Murphy's Law - Monday

Week two was an opportunity to explain Murphy's Law to my students. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Murphy's Law is an adage that simply states "anything that can go wrong will go wrong". Such was the case with week two at our "new" school.

Monday started off the way most mondays do, alarm clock ringing to early and the mosquito-filled august air too muggy. First, second, third, and fourth period went along relatively smoothly, along with a nice warm lunch duty for the first lunch serving. My planning period is during the second lunch serving, so I was in the office trying to work out some paperwork, when I heard a commotion outside. I ran around the corner to see the JROTC teacher dragging a child away from a recent fight that had taken place in the courtyard. I say dragging because it was all the Major could do to hold the boy, as he was squirming like a recently hooked fish, still trying to get in on the action. This is relatively common, so I thought "no big deal". Eventually the kid even started adhering to the direction he was being yanked and walked under his own strength. As they approached me, the Major asked me to grab the child, but with my poor hearing, I didn't quite make that out, and as soon as the kid passed me, he ran around the corner then back toward the courtyard. As soon as he did this, I realized the err of my ways, and was then in hot pursuit of the recent combatant. He made it about four doors down before I caught him and literally carried him back to the office. This was the first of 2-3 fights that day.

Later, new teachers who had seen my heroic act of justice made sure to say, "Way to go", and "great job" as it is not everyday a teacher gets to run down a student and get away with it. "Aww shucks" I said, "just another day on the job".