The Truth about The Truth

*Disclaimer: This is going to be a serious in-depth blog post.  I will be blunt; I will be serious; I might go a little over-the-top; but I will try to keep it real.

"YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!" That's what Jack thundered at us.  That's what his character believed.  He was the villain.  And yet, somehow, we believed him.  We (North Americans, the SDA church, maybe the world in general) believed that we were not capable of handling the truth.  Before you say, "Hang on.  I can dig it," let me explain what I mean.  The truth is, those pants do make your butt look fat.  But your boyfriend might not tell you that because he knows that you're asking a rhetorical question and he shouldn't give you a literal answer.  The truth is, American forces are not occupying Iraq to pursue justice and democracy.  Those forces are there so that the American government can get access to oil reserves.  If they had gone for justice and democracy, American forces would have been gone after a couple of years.  They're still there.  ALMOST A DECADE AFTER 9/11.  The truth is, the church does not adequately help sinners.  We'd prefer that you look good on the outside, keep your sins in the closet, and never tell us that you're struggling.  That way, we can gossip about other people's sins, remove persons from positions of authority because they're human, too, and we won't have to make an effort to be genuine.  We can pretend that we're on the road to righteousness and there are no roadbumps.
...Am I going too fast for you?  The truth is, we don't keep it real.  The reality is, those pants make you look like a whale, but I'd rather let you look ugly and lie to make you feel better.  The reality is, I could have told you the truth, suggested another outfit, you would look gorgeous, and we'd both feel better.  The reality is, America needs to get out of Iraq and focus on some issues in America.  The reality is, America might still have a war economy.  The reality is, many in the church would rather look good on the outside and be filthy on the inside.  The reality is, if we admitted that we do terrible things in the darkness of our closets then we would feel much better about ourselves.  The reality is, we can handle the truth.  We just don't want to.

Vicious Cockpunch of Furious Anger!

In all honesty, I think I'd like to pull out the Vicious Cockpunch of Furious Anger today.  Sadly, I can't use it because that's called abuse of a student, and because the student in question is female.  But, still... I'm irked.  Students know that they are not supposed to have their phones out during class.  This particular student has been warned multiple times.  By me.  In class.  Last time I tried to take her phone away, she refused, was sent to the office, and the teacher wrote her a referral (collect 9 and I believe you're expelled).

Had the same thing happen today.  Student had her phone out and she was texting in class.  It's not that hard to spot.  For me, anyways.  Being a martial artist gives me some clues about body language.  I can usually tell when a student is texting.  Their body language shouts across the room, "Oh, me!  Me!  Pick me!  I'm texting!  Yes!  I'm the one doing it!"  So I told the student, "Gimme your phone."  "No."  I repeated myself.  So did she.  "Okay.  Hallway."  "No."  Seems to be her favorite word these days.  So, I had to send her down to the office.  I hope they took her phone away for good.

This student started the semester as a decent kid.  She was a little late from time to time, but nothing horrible. She usually sat quietly, and she did her work.  I dunno what's changed.  But now she's the worst student in my class.  Horrible as it may be to say, I prefer the days when this student is not in class.  Because I know that when she's in class, she doesn't do the work and she distracts other students.  So... yeah.  Today's a day for a Vicious Cockpunch.  Here's to imagination... BAM!