Sassafrass

A little over 13 years ago I had just gotten my first apartment and was attempting to not get a pet for it. I was a year from graduating Marietta College and didn't know where I was going to end up after that. I was doing a summer internship on campus so I had a little extra time and a car so I figured I could go volunteer at the local Humane Society. I went with a friend there to find out about opportunities to help out. They gave us a tour of the facility, I was tempted by some of the dogs they had there but, could stick to my guns. I'd help out and then not get a pet. Then I walked into the cat room where there was a serious over crowding problem going on. I looked at all the little faces and I could feel my resistance wavering. Then I was about to leave this little paw shot out of a cage and hooked my shirt. I turned and the sweetest face was staring at me challenging me to leave her behind. I unhooked myself and asked why there was a red tag on the cage. That cage was scheduled to have all of it's occupants put to sleep in two days. They had been there a month and the shelter had a massive over crowding problem. I couldn't walk away but didn't know if I could have pets in my new place. I got a hold put on the whole cage all three kittens. I went home and called my landlady. She was okay with 1 cat but no dogs, so long as I got her fixed as soon as I could.
The next day I went to the shelter again and picked up my child. Even as a kitten she had "Sass" which is where her name Sassafrass came from. Over the years she was the best judge of people. I should have known when she didn't like someone to get them out of my life quick. The ones she loved, well she really loved them. My best friend since high school doesn't really like cats, but she loves Sass. Which is pretty impressive since when she would come and visit Sass would sleep on her head. (only person she ever did that too.)
Now 13 years later I'm having to say goodbye to Sassafrass. She was a great cat. She helped me study through the end of one college degree and a whole second one. She was always there in her way just cuddled up right next to me. It didn't matter where I was living, when she was there it was home. When I moved to Korea, I knew that at age 11 she was a bit too old to make the flight. Though she was great on car rides for the first 4 years of her life. So thankfully my parents were willing to take her in and give her a good home and company in the form of their 2 cats.
This summer while I was home I noticed how much slower she was at walking around my parents house. She wasn't chasing after the other cats as she had previously. She also wasn't walking up the stairs if she could. She would be walking along and her hind legs would suddenly give out and she would end up laying down where ever she was. I talked to the vet about choices of things that could be done to help her. There were a couple of different medicines that we could try but the arthritis in her knees combined with her hips had gotten too bad. So I made sure I said my goodbyes and held her a little tighter the last few days I was with her. I knew that this year when I made it home again she probably wouldn't be there.
Last night, I made one of the hardest choices. She had always been a proud and independent cat. I wasn't going to make her suffer. When the pain and deterioration had gotten to the point where she wasn't able to make it to the litter box and she was also not herself anymore. It's time. So Thursday morning September 16th, my child will make her final car ride with my mom. I wish I could be there and hold her one last time. I know it's the right choice, when the quality of life gets to a certain point it's time.
So goodbye Sass, I love you and I'll miss you.

Korea's kids just like ours, 100 years ago

BY MITCH ALBOM
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

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• SEOUL, South Korea -- "If they can do that in South Korea, we can do it right here in the United States of America."

President Barack Obama said that last year. He was talking about school. He was talking about hours. He was talking about how hard South Korean kids work, how long they study, how much time they put in -- more than a month longer per school year than their American counterparts.

I am writing this from South Korea, where I have spent a week, much of it speaking to high school kids. And I can tell President Obama pretty confidently that we can't do what they're doing here.

Because we don't believe in it.

South Koreans treat school like a full-time job plus a full-time marriage. They put in day hours and night hours, followed by weekend hours. It is not uncommon to see children in school uniforms walking home late at night. It is not uncommon to see them studying through weekends. There is private English education on top of the public education. Families split apart to improve a child's training. You hear stories about schooling that runs from sunrise past sunset, with breakfast, lunch and dinner being served in the building.

What you don't hear is cheerleading squads. What you don't hear is spring break trips to Cancún. What you don't hear is classes to boost self-esteem, to celebrate an ethnic group, to explore the arts. What you don't hear is "Glee" or "High School Musical" or other coolness-driven entertainment fantasies about high school fashion, sex, talent or jockdom.

How are our kids supposed to mimic these kids when this place doesn't look anything like the American school system?

It's funny, because most of the kids here want to be American.

Battling to get ahead in life

Not in the citizenship sense. They don't want to join our army. They want to be American in speaking English, in gaining wealth and status, in rising to the top. One of the questions I was asked by media here was, "What do our children have to do to become global leaders?" That's not a common question in the U.S. -- not to a visiting writer, anyhow.

There is an obsession with getting ahead here that begins with the classroom and permeates the adult workplace, where rigid hours and meager vacation days are the norm. The attitude mimics one you heard among American immigrants in the early 20th Century: "If you don't do well in school, you won't get to college, if you don't get to college you won't get a god job, and if you don't get a good job, you'll be a loser."

There is no shame in that lecture here. It is not viewed as corny or clichéd. It is part of the national pride, if not the national obsession.

How are American kids going to copy that? We're not disciplined enough, we're not hungry enough, and, most importantly, either parents don't say it enough, or if they do, kids ignore them.

That also doesn't happen in Korea. Respect for elders is paramount in Korean society. There are actually different words used to reflect deference to age -- a much older person is addressed one way, a slightly older person another.

They don't make comedies here where the 10-year-old is the brilliant family member and Mom and Dad are bumbling knuckleheads -- and divorced. The family dynamic is different. And as most educators will tell you, family is where future school performance begins.

Struggling to find meaning

Which, by the way, doesn't mean Korean kids are happier. It may be quite the opposite. Everywhere I went, I encountered teenagers in love with my book "Tuesdays With Morrie," because the teacher in it showed compassion and encouraged humanity, not just grades. Many kids told me, "I wish in my life I would meet a Morrie."

Many older kids wondered how you find meaning in your life if you are studying and working almost every spare hour.

And studies show that while Korean kids do amazingly well on certain standardized tests, those who come to America for college often drop out, unaccustomed the approach we take.

All of which suggests that Obama was a bit naive to think an extra month in school is going to put our kids on par with the high-scoring South Koreans. Their success runs much deeper than that. Their issues do, too.

Our kids laugh more, play more sports, express themselves more openly. The kids here are serious beyond compare, and they are driven to succeed. I'm not sure which system I'd prefer, but I know they are apples and oranges, and the length of a school year is only a tiny difference. It may take a village to raise a child. But it takes a country to educate one.

Contact MITCH ALBOM: 313-223-4581 or malbom@freepress.com. Catch "The Mitch Albom Show" 5-7 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760).

There is a ghost in the English room

Well, that's what my 6th grade girls told me Monday morning. They were at school on Saturday and walked by my class and knocked on the door even though they know I'm not there usually. But they claim to have heard someone in English tell them to come in... but the door was locked. So they walked around to the other door and broke in to my room. Where they heard someone talking in English but no one was there.
So I had several different groups of students tell me this on Monday. Then late Wednesday I got a text from one of them telling me that I had to be careful cause there was a ghost in my room.
I was telling this to the part time co teacher I have two days a week and she was surprised.. and then started to joke around like she was talking to the ghost in English.

What makes this even more interesting are a couple of things. Koreans are really superstitious about spirits, etc. So that a bunch of kids say there is a ghost in my room folks take it a bit serious. Though they worry that it's a "foreign ghost" if it's speaking English. I said no it was Korean, just had paid attention in my classes. Which got a few laughs.. but I'm sure the next Saturday there is classes they will be keeping an eye on my classroom.