Would You Rather...

…be Chief Wendell Flinchum…

or…

…President Charles W. Steger?

This week’s question is not one looking for your answer. Honestly, I’d rather be neither. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be in either of their shoes right now, much less over the past 48 hours.

As I laid in bed today dealing with illnesses both of a physical nature (due to viral symptoms), as well as a mental status (due to the tragic events which have hit our nation), I found myself tuned into the live coverage of the Virginia Tech convocation.

It was a nice service; however, only a few moments left me teary-eyed. The first of those moments, and the one that I can still envision, was when President Charles W. Steger was invited to the podium. As the community within that arena rose to their feet and gave him a warm standing ovation, I knew others shared my mindset…

I don’t know that the way university president or chief of police handled the events that took place Monday morning was the “best” manner. I don’t know that had they done something differently, had more lives been spared. I don’t know. But I do know that nothing going on now will bring back the 32 lives that were taken at the hand of the now-passed gunman.

I know that firing a university president and a chief of police will not give those 32 individuals another breath of life. I know that taking the guns out of the hands of every individual walking the soils of our wonderful nation will not bring them back as well.

Amidst of time of confusion and tragedy we are all experiencing feelings. Angry is a typical response; wanting to point the finger. I haven’t heard it yet, but I expect people will start to point the finger at Mr. Cho Seung-Hui’s parents. Why? Who knows. All sorts of “good reasons” could surface. But how is blaming going to help a suffering community?

Maybe President Steger or Chief Flinchum made mistakes. They are as human as you and me. Mistakes take lives DAILY. Mistakes are meant to be learning opportunities, and I foresee a lot of learning coming from this dark situation.

I do not want to be seen as defending anyone’s actions. Maybe they should be fired. That’s not my judgment to make. But I can’t help but think that they are as human as I and the reassurance of their job status is probably the farthest thing from their minds right now.

People died. Let’s grieve that as a community, rather than slowly killing others through our words and blame.

My love and thoughts go out to the Virginia Tech. community! May love and continual blessings be bestowed upon you all.

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Would You Rather...

Today happens to be my best friend's birthday! In honor of her birthday, I have planned a surprise weekend trip for her in a couple weekends. This subject matter is what has inspired my "Would You Rather..." post today...

Would You Rather...

...know what your friends have planned for you if they are telling you they have a surprise in store for you?

Or...

...be surprised and find out when it all happens?

Some of us can't handle not knowing! It would either drive us nuts because of the suspense, or worry us to death because of anxiety of the unknown! HA! Still others, LOVE the aspect of the unknown--the adventure of daydreaming about all the possibilities!

Here is a second thought...

Do you think you COULD keep a BIG weekend trip that you're excited about secret from your best friend? What if you talk to that best friend on a daily basis? You've planned the SURPRISE weekend more than three weeks in advance and you have to keep it all secret from your friend. Sure, she knows that there is a fun and exciting weekend planned, but she is clueless on what's going on that weekend. Could you keep your excitement and details to yourself to the point of not giving away the surprise for THREE weeks, when you talk everyone of those days?!?!

It's been hard for me, ain't gonna lie...HA! But I'm making it and only about a week and a half to go!

Would You Rather...

The other night I was talking with a best friend about some stuff and I kinda ran into a "would you rather" question. I love these, especially when getting the opinions of people I have much respect for, like best friends.

So here was what we were talking about: death. We had lingered onto the specifics of death by terminal illness. Untreatable cancer was the example we were using, so it will work here too.

So, the situation--you have terminal cancer. Would you rather...

...find out you have the terminal cancer?

Or...

...not find out about it since there is nothing they can do for it and you're going to die either way?


Then we took the situation further and were discussing:

Would you rather (assuming you knew you have the terminal cancer)...

...tell people you have the disease and are dying?

Or...

...prefer not to tell people as long as you can (meaning as long as you can go without people finding out about it)?


I can honestly say on this last "would you rather" my friend and I differed. I hadn't even considered the not telling people part, but that's probably because I find myself to be a big talker and one that shares just about everything about myself, especially with people that are close to me.

For me, the dilemma has always been, "If I were to find myself in this situation, HOW would I tell the people I'm closest too?" Face-to-face. A phone call. Could I email some people? And how do you just "throw" that into conversation? "Hey, I needed to call you and I have some bad news." One of those sorta things. Hmmm...

Anyways, that's my "Would you rather's..." for today.

Would You Rather

Acceptance and being loved are so important in life. I was just thinking last night about how important feeling like I'm accepted and that people really do love me for who I am truly is to me. We all need it.

Would you rather be told "I love you"

or...

Would you rather be shown that he/she loves you?

Some of us find the demonstration as "good enough" or it is satisfying for our need, but some of us perfer to hear the words. It is almost as if we can't fully satisfy the need until we hear the three words.

Maybe it's a spouse, a significant other, a family member, or a close friend. Whoever they may be, how would you rather the acceptance and love be expressed to you?

Would You Rather...

This is a new blog series I'm going to start and plan to continue weekly on Wednesdays. I came up with the idea a few minutes ago while showering (yes, that's where I come up with all sorts of fun things...HA!) I was pondering some thoughts and I caught myself thinking the phrase, "would I rather _______ or ______" and then that immediately "took me back"....

My junior and senior years of undergraduate were spent living with 3 wonderful ladies. We often would play sporactic games such as "Truth or truth" (which is basically "Truth or Dare" where you substitute a second "truth" option for the "dare"...HA! I guess you can say we just got tired of running outside around our apartment complex in our underwear...HA!) or "Would you rather...."

Both games were common occurences when we would have "roommate dinner nights" all together. I can't remember many of the ones we used, but I think one time the "Would you rather..." consisted of "would you rather have terrible/uncontrolable gas or ______." I can't recall the "blank" but I'm sure it was a really tough one to choose between! HA!

Anyways, the first installment of this blog series will actually include two "would you rathers" because I would love to hear your opinion taken two different situations....so....

Would you rather...

[as a parent] have a child who is smart, yet rude and disrespectful...

or...

have a child who is not the brightest, yet is very polite and well-mannered?

For the first child, think about the kids you've met before that might be from a real rich family and they are getting great education, they have parents working with constantly, so they are actually very smart children, but at the same time, they are spoiled and never disciplined, so they can be rude and disrespectful. That's just an example of "child #1"

For the second child, think about that kid that he/she is just so cute because they are always so gentle and polite to everyone, but at the same time, they don't have the common sense of a rock and they typically just don't know the right answers in school/life. They are usually the kids you find yourself saying "Well bless his/her heart. He's so sweet, but he just doesn't understand." That's the example of "child #2."

Soo...you're the parent. Would you rather have Child #1 or Child #2?

Second part...

Would you rather...

[as a teacher] have a classroom of children who are smart, yet rude and disrespectful...

or...

have a classroom of children who are not the brightest, yet are very polite and well-mannered?

Whether you are an actual teacher in real life or not, feel free to answer this. Imagine if you were the teacher in front of a class. Which group of children do you feel you would rather lead? And if you are a teacher in real life, feel free to note that in your response, because you've most likely run into both types of students in your classes before, so you can speak from experience of which was more of a pleasure to teach.