimes even the way that I think.

These, for lack of a better term, faults sometimes repulse me, even though they are a part of me.  Some of them last only for a short period of time, like pimples on my personality.  Others, I have not been able to rid despite decades of trying, like the belly fat of my behavior.  

We are often told that we need to learn to better accept our imperfections, that our individual traits are what make us unique and special among the vast numbers of humans on Earth.  We are told that to hate a piece of ourselves is to hate ourselves.  Yet we are also told to work towards improving ourselves.

It is such a delicate balance.  I need to recognize the importance of accepting myself, warts and all, while still striving to rid myself of said warts.  Can I better myself without loathing the parts I am trying to fix?  I certainly want to try.

So much of how well our days go depend upon how we start them.  For some people, that means starting with the right kind of breakfast; for others, that means having a fresh cup of coffee; for me, it means having my clothes picked out the night before.

More so than any other steps that I take in my morning preparations, picking out clothes in advance saves me the most amount of time and frustration.  For reasons I do not fully understand, trying to pick out clothes in the hour or so after I have woken up is an exercise of frustration.

Part of the problem is the lack of light in the morning.  On most days during the school year, I am the first person awake in my house.  I have to move around in the morning using a little light as I can to keep my wife from fully waking.  Trying to pick out clothes in the dark is at the least frustrating and can sometimes even lead to some rather embarrassing choices.

However, even on days when I have slept in, and the morning light is shining, I still have difficulties when I haven't chosen clothes in advance.  Some of that might have to do with how slowly my tired mind works.  Perhaps it has to deal with being under a time constraint.

Whatever the reason, if I don't take steps to prepare my choice of outfit the night before, my morning just does not move as smoothly.  Actually, I find that front-loading tasks usually works better for me than attempting them at the last moment.  There's probably a lesson to be learned here, but I'm actively choosing to ignore it for the time being.

All of today's readings, including the famous Gospel story of the loaves and the fishes (a miracle that actually occurs more than once in the Gospels), deal with the abundance of God's love for us.  Come to the waters, all who thirst.  Nothing can separate us from God's love.  God provides for all of our needs.

These ideas are so often used that people have become numb to the message: God is ready to accept and provide for all of us.  Even if we have turned away from Him, even if we have done terrible things, God's love is unending and always present.  He loves you right now, in this moment, even if you just blasphemed against Him.

Some people are afraid of that kind of all-inclusive love.  They turn away from it because they feel it's not possible or because, deep down, they feel unworthy of it.  It is possible and all are worthy.  Accept God's love and feel the peace it brings.

Solomon asked the Lord for wisdom to judge his people and to distinguish right from wrong.  The Lord blessed Solomon because he asked for this gift and not gifts of power or long life.  Yet didn't Adam and Eve get forced from the Garden of Eden because they ate from the tree that gave them the knowledge of good and evil?

Today's sermon illuminated this supposed conflict and brought the question into our modern society.  The difference is that Solomon was asking for God's guidance in distinguishing right from wrong, while Adam and Eve were looking to create their own distinctions between what is good and what is evil.  It's the same battle that we are currently fighting in our world: Is there an absolute truth?

So many people confuse right and wrong with popular opinion.  They believe that if they convince half the nation that something is right, it makes that action right.  Unfortunately, one does not need to look far into history to see where this idea goes astray with disastrous consequences.  Mob mentality should not decide moral issues.

How then do we know right from wrong?  We ask God.  He showed us the way through His teaching, especially in His time on Earth as a human.  He founded a Church to give people a moral compass, and while the people in the Church have sometimes lost their way, His message of Love and Understanding has stood for thousands of years.

We are granted wisdom when we ask for it.  The problem is that we often don't like what we know is the wise course of action; it often challenges us and it illuminates some of our faults that we would prefer to ignore.   The wisdom of Solomon is there for each of us if we have the strength to look for it.

I just finished watching My Fellow Americans, a comedy from 1996 where two ex-Presidents (one Republican, one Democrat) must work together to help uncover a plot to discredit and kill them.   Played by Jack Lemon and James Garner, these two Presidents can't stand one another, but they not only learn how to work together, but they learn something about the people in the country that they were running as well.

I like this movie for its comedy and its entertaining cast, but mostly for the themes that it has.  One of the most important of these that struck me as I watching the movie today is how much more we accomplish when we work together rather than when we work against one another.  

Politics in America was designed to be divided.  The intention of the founders of this nation was to create a system that required debate and discussion before action could be taken.  Too often in America's history has this intentional division been taken too far.  Too often do the politicians on both sides use rhetoric to demolish the other side rather than use action to prove the positives of their own positions.  This is not a new phenomenon, but it is sad nonetheless.  

This is a nation that needs debate in order to make certain that the government is doing what is best for its citizens, but it needs debates that don't completely alienate the various positions.  We need to start listening to one another again and acknowledge the strengths of the various arguments.  The politicians of our nation are not trying to destroy America, and we need to recognize that.  People are not wrong simply because they support a different political party.  Once we clear those unworthy ideas from the American consciousness, we can make our country (and our world) a better place.

You see, you can learn things from watching movies.

Today's Gospel reading (Matthew 13:24-43) held three parables.  

The wheat and the weeds
The first of the parables, like last week's reading, is often used by people to justify their views of predestination.  In it a farmer plants good seed in his fields, but his enemy plants weeks in the farmer's field while the farmer is sleeping.  The farmer allows both wheat and weed to grow together out of concern that pulling up the weeds might also kill good plants.  Instead, he lets them grow together and only separates them at the harvest.

It's easy to see why this would lead people to the idea of predestination as the good and bad are determined when they are still seeds (this is also where the expression a "bad seed" when referring to a person can be traced back to).  Yet what most followers of predestination miss is that the farmer allows the wheat and weeds to live together.  This was Jesus's answer to why evil is allowed to exist in the world.  He is not willing to damage (or even mistakenly destroy) the good people just to rid the world of evil.  There is also a suggestion that it is not fully possible to discern the wheat from the weeds.  While people might judge one another as evil or worthy, only God knows the final outcome, and thus only He is the proper judge.

In the sermon today, we were told that the wheat and weeds can also be taken to look at the experiences in our lives.  We have time to still nurture the proper tendencies and feelings within us.  This idea connects to the last two parables which deal with faith being compared to a mustard seed (which might start as a small seed, but can grow into a large plant that gives others rest) and to yeast (which only needs a little to help a large amount of dough to rise).

Too many people focus on the part of the burning and the "wailing and gnashing of teeth" and not enough of the nourishing and hopeful side of these teachings.  We have to allow the seeds of faith to grow within us, not just for our lives but for the lives that we touch.

The song is running through my head and I only really know that one phrase from it.  Truthfully, I didn't have a bad day, but it will not go down in history as one of my better ones.  In the book that I've been reading about creating an electronic presence for myself, the author suggests that you shouldn't write a blog post on a day when you are angry.  People don't like angry (even if the popularity of the Hulk suggests otherwise).

I have found that the author is probably correct.  Usually, when I talk about something that is bothering me or something bad that happened to me, the person to whom I was complaining gives an example of something even worse that happened to them.  It becomes a reciprocating cycle of one-downsmanship.  

As hard as it is, I usually find that the only thing that gets me out of the funk of a bad day is being positive and counting my blessings.  If I focus on how bad the situation is or on revenge (and I can be pretty creative when it comes to revenge), I just end up feeling worse.  If I find the silver lining, it's as though a heavy stone has been lifted from my brow and I can think more clearly.  This isn't about a false positivism; for this to work, I need to find something truly good in the situation or in my life and celebrate it (not ironically).

Now, demons will still try to bring those bad thoughts to mind.  I find that the only way to consistently keep them back is to recognize who benefits from my misery: it isn't my kids or my friends, not my co-workers or my spouse,  and it certainly isn't me.  Thus the only true revenge is leaving that misery behind.  I certainly don't want to support the devil that benefits from my misfortune.

Life is good and my blessings are many.  My state of mind is my own to control.