Why is it that, even though we know something is inevitable, we are always surprised when it happens?
You know, like the kids who ride their longboards down gravel ridden roads and are shocked when they end up with road rash. Or the ones who never complete any school work, rarely attend class and then can't figure out why they didn't pass the class.
After watching Jon be browbeaten by Kate on televeision was anyone really surprised that he left? Seriously. Or that Lindsay Lohan ended up in jail? Or that Kim Kardashian's second marriage only lasted 72 days? Any, yet, headlines are filled with words like shocker, unbelievable, breaking news. The only thing breaking about these stories is that anyone waited until after it happened to write about it.
Take the teacher's strike, for instance. Were any of us - teachers, parents, students, general public and even teacher haters - surprised that teachers took a settlement? Of course not! No matter what we say to kids, the fact of the matter is that all of us can only take being beaten down for so long. So, despite our best efforts, it was totally inevitable that the teacher strike ended at the end of the school year. So why am I surprised? Is it because part of me wishes that not everything politically related be a foregone conclusion? Probably.
Politicians and teachers are a funny mix. It is like the lopsided friendship where one is a giver and the other a taker... and yet, at the end of the day, the taker is the one pointing her finger screaming "YOU are a bad friend" and the giver is left thinking, "Wow... did not see that coming" when, let's face it, it was inevitable.
Politicians have placed more and more demands on teachers while removing financial resources and support to help them get the job done. Not surprisingly, after a while of trying to just go with the flow and avoid any sort of altercation, teachers are going to say "Hey, wait a minute. This is inequitable and unreasonable. And sort of a little insane." And what happens in the end? The inevitable. The taking politicians point their fingers yelling "Greedy! Greedy! Greedy!" all the while bypassing their own huge raises and padded expense accounts.
So, when news agencies begin to report that teachers are leaving the profession before retirement, moving to other provinces or that teacher education programs see less graduates applying for positions within BC, why feign surprise? It is a foregone conclusion. Doesn't it come down to what we all learned in elementary school? Relationships are give AND take not take, take, take and then be pissed off when the other party asks for a little something in return or just walks away?
On a personal note about the inevitability of things, can I really say that I am surprised that after months of publicly giving thanks for the paramedic that, once there has been a lapse, he reminds me of how many days it has been? To which I would reply: on that specific day, I was very thankful that my new husband did not trip over the full garbage sitting in the kitchen waiting to be taken out as he continuously walked around it. And, I would imagine, for him that response was inevitable. ;)
