I finally got to sleep, at about 5:00 a.m. Up at 6:30 to stand outside Alba’s door to play my favorite morning game with her. Lately Alba has taken to telling me that she’s going to drop out of school. This makes me sigh an “I’m exhausted with teenagers” sigh. This makes me want to say things like, “you know, I was stupid when I was your age too, I understand.” Somehow I think the humor would not be appreciated. What it comes down to anyway is that everyone in our household has sleep problems, AND the school system is obviously cruel. The only time I saw Alba watch public access television was the time the school board was hearing arguments for and against pushing school start times up to a later hour. She watched with the same anticipation and hope as we all watched the 2008 elections. Too bad she hadn’t accepted the school system as a system of torture.

Think about it. In elementary school, when kids are up before the sun jumping on your head because they’ve been awake five minutes already and they’re bored, you look at the clock and curse the schools for not opening for another FOUR hours. Then adolescence hits, that time period of hormone induced insanity and altered sleep requirements, and the schools want you to drag your teens out of their warm beds even though they won’t wake up until just about the time school is ending. Cruelty I tell you.

It’s enough to make you angry. Good think we can live anger vicariously through my readers submissions. This week I tag Sleep Deprivation Ninja (I’m not biased or anything. Just because he’s sleep deprived has nothing to do with my pick. Honest.) Powerful piece this one:

It’s the bleeding hearts that get me, the screaming, thrashing, singing, dissident crowds, holding firm in the face of adversity. Break free from tyranny, they scream. The lollipop laggards stand back, mocking, laughing, squirreling away hidden admiration for the ones who stand. Crypto kids clap hands in code and shrink away in silence, live another day, anonymously blending with the passersby, watching from the sidelines as the riot gear cops push in.

Someone throws an apple and gets a beanbag bullet in the face.

You don’t know anger until you see it bleed out the nose of a rebel with a cause.

What’s that? You want more? Get your click on and be sure to spread the comment lurve.

  • Night Blogger is making sense of it all.
  • Follow the unfolding drama at Losing Myself.
  • Mama Bear on anger and forgiveness (welcome back MB!!).
  • I think I might be Frank Talbert.
  • Patsy and painful words.
  • Lceel does a very good impression of God.

Ok, I can’t avoid it.  Let’s do something festive, shall we?  Oh, and I have a surprise for you next week.

Merry

With love,