Winter Quarter Beginning Eve

I'm thinking about the 8-year old who shot and killed his mother when she asked him to do his chores. 

I'm thinking about the photo in the national section of our local Sunday paper, a photo of a woman who'd just completed a tour in Iraq, her hubby holding said child. She hadn't seen her baby since last October, her baby all of six months old.  

(Do not expect me to have my syntax all completely figured out. I am just back from a 5-mile, 37 degree bike ride. And it was windy.)

I am thinking about the Army recruiter in Houston who committed suicide. It seems he hated being a recruiter more than being in Iraq. He begged to be re-deployed, but the Army said no, he had to continue his recruiting job. I think I would commit suicide too if I had to snag young people from malls and tell them about the glories of free college and seeing the world.

I am thinking about my nephew, a father of four children (the youngest in diapers) in Afghanistan. I know he believes in the cause he is fighting for. I know we should have been focusing on Afghanistan, if anywhere, from the beginning (and not freaking Iraq) but I do not want him there. I don't want anyone except Afghani's in Afghanistan.  

I am thinking about pre-requisite checks, Accuplacer scores, rosters, whether or not the classroom is mediated. Whether or not the woman at the beach who was muttering to the sea gulls should be medicated.

P.S. I heard someone talking on the radio today about adding a week to the calendar--a week that begins at 12:00 midnight post-12/31. The ball would drop, and then . . . we'd have--let's call it Janus Week--and during that  time you could: (1) take stuff to Goodwill, (2) exchange a few gifts, (3) do a little reading for pleasure, (4) maybe teach yourself how to change a tire. Then . . . pause, pause, pause, breathe, breathe, breathe, then maybe vacuum under the bed, then maybe iron your cloth napkins, then maybe straighten out the basement a little more . . . then . . . Happy New Year, and it could all start in again--the school lunches, the swim lessons, the signing of permission slips, the paying of bills and the commuting, and all the rest. Good idea, yes?