HAVE YOU BEEN TRUMP(ED)?

TERESA DA SILVA

I woke up yesterday to the shocking news that an orangy man had made it to the presidency of what is supposedly one of the most advanced countries in the world. If the previous day hadn’t already delivered me a blow that had set my head spinning, I think I would have cried a bit, raged a lot, sent out SOS messages to outer space….

Instead, I quietly shut my PC and went about my day. Actually, multitasking is not my thing, that is, physically doing more than one thing at a time is nerve-racking and near impossible for me, but, I guess it’s because my brain is a constant data overflow. So, I did go about my day but my brain whirled in mode “orange man, madam pencil, shirtless horserider from the cold, doctor who bombs his own people for power, overgrown babies with bizarre haircuts” until it nearly crashed. 

I have never been a believer of UFOs but I am beginning to wonder if some of us (a great number of us) haven’t been zapped by some alien life form. Could it be contagious?

But…let me go back to having been trumped!

As I was saying, I had already been trumped the day before - at eleven o’clock in the morning to be more precise. Totally trumped by our trumped up educational system! After nearly two months of hard work, of a great deal of smooth-talking to appeal to colleagues and students, of getting to know those infuriating and lovable teens, I was told that the person I was substituting would have to come back to her position. Shoot! But, hell ok, after all I was (am) the substitute teacher. I knew the risks when I joined the game.

However, what floored me was the information I heard over the grapevine (one of the many perks of being such a trumping good networker). Apparently, (whisper) this lady has been going about this trumping business for quite a number of years. Using the system to her advantage, she has managed to stay clear of work for some time now. Isn’t that trumping amazing?! If the story has any truth to it, in a months’ time (legally she has to work for 30 days before going off on sick leave again), those students, many of whom come from the most unbelievably horrid background, will be facing another substitute teacher. (end of whisper)

Let’s face it….the kids have literally been trumped! The social and economic background of the majority of those students is appalling, their degree of success is below average and the risk of dropping out is tremendous. Indiscipline has the police force coming over every other day. Now this! How can they possibly grow up to be honest, hard-working, critical thinking adults if the odds are against them from the beginning? How can they believe in anything or anyone if they feel dumped and trumped every step of the way? Heck, I’m amazed at how well some of them behave and even function socially considering the awful lives they’ve had.

When I read or hear all the chit chat on the media about the “ignorant people” who put an orange man in such a powerful position, I can honestly say that I couldn’t care less about the ones who put him there. My heart goes out to all those, who like my students, have been trumped their entire lives and who have now to face yet another disaster. In the same way, my heart goes out to those teens who just need someone to believe in them, someone who will make them believe in themselves. My only consolation is that they are left with some amazing teachers who go in every day ready to challenge the odds. They’re not many (the others are numbed bydisillusionment) and they may not see it or feel it but they do make the difference and perhaps that will be our salvation. 

So, my positive hopes and vibes go to all those, whatever their profession, who have not been contaminated by the trump virus, who still believe in a better world (not a greater world) and who defy these monstrosities.