sensitivity please

After school today, I came across a cluster of older students while walking between the gymnasium and the main school building. The 7 boys are on the baseball team and had just finished practice. They beckoned me over to their little cluster to show me something pitiful.

They had a small brown snake [no bigger than your average gardner snake] confined to the very bottom of a plastic bag. I�m sure the thing was harmless. I gave the snake a stroke of consolation, but otherwise tried to show disinterest hoping that the students would also lose interest in the snake and let the poor thing go.

Ten minutes later, I was walking home and saw the same boys standing in a ring out in the center of the dirt sport grounds. Their interest was captured by something on the ground, and they were making sport by throwing empty plastic bottles at it. I assume that the object of their harassment was the little brown snake.

The boys� insensitivity upset me considerably, but I was at a loss as to what to do. How could I convey to these students that what they were doing was wrong? But more importantly, how could I convey to them the reasons why I consider their behavior to be unacceptable?

Body language can convey a tremendous amount of information, but it has it�s limits.

compliment man - clarification

I'll admit, it is really nice to be called "rediculously attractive," but what's nicer is to learn that 1) you have enriched someone else's life by introducing them to something which you are passionate about and that 2) they have become just as passionate about it as you.

It is highly satisfying to know that you have "shared the love."

compliment man

A friend [the keeper of the Cornfed Ultimate Frisbee site] recently discovered that I had linked to his page. He then wrote The Nicest Compliment That I Have Ever Received [albeit indirectly] in his journal.

It made my day.

Please help me repay the compliment by visiting p1k3.