At least MY Head Is Still Screwed On Straight

Remember when I said that midday emails get unconditional love? I retract this statement now. Today about 2pm, our entire building was treated to this email:

"I have been asked to remind you that you are NOT to show or share the video of the American in Iraq who was killed by decapitation."

I know why this email was sent. I hope you didn't see the this on the local news, but a teacher in my district did show the video in her class. In fairness, I want to say that I have verified that it was not shown to the entire class as some sort of sick learning exercise, but it is still deplorable. No teacher I have spoken to could believe this happened.

So back to the email, you really have to tell us this!? I hope that my building and district understand that this is the exception rather than the rule. Our increasingly violent news has hit me hard. My reaction times are severely decreased this time of year but my gut reaction to this horrible violence is to not just look away but to run away. How could I ever feed the already violent appetites of my students with something this graphic? I cannot even look myself.

I somehow have the statement floating in my head that the search for this video was the most popular search on the internet according to Google. I don't even want to search for this statistic for fear of feeding this possible Google statistic (besides, I am not a news blog and don't have to verify).

Please God please, Don't let TC Pickney watch News Channel 4. So many more of us do so much more good.