Sunday, March 13, 2005

What a strange week. I was sent on a course. I usually look forward to such events...nice break from school. I wasn't looking forward to this one though. It was on something called, "The School Assistance Program," and was presented by a lady called Cheryl Watkins, from Arizona. Basically, it's an idea that she has put together to try to help the troubled souls that we have to work with at school. It's a bit like an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting without the booze.
Well......within the hour, as we were all invited to bare our souls, tears flooded like rain and the air was white with Kleenex. By lunchtime, all 16 of us felt thoroughly drained. This went on for three days. Towards the end of day three, we were given a rather interesting exercise. We had to try to think of somebody who had really hurt us in the past, but we had to try to put our side of the hurt to one side and write a letter of apology to the person in order to try to clear our own grief.
I spent quite some time before I could think of anybody, then I came up with this:-

Today, for my own well-being, I choose to forgive Margaret Thatcher, but I only choose to forgive her for the introduction of the National Curriculum. This one political decision had a profound and disturbing effect on my own personal happiness, stress level and family harmony. I am however prepared to accept the fact that ultimately, this was for the good as I have seen a great many children benefit from its introduction.

Sadly though, I am not prepared to forgive you for the Miners' Strike, the Falklands War, sending old Tom Davies down the road to prison for not paying his Poll Tax or for taking the free milk from schoolchildren. Neither can I forgive you for having such an annoying, irritating voice.

Yours,
Phil

Then, joy of joys, as our next exercise, I thought we were told to write an imaginary letter, wher we had to write out the sort of response that we would have got from the first letter. I actually got this part of the task all wrong, but what the hell, I really enjoyed writing it anyway.

Dear Phil,
I am so sorry to hear that you have bore these grudges against me for so long. I was delighted to hear though that you've finally come to your senses regarding the National Curriculum. As you stated, so many children have benefited from the improvements brought about by the National Curriculum. I'm sure you can also remember all of the lazy, bone-idle, ineffective, sadistic teachers that populated our classrooms at the time.
As for the Miners' strike....All Scargil's fault. Falklands War:- Well, Galtiari caught me with my knickers down didn't he.Poll Tax:- Yes, I agree, big mistake. My voice:- Do I sound better when I write?
Love and Kisses,
Mags