This seagull's persepective, might be quite different to what we see, when we look at him/her, with only one foot.
We tend to think, "Oh how tragic!"
But, perhaps the gull's perspective, would be, "Oh, How lucky I am to still be alive, and able to manage, with only one foot!"
The bleak day notwithstanding, this gull made a good fist at fighting off other gulls, who might have competed for any scraps that could be forthcoming!
On our trip, we found some of these Sea Urchins, or Kina, as we called them in New Zealand. This is how they appear, when alive. They also appear to be very prickly, once they are 'deceased', as they wash upon the shore.
We discovered many of these deceased creatures on one of the beaches we visited on our travels. My son decided he would like to keep some, as he loved the form and delicate structure of the now vacant homes.
They are truly a work of Nature's art, and the wonderful patterns are so lovely.
We collected these specimens, and though their former occupants were now deceased, some of them still had the remants of the former tennants, so to speak. Some still had the remnants of the spines, and so we were a little wary of collecting them.
Thence commenced the journey of getting the deceased creatures' homes, to our home!
We enclosed them in a plastic bag, but soon realised this would not be enough to prevent the all-prevailing stench, of the remains of the prior tennants of these homes.
So, on our first night accomodation after we collected the creatures, Son decided to stash them in a handy Skip, in the Hotel car park.
Next moring he retrieved the offensive package, and set off to purchase zip lock bags, in which to seal the creatures. Several layers of zip lock bags later, we set off for our next destination-all odour seemingly contained.
Thence followed a nightly routine, where son placed the package in the local accommodation's skip, or garbahe bin, and then he retrieved it each morning, and added another layer of zip lock, and restashed it in our boot.
Imagine our horror, one morning, when we heard a leaf mulcher being vigourously applied to the current Motel's yard! Son sped off to retrieve the package, before the leaf/mulch/deposits were emptied into the skip!
As you can see, we did get them home safely, and Son spent some time cleaning them, and ensuring they are now odour-free.
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A small story, for opinions, or persepective..
A small boy was deemed by his teacher, to be "Annoying".
The teacher told the child he was so annoying, he needed to go and 'annoy the door', in his class. This was in front of the other pupils, who had apparently also declared the small student to be 'annoying'.
The small boy duly went to the door, and 'annoyed the door' in a manner he thought appropriate.
However, the teacher decided he was not so much 'annoying' the door, as 'having a conversation, with the door', so he told the small boy to "Go outside, and annoy the pole".
I found this story so sad, and so wrong on many levels.
Am I wrong in this evaluation?
Is it a matter of "perspective"?
I confess there was a certain admiration for the small boy for 'running with it'. On the other hand, what sort of message does it send to the small boy, and his peers within the classroom?
Opinions would be welcome.
My first choice was 'I Wonder', but it did not play, and I could not find another version.
13 comments:
You're definitely not wrong, imho, Meggie. I think it's terribly sad. Surely there should be a way to turn those annoying habits into something productive without humiliating the little boy.
Thanks for the sea urchin pictures. I've seen the pretty "after" versions, but never really stopped to think what they must look like when they're alive. They're beautiful!
Lovely sea urchins but like Thimbleanna I had never stopped to think about them when allive!
Strangely enough I had been mulling over how we see ourselves and how things people tell us often enough begin to be part of our personalities so continuously telling the boy he was annoying will surely be counter productive and I am not sure I would have understood what the teacher meant anyway had I been the little lad! Surely there must be other ways to teach children the error of their ways?!
Loved the shells...loved the way you kept them safe each night..LOL
I don't like the way the teacher treated the small boy. She should have talked to him alone (not in front of the class) and suggested ways/actions that would please her. This was wrong.
A good teacher would channel that boy and find his strengths and play to them - how sad
As for the shells we also get sea urchins in the UK but I've never actually found any maybe i have always gone to the wrong parts of the Uk on holiday - as a child I always longed to find one and coveted the ones you saw for sale in shell shops - I seem to remember I would have given my eye teeth to own one - they are so beautiful
I was a teacher for 13 years, and tutor now, and this story makes me really angry. I came across teachers who treated children like this and I hated it. There is absolutely no excuse for judging a child and humiliating them infront of their peers. I have always found that respecting and hearing children reaps massive rewards, and that once children feel heard and respected they are very willing participants in classroom life. Em x
One of our visiting birds seems to have a slightly deformed wing, but that doesn't stop it keeping up with the other birds - it manages just fine. Your sea urchins are very pretty! How did your son manage to clean them? Ah yes, the little boy.....we don't all fit into the same mould, do we?
Love the sea urchins. When I discovered my first one, I thought I had struck the lottery to have made such a rare find. Later I was disappointed that they were less rare than I had thought but it is still a beautiful thing.
As to your story, I actually had an English teacher like that but I guess there was no harm done since I grew up alright......oh wait, there was that period of deep depression in my twenties......I wonder.
Oh those kina sent me down memory lane. When I was a child we lived on the Chatham Islands and I made my folks an ashtray using a 'dead' kina shell and used the shells like trumpets for the 'legs' of it!
The urchins are gorgeous. The teacher isn't. That's really unacceptable :(
Your blog post about the sea urchins was very interesting. I loved the story about putting them in the trash bins along the way home.
My opinion is the teacher should be relieved of her job!
The pics were wonderful!
I think that's appalling - the little boy story.
Very pretty sea urchins.
The sea urchins are lovely and worth all the faffing about to get them home odour free.
As for the teacher, some of them are clueless. I once had one (I was about 5) who, when I finished my work said she didn't want me sitting idle and sent me outside to weed the garden!
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