Last week there was a fire at an apartment complex where 40 families lost their homes. When the fire chief spoke on the news, he talked about how many people had become complacent because the fire alarms went off frequently due to smoke from cooking etc. When the fire department arrived, they actually found 2 families who had ignored the alarms because they happened so frequently.
This reminded me how important fire alarms and drills are. I need to take each one seriously because you never know if it is real or not. Luckily no one was killed in this apartment fire but sometimes in fires, people are because they didn’t take it seriously. I need to remind my students this same thing.
I was so proud of the teachers and students at our summer program when the fire alarm went off and they quickly evacuated the building. When I called the main office, they were just testing the alarm but we took it seriously which was good.
Too many times I am complacent about things that could possibly be important, dangerous, and/or life changing. I need to constantly be alert for these times.
When a student severely acts out, is withdrawn for a length of time, threatens bodily hard to themselves or others, I need to pay attention. I don’t need to see this as someone crying wolf but rather a possible dangerous situation.
When alarms go off in the school or we practice “drills,” I need to assume it is for real and not a monthly drill. After what happened to the children in Oklahoma who were killed during a tornado, this could be a life or death situation.
I need to watch for things that I take for granted or expect that time will help. Sometimes time can help but other times, time is too short. I need to take action. I need to stop standing on the side lines and move forward. There is too much complacency in our society and we need to wake everyone up about the possibilities of not taking things serious.
What do you see in your life that you need to take more seriously? What do you feel that you are too complacent about? How can you change this attitude?
Image: 'Sleeping on the Job?'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48540379@N02/4799644121
Found on flickrcc.net
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