Left Lane Ends

So I just got back from getting almost hit by a bus. No, this is not one of those ‘I saw a guy in front of me almost get hit by a bus and I’m turning it into my own story’ types of things. No. I was almost hit by an 8 ton (that’s my eyeballed estimate) D.A.R.T. bus over lunch. She had a red light, I had a green light - anti-lock brakes engaged as I swerved into an empty oncoming traffic lane to avoid getting wrapped around a light pole by AN 8 TON D.A.R.T. BUS!

I rate the experience 4 out of 5 stars. Let me put that in a graphic for you Amazon.com junkies out there:

Why, you ask, do I rate this experience so highly? Well, after a verbally assertive phone call to D.A.R.T. management (AND after the shaking started to subside) I began to realize two big lessons from the experience. As you may have guessed, I will elaborate on those lessons and try to get you to believe that this life changing experience can have impact on all of us:

Lesson 1, Deep Remorse. Firstly, and foremost, I deeply regret that I recently turned down an option to surgically attach 24/7 audio-video broadcasting onto my head. This event COULD have been brought to you live and quite possibly been commentated on in-the-moment by some unrelated person in Australia. Surely this would have some kind of valuable learning outcome in the Web 2.0 world that we live in. Dammit Froese - An opportunity missed that can never be reclaimed.

Lesson 2, Hyper-Awareness Preparedness through Unexpected Shock (or HAPUS). Probably the most important of the two lessons I learned, it immediately became clear to me how much better we perform after such an engaging situation. We think quicker, stay awake longer and are hyper-aware to the point that we brainstorm out loud better (You should’ve heard the ‘out loud brainstorming’ I did in my truck while I dialed 411 to get D.A.R.T.’s number!!). Folks, this is an easy connection to education: if we want teachers to be ‘on-their-feet-thinkers’, if we want administrators to really focus in on what’s important at a meeting or if we just want a principal to stay awake instead of dozing off at a staff meeting, then let’s catch them when they least expect it with an 8-ton bus!

Now, before you raise your hands in opposition, this can all be done without anyone getting hurt. Sure, the timing would have to be worked out, insurance would be a must and a few bystanders might get hurt in the process - BUT REALLY, we should do what’s best for our kids.

<<This could’ve been me. Except I don’t drive a Hummer, it wasn’t a school bus, it was the bus drivers fault and there were no firemen. But this could’ve been me. I’m not overreacting.>>

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 2:28 pm and is filed under Educational Humor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.