In Sickness and in Health
I have a student who is killing himself. He has thyroid problems, gets high temps, and maybe gets 1-3 hours of sleep because he wants to get into MIT and has 4 AP classes, and 2 honors classes. Here is an edited blog post from my old blog. It gets to the point:
It used to be when you were sick, people used to care.
“Hey do you need anything?”
“Do you need a ride to the doctor?”
“Can I offer you some chicken soup?”
This is never asked anymore. It seems that the current mentality is that people think you have allergies and when you do not, they cross their pointer fingers and say, “Back Back! Do not get me sick!”
Yes! That is just what I was about to do… Jump on your back and lick your face. Normally I am of the mind set that people should stay away when they are sick. Take sick leave. Do not go to your sports or hobbies. But that does not work in American society.
First, A lot of people do not have sick leave. Since there is no middle class anymore, they are part of the working class and working poor. I remember those days. Secondly, there are just jobs that you can not sometimes take a sick day. Doctors, Teachers, Lawyers… these jobs all have their problems that come with trying to take days off. If I am going to drive into work to get substitute plans together, why don’t I just stay. And do not call me a bad teacher! Anyone experienced has all their files in their file folders and they know where their stuff is. It is just a matter of how to get a sub to find that. They can’t and won’t.
Sports. That is always a hot bed of contention. As a figure skater… you practiced even on your death bed. It built endurance and character. And if that was not convincing enough for your parents, these responses would convince them:
“In the Olympics, an athlete has to compete without any medications because of doping rules.”
“Any time off will make the muscles loose strength and then he/she will not be able to jump as high or have as much control over his/her figures.”
[mostly for girls] “Any time off means weight gain and no one wants to see a fat figure skater!”
Now, the same is not necessarily true for many sports, but when you have spent over 10 years competitive in one that is like that, it is hard to let up with your newer sport. So while I was on the mend yesterday, I had to play league last night. Besides, I am competing this weekend and I am the most experienced on my team. I needed the practice! 
Such is the life of an old school, has been figure skater!
