Rudyard Kipling"
āWhen you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldierā
General Douglas MacArthur"
āWe are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.ā
āIt is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.ā āOld soldiers never die; they just fade away.
āThe soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.ā
āMay God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .ā āThe object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
āNobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
āIt is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
With many teachers
creating headlines for the wrong reasons, parents of school-going
children must dread the daily six hours of lessons, when they hope their
children have not been physically, mentally or sexually abused, by of
all people, the teacher.
So, how did Mogahanaās son end up standing in the middle of a field, under the hot sun for close to three hours?
We are also told he is often targeted by school bullies. How did the school resolve this?
Having
complained to his teacher about another pupil throwing a water bottle
at him, he and three others, but not the boy whoād thrown the bottle,
were then told to stand under the hot sun as punishment.
Worse was
to follow. The three boys who were punished alongside Mogahanaās son
were told to return to their classrooms after 10 minutes, but not him.
Despite complaining of dizziness, the torture continued.
Mogahanaās
son appears to have elicited the sadistic streak in his teacher because
what the teacher did that day was unconscionable.
He caused the boy to have life-changing injuries. He cannot claim that heād forgotten about the boy.
The teacher is criminally negligent.
If
the teacher had followed the official approved mode of punishment, then
the headmaster, the school, the education department and the Education
Ministry are also culpable.
Mogahanaās son returned home feeling
unwell after his ordeal. He felt dizzy, had red eyes and when rushed to
hospital, had fainted at the emergency entrance.
Brainless
Doctors
who examined him said he had heatstroke and had developed a nerve
condition. The Ampang Hospital then designated him as a āperson with
disabilitiesā and advised his parents to register him with the social
welfare department for a ādisabilityā card.
The
most gut-wrenching thing must have been when the parents were told that
their young son would not be able to return to a normal school.
Only a brainless person would allow a young child to stand in the scorching sun for hours. Can the teacher really be that dense?
Young children,
babies, the ill, and elderly people are most at risk in the hot sun.
Children left in locked cars are found lifeless by their parents, who on
their return a few hours later, then wonder why their children had
died.
The spotlight is on the teacher, the school head, the other teachers and the school administration staff.
Did the teacher strictly follow the school rule book, or as Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek calls it, the āStudent Management Guidelinesā, for the appropriate punishment?
Was
āstanding under the scorching sunā an approved method of punishment
which is sanctioned by the Education Department and the ministry?
Or
is this mode of punishing students one that is not in the guidelines,
but has nevertheless been done for many years and has come to be
accepted as the norm?
If a punishment is not listed, why not? Why did the head not convey this to the Education Department?
Most schools have a disciplinary teacher. Was this teacher the one who disciplines misbehaving pupils?
Couldnāt care less
The
sight of a young boy standing in the middle of the field, under a
blazing sun for at least three hours should have aroused someoneās
curiosity.
Incredibly, the other teachers, the school
administrators, and the head did not think it strange to see a young boy
standing on the field.
Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek
This apathetic, tidak-apa (couldnāt care less) behaviour says a lot about the culture and work ethics of the schoolās teaching and administration staff.
The lawyer representing the boyās family has alleged that a witness has been threatened, that the investigation is conducted at a snailās pace and that the teacher responsible has not been suspended.
Fadhlina
said there would be no compromise over the safety of students and that
appropriate action would be taken based on the investigation report.
Havenāt
we heard her lip service before? Fadhlina must do more to ensure that
our schools do not become every parentās nightmare.
