Sapphire VS School Marquee

I saw the worst school marquee today ever.

I found it so wrong that I wrote it down on the back of a receipt in the parking lot. This is my kids' school district. These are the educators I trust. My eldest son attended said school as a volunteer because of an overflow in our neighborhood school. My younger son wholly benefited from the special services and is doing very, very well now but, I'm sorry, but this strikes me wrong on so many levels:

"No one is ever hurt by doing the right thing."

Ghandi, anyone?

"Life skill of the month - peace."

Doing the right thing = peace? I'm not so sure about that.

I'm heavily into WWII history. All those countries who played a part in the resistance? Those who hid Jews? D-Day? Someone did a lot of wrong then, and someone did a lot of right, too, and there are graves scattered all throughout Europe to prove it.

Doing the right thing is often the most detrimental thing you can do in your own existence. We're not solely talking historical figures. What about the guy in the convenience store who gets shot because he keeps the pregnant cashier from getting hurt by a robber? For God's sake, has anyone heard of Iraq? The soldiers there...we occasionally see the pictures of them with those they were sent to protect, the innocent children. Yet, "no one is ever hurt" by doing the right thing?

Never confuse this for me being an advocate of NOT doing the right thing. Doing the right thing, though, takes guts. Doing the right thing has a potential to cause collateral damage. Doing right could mean loss of income, emotional stress, isolation/ostracization from loved ones, and even death.

Witness protection program, anyone?

Like so many things, the phrase seems so harmless, but it's fluff. There was more room on that marquee, too, so there was room to change it to make it relevant, to something like:

"Doing the right thing hurts, but you can make a difference."

Or

"The world could be better. Step up, do the right thing, and show them how it's done."

The second one is more appropriate for kids. That's not scary for them. On that level, they're worrying about Suzy having a bruise and crying on the playground because Mom hit her. They tell an adult, the adult intervenes, and the problem is on its way to a solution.

Geez, standing up and doing the right thing is nearly never easy! If you're living right, there are prices to pay. My family's moral code is based by Christ's words. If the Antichrist does come in this age, I can see my mother in the front yard with her hands extended for the cuffs! She might use it as a stall tactic while the other house's inhabitants get away, but...that's still doing the right thing!

The drop-out kids on the street corner with the bags of pot - they're probably making more money than I am. Their friends see them and either join them or go the other way, ending life-long friendships. Doing the right thing absolutely bites sometimes, but unless someone does it, we don't have a better world.

Think American Revolution. Think taxation without representation. Think abolition of slavery. Think underground railroad. Think Abraham Lincoln.

Was that easy?

This country was founded on doing the right thing. This country was founded on freedoms, particularly the freedom of speech. When in a position of authority, please use your free speech wisely. The sentence that started this diatribe is without substance or merit, just a feel-good saying that looked good on a school marquee.

I read marquees all over the town as I drive past them. I find some offensive, I find some thought-provoking, and some I just don't get. I think this falls in all three categories.


Yeah, I get upset over marquees with nonsense posted on them. Shoot me.