Can doing the right thing really be that difficult?

I can just hear the moans and groans now but take a chill pill (or a glass of wine if that’s your choice) and enjoy the rant. If it hits you in the face, own it and deal with it, and if it doesn’t, kudos to you. Everyone knows my opinion on the United States of America being shortened to ‘Merica and now you’ll know my true definition of LAZY! “We went on a quick vacay” seems to be the post of the month for social media.

Well, I looked up ‘vacay’ in the dictionary and heavens to Betsy, it was there. It said “vacation” and the sentence of how to use it was “I’m in France right now on vacay.” Well, let me tell you, if you can afford a trip to France, you certainly can afford a tutorial if you missed it in school – vacay is vacation. People you are talking about three extra letters, remove the ‘y’ and add the tion! Are you really that busy? If you are forego the post and enjoy your VACATION!

And don’t think for a minute this posted by a teenager. No way, all 11 posts I read were by adults – adults with professions that I hope and pray know more about their profession than they were learned about grammar. We talk about (I do especially) about how our society has allowed our children to become lazy and that produces in turn lazy adults. When you have adults, with the state of art technology that is available today, making a habit of re-inventing Webster’s Dictionary, what do you expect from our future adults known as teenagers? Do you think that kids today do not learn more by sight than by what is told to them? The days of “Do as I say and not as I do” are long gone and that is a good thing. It holds parents and all adults accountable. If you do the right thing, then you have nothing to fret about.

I follow children through all walks of life either by personally knowing their parents or through sports that start very early these days. I cannot tell you how often I see kids mimicking their parents in so many ways, it’s actually a little scary. Everyone knows I call a spade a spade and a diamond a diamond. If you’re an awesome teacher, then you don’t have to tell anyone that – not only the kids will tell it, their parents will also let it be known.

Once again, I was blessed with some of the best teachers on God’s green earth. They taught me things that are barely even heard of today. We knew every part of a sentence, what it did, what it wasn’t supposed to do, you name it, we knew it (or at least we had the opportunity to know it). I was blessed to be a caretaker for a very dear family of four for several years. All were professors in their own area of expertise, chemistry, math, English and forestry. Every morning, the young lady I had staying with the family during the day would walk in say, “Good morning, how are ya’ll today?” My very special Sassy who was the English guru of the four, would immediately answer, “I’m doing well, thank you. How are you?” The young lady would reply, “I’m good too.” Day after day, Sassy would correct here, “No, you’re not doing good, you’re doing well.” Dementia and Alzheimer’s always amaze me – they may not remember the town they live, the names of their children but they remember learned material till they draw their last breath. I find myself praying everyday that someone will develop a cure for this horrendous disease.

Back at the ranch though for this column. If we ‘teach’ shortcomings about something as simple as three letters in a word, what else are we teaching by that same example. Starting time is set at most jobs and through my many years in the school system, it took me less than a month at a new school (I only worked at two schools) to know exactly who was there looking for sundown and payday and who was there to teach not only my child but every child who entered the building. Because I had morning duty most years, I saw teachers as they arrived on campus. I saw those that resembled teachers in my day arrive way ahead of their allotted time to be there well ahead of the bell to start school. I saw the same ones day after day flying into the parking lot after the bell had rung, jump out of the car and run to their designated classroom. Forget being late to your scheduled report time, but is five minutes really that important to you? Do you think you are anywhere near prepared to walk into a classroom when your students are lined up outside because your door is locked and you’re not there?

Then there are those that work shifts and this goes from the medical profession to warehouses, state and federal jobs and all those in between. Your shift is from 8-4:30 and you arrive consistently at 8:05 or somewhere ‘close to that’. If you’re in charge of patients, inmates or just equipment, what happens when those on duty stand up and say, “Okay, my shift is up, not my problem.” And then there are those who know the rules all too well and know they can clock out less than eight minutes for start time or ending time, so they consistently arrive late and leave early. Take 16 minutes a day times 10 days (the normal time period for  city, county, or state employees and you have over two and a half hours you’ve stolen from the state. Hmm, thieves are always lurking in dark alleys are they? Go by any parking lot consistently and look at the cars, then look at the ones that are there regularly and you will be surprised.

I am told I am way, way too nosy, too concerned with every aspect of every government entity and I have no problem admitting that. I come to work when I am supposed to be here and I leave when I am supposed to leave. That has been the case in every job I have ever had. In all of those jobs, it took me less than a minute to figure out the sundown and payday employees from those who truly did their job because it was the right thing to do. As you might know, I have to have a tale about my dad in this. My dad was a mechanic and anybody in the business knows, if you’re not pulling wrenches, you’re not getting paid. My dad said more times than one, there’s state raised and there’s farm raised and I can spot that difference today as well as my dad could I do believe.

It's never too late to change because if it was, I’d be wasting my fingers and my brain on my weekly rants so I will offer the challenge that if you’re a payday and sundowner, make a change. Do the right thing for the right reasons whether anyone is looking or not. Days like today, I miss Tut more than ever.  She would have a comeback that supports 95% of my rant today. If Heaven only had wife and a computer, Tut could reply. This week’s rant was a little lengthy but Prissie had a lot to say. Happy March!