Eventually, things could turn bad for Natalie Munroe, but for right now you’ve got to suppose she’s in tall cotton.
Natalie is the Doylestown, Pa. high school English teacher who was suspended WITH PAY for posting “profanity-laced rants online that labeled her students ‘out of control’ and ‘disengaged, lazy whiners,’” according to the Associated Press.
So, considering that’s how she sees her students, it’s tough to imagine that she’s all that shook up about staying home, away from them, and getting paid for it.
Of course she probably sees the handwriting on the wall.
Even in today’s world of insult comedy, screaming heads on TV and political campaigns that are just shy of horrific, there are still limits.
It seems that Natalie couldn’t even stop with the kids, either. She also ranted about her co-workers and administrators.
It all adds up to less than “employee of the year.”
Today, of course, you never know.
There are those who would seriously suggest that you can’t legislate good taste, that you should not be allowed to fire someone just because she has attempted character assassination against her peers, that it is protected speech to lash out however you choose, even when that causes a hostile work environment.
This is, of course, what comes from living in a culture that doesn’t believe in ethics, that believes right and wrong are conditional, that there are no absolute values, there is just that wrong that is especially popular at the time.
Natalie Munroe may be lucky. It may be that her lack of respect for students, co-workers and administrators won’t seem that wrong.
But don’t count on it.
And, regardless of what does or does not happen to her, the time is here to turn things around. It simply should not be too much to ask to treat each other with respect.
As a culture, we have let this one slip for far too long.
It is, after all, possible to differ with someone without needing to belittle them, too.
Let’s give it a try.
— Chuck Smith