Honestly, I feel like I'm 21 going on 79. Too many people are bitter, hardened, selfish, and judgmental. It's quite sad. I don't know where all of these negative emotions come from, but it's really unpleasant. These harsh feelings pop up again and again on various message boards in threads about health care and the economy.

I remember a Latin teacher I had in Grade 9, although she wasn't bitter or hardened, she was certainly selfish and judgmental. She didn't believe in 'slow learners' nor did she believe in 'dyslexia'. Ignorant and stupid and poor and lazy were all synonymous to her. She was a Seven Sisters alumna, this fact is something all students learned on the first day of Latin I. She would always talk about the other kids who were 'too stupid or lazy to take Latin'. Sometimes she would talk about her successful lawyer husband for half the class, he was the ideal husband, I'm sure she had half the boys hoping they could marry a man like her husband. Life was very simple for her, very black and white. Once her classroom door closed her students became kings and queens, the other students who opted for Spanish became morons. Putting these kids down was her main joy him life. She emboldened us with a sense of undeserved pride.

When I was in grade 11 she gave birth to a child who had quite a few health issues. Soon after that she moved to Washington,DC. About a year ago I found out that her child is autistic and she has had to stop working. She pays $6,000+ per month for her childs care. Her marriage has failed under the strain. Some of my former classmates were really shocked by this, no one can believe this happened to Mrs S. of all people. Some of you remind me of Mrs S. I'm agnostic, but after reading Alan Dershowitz's book I think often of the phrase "there but for the grace of god go I", it's quite à propos.

On TV Land a few weeks ago I was watching a sitcom from the 1980s, the one with John Stamos. In the show the little girl snaps her finger and says she has a plan, "BA, MBA, BMW". I think some of us should realize everything is not always so black and white.