Hello everyone, I have just finished phase two of Hell Week. I am a new school bus driver for South Pinellas County. Training has been very intense, and has taken alot out of me. I was having to get up at 4:30 a.m. every morning so I have'nt had time to post until now. Working among school aged children has really put me into the world of the here and now. I look up into the mirror as I am driving and I see the faces of kids just like I was back in '76 or so and even though they may get loud and get on my nerves, not one of them deserves to have done to them what was done to me starting the summer of '78.
Everything else around here has pretty much gone to the dogs. Right now I sense a calm before the onslaught of a great storm. It will only take a small nudge to get a whole new drug culture thing going again. So far, most of my kids seem pretty much on the straight and narrow. My first run is for a school that houses grades 1 thru 12 and is for really messed up kids with emotional and developmental problems. (They could not have picked a more suitable driver huh?) Next is an elementary school very close to Tyrone and the old Morgan Yacht building where I bring in a large load of South St. Pete black children. These children are mostly poor, yet all are well fed, their clothes are clean, and their behavior and manners are immaculate. For my last run, I bring in a load of mostly white, hip-hop Jerry Springer raised middle school students. On my bus, the girls rule the roost. They are giant hormone fueled Amazon Warriors and the guys fall back and just let it ride. By the grace of God, I worked with two sisters a few years ago in the YMCA that are now on my bus, and it is alot more smoother because of that. These are all good kids
in their own right, and the only way drugs will screw these kids up, is if they are pushed on them and pushed hard. Much like that Dr. Sam Beckett in the series Quantam Leap, I have lept from job to job over the years. I think I am where God wants me for now, so we'll just have to see where it goes from here.
_________________
In the line of fire, you know what to say
They gave us no choices, just one shade of grey
Back at that hellhole, behind Tyrone Mall
We walked in darkness, kept hitting the walls
I took the time to feel for the door
I had been treated, but what the hell for?
[ This Message was edited by: 85 Day Jerk on 2003-01-17 21:32 ]