An Introduction to Article of the Week #3- The Great Disease Migration

I've Got a Feeling?

I had the original video here, but Fergie refused to keep her clothes on, so I removed it. Sorry, guys.

Warning: This post may challenge the ideas and thoughts you currently have.

Random life picture with no real purpose for being here... other than I felt like it should be here.

Also, I'm about to offend you. 

The article for this week is neither racial (like last week's) or terribly long and excruciatingly painful (like the first "Article of the Week.") By the way, who the heck picked that one out? I want that guy banned from anything and everything fun. THAT DUDE SUCKS, YO!... Well, Jr. guess what. That DUDE who picked the article, was me. Yep, and I'd do it again for you, twice, and I'm not ever going to be sorry. Oh, does that hurt your feelings (click play below)? 

That's right, I really don't care about your feelings. In fact, I think feelings get in the way of FACTS and the truth all the time. 

EXAMPLES:

• Girls, just because you FEEL like he loves you doesn't mean he FEELS that way, and it doesn't mean he's going to be with you forever. 
• Boys, just because you FEEL like you are going play in the NFL and be a rap mogul doesn't mean it's going to happen. Especially given that you are undersized, run a 6.4" 40-yard-dash, and don't know the difference between a turn-table and wheel route.

I know, I know, you can't imagine it, can you? You know why? Because your stupid feelings are getting in the way of the facts. **FACTS are like the unpopular kids who are outside of the party but can't get it, while all the hipsters (feelings) are inside in their skinny jeans and snap-backs making a massive number of poor-life choices.**

Frequently asked questions and common feelings when students read this...

• Teacher, teacher, this dude needs to be taught a lesson. He can't talk to me that way. 
• First off, I'm not technically talking, I'm writing. Secondly, I can, and I will. You know why? 
• Yeah I know why. You're a pansy who only talks like that from behind a computer screen.
• FALSE. I'll write this way, not because I want to crush your hopes and dreams, but because you NEED to here this. Someone has to be honest with you, and bring the FACTS to the table. Also, I'm in Room 639. See you at lunch.
• You think you're funny? 
• No, I don't THINK I'm funny. Thinking, in that manner, is one step short of FEELING like I'm funny. I know I'm funny (and offensive). You know why? Because the facts say so. People tell me I'm funny, and some people don't talk to me after they meet me the first time(probably because the funny was about them... and their feelings).

Anyway, back to real message. Sometimes, when we FEEL a certain way about one thing or another (it doesn't really matter what it is), it gets in the way of allowing us to OBJECTIVELY assess and analyze a situation. Feelings can cloud our judgement and prevent us from really thinking about an issue critically. 

I know that sometimes our "gut" feelings are correct. I get it. That's awesome, but what about when they are WRONG? What if, based on how a kid looks when they walk in my room on the first day of school, I decide that he or she is going to fail, just because they won't look me in the eye and say hello, or they don't want to talk aloud the first day of class? What if I let THOSE feeling affect your grade, even though you are actually a really good student who just happened to be having a bad day? What if, the assumptions I had about you, because of the way you dressed, or the piercings and tattoos you have where all I ever let you be. What if I didn't try to look past those things, to find that you were just quiet, shy, and little embarrassed that you don't read very well... 

...Well, then I'd be an idiot. If I do that, I should be fired. My job isn't to run and rely on feelings. It's to look at what skills and help you need in order to survive life, and to help you learn those skills. You know why? So you don't make major life choices based on feelings. Because your most emotional decisions are probably the most irrational, and, in the long-run, are probably going to be the worst ones you every make ( ...and no, that's not just a feeling). 

WHY I MADE YOU READ THAT, AND WHY IT ALL MATTERS

As you read this weeks article, make an effort remove your feelings about the content. Look the argument being made and the facts being presented. Don't let what you think you know get in the way of what you can learn, and what's really going on. It's an important life skill, I promise. Take your feelings out of your decisions and actions. Just try it for a day. I bet that day will be less drama-filled and more productive than most others.

Also, think about how you felt when you first read this. Then think about how you feel right now. They're probably different feelings, and that's a good thing. You may hate this assignment now, but in the long-run you may come to find that it benefited you a great deal. Because sometimes the immediate consequences are different from the long-term consequences... Like when my ex-girlfriend left me because she FELT like I was going nowhere. I HATED HER for a long time. You know what, though, now, its not a big deal at all. I'm no longer bitter. Sure, it took some time for me to get over it, but that's normal. Now, looking back at it, it was probably a good thing and I grew a lot from the experience. 

So, take an objective look at what you are doing, and make sure you look at the long-term consequences of an action, not just how it immediately impacts you, your life, or the world.

We thought for a long time that early humans came here via the red arrow above.... turns out maybe we were only half-right. The group may have actually split into two teams and raced. "You're my boy, blue!"

Click here to view the form, article, and questions for this week. 

Happy reading, writing, and feeling-free living,

Markstone