Forty-two years
ago this September, I began my career as a teacher and coach. That’s a long,
long time for anyone to be in a job, right? But I began traveling down that
road even earlier.
When I was in
eighth grade, Father Jim asked me to help him coach the sixth grade boys’
basketball team. He would tell me what drills he wanted to run and I ran them.
Weird, because Al and Rick, two of my classmates were way better than I was.
Way better- no false modesty at all. Couldn’t tell you our record or even the
names of the guys on the team. But I remember the practices and sitting next to
Father Jim on the bench each game. Pretty cool when you think about that.
In high school, I
worked summers for Parks and Recreation as a playground supervisor. In college,
I volunteered as a coach for football, basketball and baseball at a local
elementary school. Of course I held other jobs like a drug store clerk and a
stock boy filling trucks at a bottling company. I also mowed lawns and baby-sat,
the normal things most kids do.
But I knew way
back that I would be a teacher and a coach because I wanted to work with kids.
It’s not a job to me. It’s as much a passion as it is a vocation. The romantic
in me would say it’s a calling, I suppose. I think it helped that my older
brother, Jack, was a teacher and I think it is safe to say I followed in his
footsteps.
The profession has
brought joy to me. I watched kids struggle and grow. I watched the proverbial
lightbulb glow when a kid “got it.” There are kids, now young men and women
with kids of their own I’m still in touch with or follow on Facebook and who
read my novels. It’s nice to see how they’ve grown and what has become of them.
I happen to care
about kids. All kids. Not just my own. Not just the kids who walked in and out
of my life like waiters in a restaurant (to paraphrase a great line by Stephen
King). I happen to care about all kids. All of them.
Let me tell you a
story . . .
When my son, Wil,
was in college, he spent six weeks out of the country on a study abroad thing.
A lot of college kids do that. What was interesting was that Wil was pulled out
of the security line at the airport for a bag and body search. Not once, but at
each airport he and his classmates flew out of. Wil was the only member of his
class “selected” for this “random” security search. Wil had brown skin because
we adopted him from Guatemala when he was seven. He had, since that adoption,
spent more time as a citizen of this country than he did as a citizen of
Guatemala. Yet as I stated, he was the only one “selected” for this “random”
security search. Typical of Wil, it bothered him, but he laughed it off as “one
of those things.” Me? I think about that and it not only angers me, it saddens
me. Deeply.
So I have to tell
you that it saddens me . . . deeply saddens me . . . that my country, yours and
mine, decided to take children from their parents and house them in cages,
sometimes miles and states away from their parents with no real plan or effort
to reunite them anytime soon. Kids in cages on a mattress on a cement floor. In
a cage- did I tell you that? Oh yes, a couple of times already, but in case you
didn’t get it, the kids are kept in cages. In cages away from their parents.
Imagine one or
more of your own children taken from you, separated from you, ripped from your
arms. Imagine a commentator making fun of your own child, a Downs Syndrome
child, and the fact that he was taken from his mother. Imagine another
commentator justifying the taking of children from their parents because, “these
aren’t our kids.”
They aren’t?
Because they are brown? Because they’re not from our country?
As adults, aren’t
we responsible for kids? As a world citizenry, aren’t we responsible for all
kids? Shouldn’t we be?
And shouldn’t each
of us be outraged and vocal about kids being separated from their parents? Used
as pawns for political purposes?
Several weeks ago,
I wrote a post titled Most People Are Good, but you know, that theory,
though I hold it dear to my heart and believe it will every fiber of my being,
has been tested these past two years. I’m sure it will be tested in the next
two years, too. Tested, because those in power refuse to do anything like
performing checks and balances like they have been elected to do. Refuse to do and
ignore all of it as well. And it goes on and will go on unchecked because there
seems to be very few of us who care. Sad really. So very sad. Something to
think about . . . and care about . . .
Live Your Life,
and Make a Difference!
For My Readers:
I have some
exciting news:
Black Rose
Writing, the company that published Caught
in a Web has accepted for publication another of my books, Spiral into Darkness and it will be out
in January 2019. On my author page on Facebook, I will post passages and snippets
from time to time and keep you updated on the publishing progress.
Caught in a Web, has
been receiving some excellent reviews that I’m proud of, but I have to tell you
the reviews are also humbling. So to those of you who have read it, thank you
for passing on the positive vibes and for taking a chance on a novice writer.
With five books to my name and a sixth coming out in January, yes, I still feel
like a novice.
Caught in a Web is
available in both paperback and Kindle format on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Caught-Web-Joseph-Lewis/dp/1684330246/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524752314&sr=1-1&keywords=caught+in+a+web+joseph+lewis and at Barnes
& Noble at https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/caught-in-a-web-joseph-lewis/1128250923?ean=9781684330249
Connect with me on Social Media:
Twitter at
@jrlewisauthor
Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/Joseph.Lewis.Author
