The Cows Have Been Coming Home and the Chickens Have Always Roosted

I grew up on a farm in Fort Lonesome, six miles east of Wimauma. In my adolescent years, I would ride my bicycle the six miles to play county league baseball. My dad left when I was seven. There were a couple of years that my mom did not have a car. The neighbors made sure she made it to the store.

I never had a T.V. I learned to ask questions on the morning bus ride about T.V. shows that the other kids had watched so I could talk about it at school as if I had seen the shows too.

I was a prolific reader as a kid. I read a vast amount of subject areas by a vast amount of writers. I've been to outerspace, under the sea, fought all of the wars, fought wind mills, looked through the iron mask, was all for one and one for all and wondered what that couple really did that the woman had to wear a scarlet letter.

One of the writers was Zane Grey. A country boy's writer. In Grey's stories, the cowboys, after they wiped out thousands of buffaloes or the wagon wheel fell off crossing the river, were always circling the wagons to protect themselves from the Indians. A few pioneers were savagely scalped. Went with the territory.

Last night I watched a TV Channel 8 spot about a kindergartner that was put on the wrong bus and left off at a wrong stop. I was quite shocked to hear the HCDS spokesperson say out loud that these were two mistakes. There was no circling of the wagons. There was no blaming the kid for being responsible for getting on the wrong bus. There was no blaming the parents for aiding and abetting the kid's behavior.

There is also news about another teacher having sex with a student. The student who ratted them out, as far as I can tell, was not suspended for talking about the teacher. The student victim, as far as I can tell, has not been accused of making the story up, urged on by a vindictive parent angry at some school person. Perhaps like Monica's blue dress, the alleged fact that the teacher discussed the details on the wiretap may have protected the others from the wrath of the HCDS.

Parents who challenge the HCDS know what it's like for the HCDS to circle the wagons. And apparently teachers know what it's like for the HCDS to circle the wagons. And students. And now apparently, some school board members.

These events have been happening, just as the cows come home and the chickens roost. But just like the pioneers of old, maybe the circling of wagons may become an event of the past. Maybe, just maybe, everyone will look at the same events and make professional decisions based on the need to do the right thing, instead of just covering their mistakes to limit monetary liability. It could have been another $200,000.