The Wake up is Beginning

 

I hope everyone is doing well during this Christmas season. When I was a kid this time of year was usually  bitterly cold with snow. (There’s definitely climate change. To be honest it’s not really a bad thing for NYC. That statement is indicative of everything wrong about the way most of us think. We are OK with almost anything as long as it doesn’t affect us. Worse, there are those that would pit us against each other according to self interest, always centered around money - directly or indirectly.) We didn’t have much, but we had close friendships and family. I and my family had no car so we did all our traveling by bus and subway. Even way back then the trains weren’t great, but they weren’t as frightening - so to speak. Almost everyone I know riding the trains now are carrying knives or worse. Even a buddy of mine, who’s in his 40s and very peaceful. He said he never thought there would come a day when he had to carry a weapon on him to travel on the trains. I was shocked when he told me that. What’s going on? I believe it’s some type of mass psychosis brought on by the isolation of Covid lockdowns and the indifference towards those who desperately need help. I’m going to be completely blunt here - I think the new mayor is much worse than deBlasio - something I thought was an impossibility. I had often said if you picked a woman or man at random off the street and threw them in the office of mayor, he or she would improve the life of the average New Yorker more than deBlasio. I was wrong. I always try to admit when I’m wrong about something - that’s also a rarity for most these days. Identity politics seem to be the only thing that has traction. Common sense, ethics, morality or simple humanity seems to be on the back burner or actually  completely absent. 

There seems to be a hypersensitivity going on in the world, for every potential classification of person - please be cognizant of pronoun use, names, gender, race and every difference possible, except for those concerning teachers. Teachers can be spit on and generally treated like rotting garbage. That’s from everyone, including those who are paid to advocate and represent them -the Uft. That said, all my friends, save one, have retired.  He just got divorced, moved out of his house and is living on his own. We have a lot of fun and he’s usually over here most of the time watching movies and football. We usually finish the night playing chess. All the years I’ve played chess with him, I’ve never beat him - he’s a couple of points away from being a grandmaster - not a real rationale of course. I suppose I like playing him because it keeps my mind sharp, and hope springs eternal that I’ll win a game. It was kind of the same way with the UFT. I held out hope for a long time that some type of positive change would occur if we kept trying, paying dues and playing the game of the loyal member/teacher/retiree. I gave up that pipe dream along time ago. It was not an easy decision for me and I still have to force myself not to rejoin. I know there are some that will say it’s about money, but it’s not. I put the dues money away for a long time, but I stopped doing that as I see absolutely no hope in the UFT. If anything, they’ve gotten worse. Currently, I’m incredulous that the Uft has become so open about screwing retirees and literally lying to their faces. I got sent a couple emails forwarding an article by a particular blogger who touted the last contract and ended up joining Mulgrew’s party and inner circle. Now he’s outraged - I guess it’s better late than never - especially as retirement is knocking at the door. So much of what the UFT does is rigged in regards to elections and contracts. Not in the way that the Republicans and Democrats claim the elections are rigged - the votes are counted correctly, but the whole process is raft with inconsistencies, unethical practices and unfair advantages for those who run the UFT and their respective party, Unity. The good news is that people are beginning to notice. Not only that blogger looking forward to retirement, but the average Joe Schmo from Tuckahoe. Our friend Marianne has had a lot to do with that. May G-d bless her. There are a lot of people who can’t fathom this level of betrayal from the union. One could say the same thing with the Democrat/Republican Party and almost every institution in this country. Each outrage spurs a potential revolution. Join that revolution and think for yourself. I hope you have a great holiday and enjoy it with those you love. Cheers.