Eat the meatloaf, not the rich!

My liberal acquaintances go off the rails. The kids I teach love stickers.

A person I don’t know but with whom I have mutual acquaintances posted this on Facebook: (long rant cut - you get the idea)

And if I can, try and drink myself to death before they ring in 2026. I won’t be missed. I can’t do any good, and I no longer even want to do any good. That’s what’s been coming all along, and that’s what is inevitable. Because America voted Republican. This is the most irredeemably bad time in the most irredeemably bad nation anyone can possibly imagine.

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Wow. Are these people nutcases or what?

Another choice comment I saw from a friend of a friend who was complaining about going on a date with “a capitalist”:

I've gotten to point where pro capitalistic people just annoy me too much for me to date them. It makes me want to stuff a sock in their mouth, restrain them, then leave them someplace, but that's frowned upon, I guess.

I wonder where they think their paychecks come from? That the government just makes money out of nothing and it feeds everyone?

It’s so fashionable to say, “Tax the rich,” “Eat the rich,” “Kill the capitalists!” And we all know what kinds of suggestions they make once they’ve decided that someone is a fascist, which voting Republican qualifies one for in the eyes of many liberals my age (aka Facebook users.)

This is why I mostly just post pictures of cats.

The kids I teach do not seem to share this “Eat the rich” mindset. They often tell me that they are famous on Tik-Tok and plan to make lots of money that way. I say that while their dancing is fabulous (occasionally it is), they might want a back up plan, like learning to read, write, and a trade or going to college. If I give them a sticker, they become amenable to all sorts of ideas about how life might be well lived.

Right before break, I got to see some of my favorite kids. They came over and hugged me and yelled, “STICKER LADY!!!” It’s nice to make them a little happy. One of the girls I’d been worried about has cheered right up, and the boys are getting so tall that you’d mistake the seventh graders for high school kids if you weren’t used to how fast they grow.

I needed the break, but I miss them. I miss the real world of public school kids in the hood. Things like the government shutdown were very real to them, as many of their families receive SNAP. I don’t bring politics or religion into the classroom - if asked what my religion is, or for whom I voted, I always say, “It would not be appropriate for me to discuss that at school.” But I do try to get them to think. In the background of my mind is always that the welfare state is probably going away, and these kids better have a plan other than SNAP or Tik-Tok. It doesn’t have to be college, but the military, a trade, or some way to make good money and support a family. I want my students to grow up to have good choices available to them, and to eventually provide for kids of their own if they want.

So I build relationships. Stickers. Warnings to watch out for dragons. Discussions of the proper flavor for a green cupcake. I try to make things a little more fun.

My students are a lot more fun than the murderous leftist consumers of sour grapes I seem to find in my Facebook feed.

A few days ago I ran into a kid walking down the street. Sure enough, he yelled, “MS. SMITH!!! STICKER LADY!” I was sad that I didn’t have a sticker on me but it was so sweet that he gave me a hug. “Be safe!” he said as we parted.

We always tell each other to get home safe, be safe, in this neighborhood. It’s not a given that any of us will make it. I get a lot of credibility with the kids from living here as well as working here. I know what it’s like to hear gun shots. There was a drive by shooting next door to me while a friend and I were having dinner back in 2020. And my students see way more than I do.

So while my liberal acquaintances in the suburbs post their hatred of capitalists but do nothing to create jobs or educate kids to be able to take jobs, I go about my business, giving stickers and teaching words.

“Industrious” is today’s word. I will demonstrate it by making a New Year’s Eve meatloaf for one of my friends. He will probably say something about eating the rich, as he is a socialist, but I try not to let that get in the way. I’ll just tell him that if he complains about politics too much, I’m taking his plate.

Volunteering at Project MEOW (Make Every One Wanted) which I do once a week. Need a cat? WE GOT CATS!!! Hit me up.