Lisa has sent me a CBC report that the troops in Iraq will be recieving 'morality training':
"The training package emphasizes professional military values and the importance of disciplined, professional conduct in combat, Iraqi cultural expectations and the second- and third-order effects of actions that are contrary to professional military values."
Professional military values....who in the hell came up with that one? Honestly - Haditha has to be only one of a tiny fraction of atrocities committed in the name of 'that guy looked suspicious with his turban and his beard 'n all...' At the very least, it's hit the radar in the US. Perhaps this training will help?
How do you measure the ROI of that: everyone hates and fears the US a bit less. That's quite a good ROI, if it can be achieved. After listening to the general 'wah!wah!' of it all, I don't hold any hope, really.
By the way: The Kite Runner, by Khalid Hosseini will give everyone a bit more insight to the area. It's sad; everything is about that region now...the Mimico Book Club ladies have endorsed it as a 'great book'.
I'd also like to commend John Murtha: thanks for being a real man and standing up to the tin pot Generals, especially the CIC. He's apparently one of the very, very few; the proud.
Back to our cushy life in NA:
My tenure on the Board of Directors with the Drop in Centres is over. Whew! Now I can get to the next level: fighting for soap in the school toilets, supervision on the playground, and some helpful programming for the kids in the 'hood.
Lisa and I are helping (HELPING) our young friend Ivan --better known as Instructor Ivan-- get his TaeKwonDo program off the ground. It's tough to watch this guy...he's young, but that not an excuse.
Picture this:
TKD instructor, fired by Master from teaching at his home club for...I don't know: being an idiot? not being an idiot? Hard to say. He's a 3rd Dan black belt, which means he can't test for black belt himself - he's not a 'Master' level (4th Dan). His Master, despite his trying for years, has felt it necessary to 'teach him a lesson' and hasn't let him pass.
The Master, a man in his mid-40's, running a small club, with apparently few real people skills, and unable to see the bigger picture, fires his intructors: the three that are taking his club's class format into the schools and spreading the good word. He won't support these guys with a spin off business plan: I cover your insurance, you give me a portion of your wage to cover that and my time for testing.
Complicating this: the instructor (23) has grown up with this guy as a 2nd father. His own is (according to him) alcoholic, his step-mom is nice, his real mom is in what's left of Serbia (keep in mind his age - he left because of the war, and his father could keep him safe here) and he has no real relationship with her. The Master, having a weirdly parallel life, was born in Canada, went 'home' to live with his father's family in Ghana, his father being in Ireland studying. His mother, instead of giving him up for adoption, sends him diplomatic post, to the grandmother. After his dad returns, marries, he's rejected by the step, comes to Canada (he's a citizen) and starts his life anew as a TKD guy in the schools...meets the boy....
Skip ahead to now: the Master thinks the boy is a loser (not his fault, since ...I don't know...weird mind games don't count?) and fires his ass. Then slanders his work ethic in front of a class full of kids, and forbids the instructor any contact with those kids.
By the way: we ran a little summer program last year out of our church. It was great: 65 kids, 3 classes, money for the church, a job for two people...Master didn't get any of the money (we did say: we are paying him $x, you need to get him to give you a proper share of that for the insurance...he didn't do this) and was bitter. Master got all the kids to his 'free' (except, not for free since they had all been in the summer program and were therefore not 'beginner' anymore) program at $65/each. Master felt hard done by. And bitter, clearly. Over $3000 revenue from those particular kids to run the program....sounds fair to me.
So this summer approaches: our parents are asking about the program; our instructor wants to teach the program; we, oddly enough, don't want to run a small business but... This is his big chance to show his master, his parents, etc. that the dope is not making him stupid, that his music is not going to ruin his life, that he can actually take an existing clientele that loves him and translate that into a summer job and a part time job during the months he's a college completing his business program.
Can you imagine such a wonderful opportunity? Can he sustain? Can we back off and let him do all the things he needs to? What is UP with kids today? "Can you phone for insurance?" No, Ivan, you have to do that. "What should we charge?" Ivan, you have to figure that out. "What are all the days available?" Start with one class, and go from there.
The most frustrating thing will be if the Master decides to 'help'. He has been a completely insulting, short sighted, condecending ass in the past. He's made it clear that he's not involved in any way, shape or form. Good. Let's just keep it that way, shall we?
The most challenging thing for me in this whole episode has been keeping the professional visage: there were some difficulties, and miscommunications. We aren't working with Him, no. He doesn't want to be involved. It's not part of his business plan, I guess.....Making nicey nice.
He hasn't shown our efforts the same consideration. Bastard. (I can say that here, since no one's reading, anyway.)
So, we are Mentoring, Guiding, Facilitating....I'm going to write an article on this, I think. I think I have to, now.
"The training package emphasizes professional military values and the importance of disciplined, professional conduct in combat, Iraqi cultural expectations and the second- and third-order effects of actions that are contrary to professional military values."
Professional military values....who in the hell came up with that one? Honestly - Haditha has to be only one of a tiny fraction of atrocities committed in the name of 'that guy looked suspicious with his turban and his beard 'n all...' At the very least, it's hit the radar in the US. Perhaps this training will help?
How do you measure the ROI of that: everyone hates and fears the US a bit less. That's quite a good ROI, if it can be achieved. After listening to the general 'wah!wah!' of it all, I don't hold any hope, really.
By the way: The Kite Runner, by Khalid Hosseini will give everyone a bit more insight to the area. It's sad; everything is about that region now...the Mimico Book Club ladies have endorsed it as a 'great book'.
I'd also like to commend John Murtha: thanks for being a real man and standing up to the tin pot Generals, especially the CIC. He's apparently one of the very, very few; the proud.
Back to our cushy life in NA:
My tenure on the Board of Directors with the Drop in Centres is over. Whew! Now I can get to the next level: fighting for soap in the school toilets, supervision on the playground, and some helpful programming for the kids in the 'hood.
Lisa and I are helping (HELPING) our young friend Ivan --better known as Instructor Ivan-- get his TaeKwonDo program off the ground. It's tough to watch this guy...he's young, but that not an excuse.
Picture this:
TKD instructor, fired by Master from teaching at his home club for...I don't know: being an idiot? not being an idiot? Hard to say. He's a 3rd Dan black belt, which means he can't test for black belt himself - he's not a 'Master' level (4th Dan). His Master, despite his trying for years, has felt it necessary to 'teach him a lesson' and hasn't let him pass.
The Master, a man in his mid-40's, running a small club, with apparently few real people skills, and unable to see the bigger picture, fires his intructors: the three that are taking his club's class format into the schools and spreading the good word. He won't support these guys with a spin off business plan: I cover your insurance, you give me a portion of your wage to cover that and my time for testing.
Complicating this: the instructor (23) has grown up with this guy as a 2nd father. His own is (according to him) alcoholic, his step-mom is nice, his real mom is in what's left of Serbia (keep in mind his age - he left because of the war, and his father could keep him safe here) and he has no real relationship with her. The Master, having a weirdly parallel life, was born in Canada, went 'home' to live with his father's family in Ghana, his father being in Ireland studying. His mother, instead of giving him up for adoption, sends him diplomatic post, to the grandmother. After his dad returns, marries, he's rejected by the step, comes to Canada (he's a citizen) and starts his life anew as a TKD guy in the schools...meets the boy....
Skip ahead to now: the Master thinks the boy is a loser (not his fault, since ...I don't know...weird mind games don't count?) and fires his ass. Then slanders his work ethic in front of a class full of kids, and forbids the instructor any contact with those kids.
By the way: we ran a little summer program last year out of our church. It was great: 65 kids, 3 classes, money for the church, a job for two people...Master didn't get any of the money (we did say: we are paying him $x, you need to get him to give you a proper share of that for the insurance...he didn't do this) and was bitter. Master got all the kids to his 'free' (except, not for free since they had all been in the summer program and were therefore not 'beginner' anymore) program at $65/each. Master felt hard done by. And bitter, clearly. Over $3000 revenue from those particular kids to run the program....sounds fair to me.
So this summer approaches: our parents are asking about the program; our instructor wants to teach the program; we, oddly enough, don't want to run a small business but... This is his big chance to show his master, his parents, etc. that the dope is not making him stupid, that his music is not going to ruin his life, that he can actually take an existing clientele that loves him and translate that into a summer job and a part time job during the months he's a college completing his business program.
Can you imagine such a wonderful opportunity? Can he sustain? Can we back off and let him do all the things he needs to? What is UP with kids today? "Can you phone for insurance?" No, Ivan, you have to do that. "What should we charge?" Ivan, you have to figure that out. "What are all the days available?" Start with one class, and go from there.
The most frustrating thing will be if the Master decides to 'help'. He has been a completely insulting, short sighted, condecending ass in the past. He's made it clear that he's not involved in any way, shape or form. Good. Let's just keep it that way, shall we?
The most challenging thing for me in this whole episode has been keeping the professional visage: there were some difficulties, and miscommunications. We aren't working with Him, no. He doesn't want to be involved. It's not part of his business plan, I guess.....Making nicey nice.
He hasn't shown our efforts the same consideration. Bastard. (I can say that here, since no one's reading, anyway.)
So, we are Mentoring, Guiding, Facilitating....I'm going to write an article on this, I think. I think I have to, now.
posted by marthajane at 7:11 AM
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