I Should Have Joined the Peace Corps
Way the hell back in my idyllic youth, I really did want to join. I thought I should make a real difference somewhere on the globe. This was about the time of the big famines in Ethiopia and the publicity it generated. Of course, my own selfish desires ended up getting in the way. But, if I had been serious, I probably would have tried to go to school for something that would have been mildly helpful instead of graphic design.
Even now, I watch the news and I see reports about starvation and dehydration in Africa. Not that I have any educational background that would probably help, but I sometimes think I really should have tried harder.
These feelings happen to coincide with some of the worst bullshit to come along. Once again Number 1 has gone and thought more with the Neanderthal part of his brain than the tool-making homo sapien segment. That #($*@)(* kid has gone and gotten himself ejected from camp.
I seriously don't know how to convey just how angry I am.
The worst part is, while his incident isn't trivial and it brings up other issues and his total lack of remorse has gotten under my skin like liquid fire. Even now, typing this, my blood is starting to boil. He's selfish, thoughtless, and uncaring. And don't tell me that they're all like this at that age. Fuck that. That's how you learn. You make a mistake and you fucking pay for it and come away with a lesson, a scar, or a tragic, fucking memory. But you make something out of it. Failure to learn is at issue here. Inability to see that, even though he knew it was wrong and he still did it, is a huge part of the problem. Not thinking it's a big deal is the other.
I can't fucking breath sometimes, I'm so sick of it going up and down like this. We have a good day together and it's suddenly followed but a long stint of yelling, lecture, punishment and dealing with all the mutherfucking bullshit.
So the rest of this week is either leave him home or take him to work, which Tine and I argued about. In the end, she's at work for a half day, because him home alone is sort of a vacation from any punishment now isn't it?
I just want to shoot myself in the fucking head.
So, sometimes I wish I had joined the Peace Corps. I would be about 5000 miles away in some desert swearing at the heat and the bugs and the injustice of it all, but I'd be doing something useful.
Anything but dealing with this shit.
posted by Evil Wayne @ 12:19 PM
2 Comments:
You should rent the movie "Volunteers." Its a crazy 80's Tom Hanks/John candy movie about the peace corps. I have it, it you want to borrow it. ;)
Anyway, don't let the kid get under your skin. Maybe he's not learning, or maybe he's just not letting you know that he's having a horrible experience. People can be pretty good at hiding the inner trauma, sometimes.
-Russia
HA! That goofy. Whenever I think of the Peace Corps I think of them building that bridge in that movie. Not that I think that's what I'd be doing, but that movie does occur to me.
As for the kid, he's not having some inner trauma. He's going to get some external trauma if he doesn't smarten up. It's more a case of knowing the right thing to do, but deciding to chuck it in favor of the wrong thing. It's complicated - it always is.
And it's just the tip of the iceberg.
It only gets worse from here.
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