I DESPISE this buzz phrase. With a deep burning type of distaste. The kind that burns you in the back of the throat.
It sounds like something cooked up by a bunch of ad executives on a 72 hour sleep deprived, caffeine induced bender.
Zero tolerance
It is so easy to hold onto an absolute.
A rule.
"It's in the handbook"
Obviously there is a trigger to my anger and oddly enough it doesn't involve my kids, not directly at least.
A bunch of middle and high school aged kids were suspended and for the majority, expelled from my boys private "church affiliated" school yesterday. It involved marijuana. Details are sketchy.
Most involved were "good" kids. Never in trouble before. Active in school, church, community service.
I don't know.... maybe I missed the Sunday school lesson or sermon where the message of "zero tolerance" was preached.
Maybe I somehow missed a major component of my faith's philosophy?
Because I know if I were to be judged RIGHT NOW on the "zero tolerance" policy of life test......I would earn a big ole fat "Do Not Pass Go and Go Straight to Jail" ticket for my 75 mph cruising this morning.
And yes, I GET that exceeding the speed limit is NOT the same as drugs. But honestly?
Has anyone NEVER done something stupid? irresponsible? dangerous? illegal?
Raise your hands.
Righty-o...we can all put our hands down now.
And I'm all about accountability for one's actions.
But for me accountability means restitution and reconciliation and redemption.
Not kick your butt to the curb....forever and ever amen.
I expect more from a school that is under the auspices of my church.
We are SMARTER than zero tolerance. Or we should be.
We have a better example.
It's called grace and mercy people.
3 comments:
zero tolerance.
would this be considered
an 'oxymoron'?
oxymoron: n. comination of contradictory ideas or terms.
tolerance: the capacity of allowing . . . the behavior of others; leeway for variation from a standard.
I spout this almost daily
to my teenaged son.
Tolerance. Patience.
Understanding. Compassion.
{sigh}
so these kids....they have been permanently booted out? i'm not so sure about the zero tolerance thing...i always think of it like this. what if it were MY kid. things happen. children are influenced by others....does it make them bad? no. peer pressure kind of scares the crap out of me.
I dislike ZERO TOLERANCE. Especially with the kids I work with who are often products of envrionments they had little or no say in. I agree to be judge in the moment we all would fail.
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