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Journal eugene ts wong's Journal: Ministry Demotion; Car Flag Idea is Successful 9

Journal by eugene ts wong

@ Technolust's request, here's the domotion story, & I can't believe I forgot to mention what happened yesterday.

*****Ministry Demotion*****
*****Car Flag Idea is Successful*****

*****Ministry Demotion*****

My memory is kind of hazy with respect to that time period.

So, I was teaching grade 2 Sunday school around 1998-1999. I had quite a bit of experience in teaching Sunday school in college & in my 1st home church. It went relatively well. Unless I am extremely forgetful, I was even in charge of the children's church before I went to Bible college.

In this particular church, we were divided up into grades & then broken down according to tables & teachers. In other words, the grade 1s were across the hall. The grade 2s were in our room. Each teacher had a table which the kids would sit around. The grade 3s & 4s would go to the next room, etc. It was actually a lot like regular school.

So, 1 day, this teacher was away for whatever reason. Because I didn't have many kids in my class, I substituted for her. 1 of her students was a little bit on the mischievous side of the bell curve. @ 1 point, he was using a pair of scissors to cut away @ the siding of the table. These tables were new, & I hate to see things get destroyed.

I told him straight out, "insert-student's-name, please stop doing that.". He kept on going at it as if I didn't even exist. I repeated the request, asking him to put the scissors back in the box. I called his name, but still no answer. I probably even got him to stop doing that before.

So, I got up, walked around the table, grabbed his wrist yanked the scissors off his hand, threw it back into the box where we usually stored them, & slapped his wrist. He obviously was alright.

He said, "Hey!", & started to pout. I just continued on with the lesson.

Unfortunately for me, 1 of the parents was watching. He approached me saying how he was a police officer & would be obligated to report me in, because hitting other kids is illegal in British Columbia, but would let me go because he wanted to give me a second chance. I basically just nodded my head with a "Yeah, whatever.", type of look on my face. I was a bit more zealous in those days, & was willing to go to the wall for my beliefs & actions. He even repeated himself. I think that I basically decided to do what he said, trying to find another way of dealing with this. But I definitely didn't apologize for my actions.

I didn't really care for his libral opinion on how to discipline kids. I don't buy the idea that only the parents know what is best for the kids. Parents are imperfect, & don't know what their kids are doing in each hour of the day. That is why some kids turn out spoiled. That is why some kids turn out with a poor self-image. That is why some kids turn out rotten. If the kids misbehave in Sunday school, then that is where they should be punished. It doesn't make sense for the parents to deal with it, because they can't judge the kid. They can't judge the kid, because they weren't there.

Obviously, we don't want to abuse the kid, but considering that he wasn't bruised, & that it wasn't enough to literally hurt the kid, a slap on the wrist to get his attention isn't a bad thing.

But I digress...

So, this guy reported me to the people in charge. I think that it was the lady in charge of the entire children's ministry. She approached me, & I stood my ground.

I think that a lot of it escalated because I talked too much about it. I brought it up with 1 of the pastors because I wanted to rant & complain. I really should have shut up because the pastor & his wife both agreed with the others. So, apparently, they spoke the lady in charge of the children's ministry, just as they said that they would. The lady in charge of the children's ministry told me over the phone, that because of the wrist slapping, she had decided that it would be best to put me as an assistant t another teacher. I don't know how the other teachers looked @ the situation, so I can't really say how humiliating it was to be the only assistant teacher in the bunch.

An ironic thing happened, though. That same student was in the next class that I assistant taught. When the teacher was deciding what to do with a surplus sticker, the kid was the 1st to say, "Give it to Mr. Wong!". So, I took the sticker, & kept in my Bible. It's there right now, even as I write. The kid is good, & everything. Just like the rest of us, he needed to be slapped back into reality for the common good, when the sound of reason doesn't catch his attention.

Even my libral [literally, not just my view point] grade 12 English teacher could verify this. He was up in his cabin [or was it his home?] with his 2 nephews. When he began to do some work on the flooring or something like that, 1 of them knocked his hat's visor down.

He looked up & said, "Don't.", but like an average kid, the nephew did it again. So, the teacher grabbed the kid & through him @ the door; not an open door way, but the actual door when it was closed. Most child advocates would be appalled by it, but he said it worked out fine, & the kids still love being around him. His main point is that kids are resilient. I agree with him. It's not as if we have to protect them from adversity, & physical pain.

I see that I've digressed again.

I basically quit part way through the Sunday school year, to deal with completely unrelated issues. Hopefully, I can forgive those people for what they did. I never participated in a ministry ever again, as far as I can recall.

*****Car Flag Idea is Successful*****

I can't seem to find the comment, but I seem to recall writing about how it would be cool to create a car flag that is held up by your car window, for political campaigns. Typically, you would see those flags decorated with sport team logos. I usually see them whenever there are Vancouver Canuck home games. People just seem to love cruising downtown with the Vancouver Canuck flags.

I suggested the idea of using that technique to promote our political party. Every 1 seemed enthused about it, & encouraged me to bring in some numbers for costs, etc.

Well, yesterday, a guy called me, telling me that the campaign board had decided to take care of the entire project themselves. So, I guess this means that you should expect to see some people driving around sporting the Christian Heritage Party logo. I don't know when it'll happen, though.

I guess the things that bother me about this, is that it doesn't save the party & its supporters any money, like I had hoped. They always seem to be running a deficit. I hoped that the car flags would reach a wider audience per dollar, & could legally be done in & out of campaign season, so it seemed like such a solution to our problems. But I think that what they intend to do is sell it as a fund raiser to support their current activities. I honestly doubt that they'll even run a tight budget. After all, they'll be getting fund raised money from the same source. In fact, they'll probably have less to spend.

Another thing that I didn't like was the fact that I won't be getting any money from this. I had hoped to be incharge of this all, so that I could make some profit.

On the positive side, I'm glad to see that 1 of my ideas has caught on. Has anybody seen a political party use car flags to campaign?

Another positive side is that I won't have to spend anymore time thinking about this. I could make more money working for my dad.

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Ministry Demotion; Car Flag Idea is Successful More

Ministry Demotion; Car Flag Idea is Successful

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  • It's too bad to hear you were demoted for a simple slap on the wrist. I just started teaching Sunday School yesterday for the first time (2nd grade boys.) They are really wild and out of control and I had a hard time getting them to listen to me. I was just thinking about the subject yesterday on how to disipline them. There doesn't seem to be a lot of ways that would be effective and that the parents wouldn't get upset about. If you have any suggestions Eugene, please do share.

    Congrats on your flag i

    • There doesn't seem to be a lot of ways that would be effective and that the parents wouldn't get upset about. If you have any suggestions Eugene, please do share.

      I've been relatively lucky. Even in Bible college I got demoted several times, but overall the kids have been good.

      My friend told me about 1 solution that I look forward to trying. He said that when the kid misbehaves, take him into the adult service, & sit him down on the floor in the middle of the sanctuary, in between the stage, & the p

  • I didn't really care for his libral opinion on how to discipline kids.

    In all fairness, he is a police officer, and probably has to enforce laws he doesn't agree with. That said, my opinion is that you were right - a mild slap on the wrist seems like a just punishment for destroying property.

    Even my libral [literally, not just my view point] grade 12 English teacher could verify this. He was up in his cabin [or was it his home?] with his 2 nephews. When he began to do some work on the flooring or someth
    • That, however, I agree less with. Is physically throwing a child into a door really necessary for the minor annoyance of messing with his hat?
      Yeah, that's a good point. I guess that I was just emphasizing that people can bounce back [figuratively speaking of their emotions]. I would never advocate that kind of punishment, though.

      Thanks for all of your comments.
  • While I agree with you that children should be disciplined, the parents still have to right to ruin their children if they choose. Most places in the US require a signed document before you can "hit" the child. I don't think you were wrong, unless the parent had said they didn't want their child hit, then you could have sent him to the hall. But I suspect it had never been brought up, so I can't fault you for doing that.
    • Hmm, I like the signed document idea. I guess that I'll send him out to the hall, then.

      You are right in that it was never brought up before it happened.
  • Nieces and Nephews,

    I CAN throw them out the door when need be. (well I open it first, heh).

    Or roll them out the window. :-P

    Seriously though, my youngest Nephew has been getting minor slaps on the wrist since he was two or so (even younger for things like spitting food on people on purpose). He behaves wonderfuly over here, doesn't complain when eating his food, doesn't hit people (well until he wasn't here for awhile and then he got back into some bad habits) and so forth. He doesn't dare throw a tant
    • Those are cool stories, man. It just goes to prove that animals & kids are much more intelligent than human adults give them credit for. I hate to put kids & animals on the same level, but it's the same idea.
      • Of course they are smart. Only those foolish enough to forget their childhood forget that they once too were children. :-P

        And my Dearly Departed Doggy could understand full English sentences, things like "Go around the corner and get the ball out of the laundry hamper".

        Of course he was rather old by that time, took him awhile to learn, but then again what do you expect when the poor guy couldn't ask any questions? ^_^

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