Dirty little secrets must not be revealed.

Mamacita says:   Headline news – More dirty little secrets:  yet another coach in this community has been dismissed. No details available to save the reputations of the two or three elitist families who complained that their special snowflakes weren’t given the preferential and gentle treatment they deserved.

I don’t know about you, but whenever I encounter anything like this, I am immediately suspicious of those who forbid the discussion. Those who whined are suspect, naturally, but it is those who allowed whiny people’s wishes to trump the truth and then forbid all discussion who are the real bad people here. The real bad people, and the really bad people. Grammar nerds like me will recognize the difference there. The point is, decent people don’t do things like this.  Decent people encourage open discussion, and the more the better.

What are they afraid of, anyway? The truth? I think that’s exactly what they’re afraid of: a truth that would prove them in the wrong.

“I want more playing time, Daddy! Make the mean coach stop telling me what to doooo, Daddy!”  Very well, darling, you shall get your way in this as you do in all other things.  Daddy and Mummy will make the mean man go away.

This community routinely discards its coaches, teachers, students. . . hard-working people in all walks, and inevitably the powers-that-be will forbid any discussion concerning the circumstances, whys, or wherefores, of the decision.  Not merely content to discourage, they will FORBID.

Everybody’s in the dark, and in the dark, there be monsters, and the biggest and most dangerous monsters there be, be rumor and innuendo.

The motto of this community’s school board.

With some open discussion, rumor and innuendo would be banished. It’s almost as if the powers-that-be WANT rampant rumor and innuendo, to divert the people’s attention away from what is really happening. . . .

Oh, surely not.

Oh, surely ’tis so.

This town is famous for it. This town does it all the time. They do it to decent, winning coaches. They do it to creative, successful, and excellent teachers.

This town does it all the time. It’s their thang. We are run by a select group of people who demand and get their way in pretty much everything.  The pockets of our administrators and boards are full of people with money who also control the puppet strings that are fastened to the document-signing hands and also the hearts, souls, and mouths of most of our trusted elected officials.  I love my town, but much of it is a joke.  This breaks my hearts.  I love my town, and I trust almost nobody who is in charge of anything here.

I have lived here all my life.  I love it.  I want my town to be clean and successful and to encourage education and progress and creativity and above all, to be honest and absolutely above reproach in everything that is done here.

But. . . .

The same people are in charge of everything here.  Horrible things happen to those who speak out, or who refuse to pander to somebody’s pouty kid or wealthy parent.

But shhhhh, we can’t discuss it. It’s forbidden.