A feisty fighter frustrating friends
Not caring, not coping, on the go
A teenage tearaway telling tales
Pushing against the urge to grow

Parental problems, proving pain
Mistakes one day surely repeated
Hardened heads hiding hopes
A life from which has been cheated

As water wearies, wild and winding
The ground becomes less stable
Forming floods for fallow fields
Leaving nothing to eat at the table

Inspired by a conversation with a student whose name translates as Water
16th May 2024 – Submitted to Word of the Day Challenge

Today I’m feeling:

Happy and tired again. I feel good when I’m pushed and have to do things but when I get free time I start to feel tired.

Today I’m grateful for:

Arriving at school and then finding out there is an art event and students don’t want to study but also not bothered about the event too! I just gave them a little work and then talked with small groups of students about their futures.

The best thing about today was:

As mentioned above, talking with some of the kids today was interesting.

Mangkron said he wants to be a farmer as that is what his family is involved in. I was a little surprised as most kids talk about being doctors, gamers or idols.

I was happily surprised about Baipad who has a clear idea of what she would like to do and also has a backup plan. Her and Apple were also able to understand and consider options that might not exactly match their wishes but are in the same direction.

Ozone shocked me when she started talking about software programming and also design work of some sort. Underneath her quiet exterior, she has things happening it seems.

A number of kids simply answered ‘Well, my parents want me to do this’ to which I had to remind them that I asked them what they wanted to do. And my purpose was to get them thinking about this, which many are already and whilst comforting them that they still have lots of time to decide that if they can’t figure out something to do by themselves then surely someone else will do it for them.

What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?

With only really another full week left of classes, the kids have already switched off. I do want them to come to my class though, even though we may do just a little work. I’d like to get them to do more talking as above. Perhaps they will open up a bit more now they are more relaxed.

Either way, I’m not going to stress too much about their behaviour from now.

Something I learned today?

I’ve been powering through the Kishore Mahbubani videos on US-China relations and liking his even-handed approach to the situation. The videos were made in 2020 when Biden became US president and there was some hope of a less hostile relationship. I’ll find some other videos of his which are more up-to-date after I finish this series. Any kind of possible military encounter between the two countries is going to be a disaster.

What is one goal I have for the next month and how can I work towards achieving it?

Goals are overrated. Just keep doing and being the best I can be. So my goals as such are just to get the things done that I have to such as taking the cats for their annual checks and vaccines. I’ll try to get a couple more tattoos and spend more time reading and writing as well as planning for next semester’s classes.