How can I stay calm in difficult situations?
My ninth grade Health teacher, Debbie Smith, was one helluva gal. An avid pot user and Obama fan, she taught us all about condoms, angel dust, and the perils of cannabis capitalism.One winter afternoon, I’m sitting next to this kid Jack in her class. And Jack had some serious problems. Problems in school, behavioral problems, and oodles of noodles of problems at home. But we won’t go into all that.Then this kid sitting behind us, Ryan, nudges me. “Hey, what’d you get for question seven?”“I think it’s micropenis?” I said. “I’m not sure though.”Ryan clearly wanted a second opinion. “Hey, Jack?”Jack didn���t answer. So Ryan tapped him on the shoulder.Jack whirled around, screamed “DON’T FUCKING TOUCH ME RYAN” and slapped Ryan full across the face.You could hear a condom drop.What you need to understand is that in American high schools, “bullying” is considered a huge deal. Like, me taking someone’s hat off their head would mean a good three weeks of detention. Hitting people-touching people at all-is a big No-No. And it looked like Jack was going to be in a huge, huge, HUGE amount of trouble, judging by the red handprint across Ryan’s face that refused to disapear.We all watched Ms. Smith, absolutely certain that she was going to scream, cry, or give Jack a good punch in the nose. And if it had been any other teacher, they would have probably sent him to the principal’s office, suspended him, filed an HIB report, and had a meeting with his social worker, who’s kind of a godawful bitch.Instead, she took a sip of her iced coffee and surveyed us.“Don’t hit people, Jack,” Ms. Smith said.“Okay,” Jack said.Some prick in the front looked disappointed. “That’s it? That’s IT?”“If there’s one thing I’ve learned in ten years of teaching,” Ms. Smith said. “It’s that not everything has to be a big deal. It’s only a calamity if you make it a calamity.”Debbie Smith the Wise.