The Catharsis of Getting Rid of Orchids

[Raqsharqi]

Maybe I keep trying because I was a teacher for 40 years. Even if my students wouldn't grow for me, I had to keep trying right up to the last day of school!

[bil]

I had a friend who was a teacher. When people asked him what he did for a living, he used to say "I'm a lion tamer. I used to be a teacher, but I lost my nerve."

[Raqsharqi]

I retired when I lost my sense of humor. But I also understand the lion tamer analogy...I taught middle school! And teaching taught me persistence and patience, so maybe it trained me to be an orchid enthusiast!

[bil]

My experiences with teachers taught me that while it is a profession that deserves more respect, some teachers deserve none at all.

I have known brilliant, inspirational teachers, and those who frankly should have been shot or put out to grass long ago.

[Leafmite]

My kids would agree with you there.
I went to a school as a child that had no money (books were outdated nearly thirty years, everything done on the blackboards, etc.) but the teachers worked really hard. They always knew when there was a new science discovery that pertained to what we were learning, they went the extra mile to help students and they turned their back on higher paying positions because they knew that the students needed them. They would work with local hospitals, labs and a college to borrow equipment, films and other materials. That school churned out quite a few doctors and other professionals.

[Raqsharqi]

I worked my butt off, and most of my colleagues did too. There are always poor teachers...like there are poor almost everything else. I corrected every single paper that a student turned in, and then corrected the ones I made them do over to show me they finally understood. Paper grading went from 7-9 Monday through Thursday, and from about 10-9 one day of the weekend. But I expected to be paid for my 40 years of experience and two MAs. Sorry. That doesn't make me a bad teacher.
I think lots of folks seem to think we should all be school marms that lived in the school and got paid in chickens, apples, and firewood. Or be like the television teacher heroes who had heart attacks and/or divorces because of their total dedication to their students. If that is the criterion you use to judge "good", then I'm most certainly not! We have spouses and children and lives like everyone else. If I had wanted to be Mother Teresa, I'd have joined a convent.

[Leafmite]

Not saying that the teachers that get paid well are bad teachers, not at all. I mentioned this because, when you have a good teacher or a group of good teachers, you never forget all that they have done or whatever sacrifices that they have made. (Same goes for crummy teachers.) It doesn't matter if the teachers are highly paid or paid nearly nothing (I do believe, though, that it is wrong not to regard teaching more highly as a profession as an education determines a person's entire life). My kids went to a school that pays teachers well and they can tell you the teacher that made them love science or the teacher that inspired them to choose which college degree to pursue. They also can tell you about the teachers that were always busy on their cell phones, talking in the hall with other teachers, or planted in front of the computer, writing email. As one who was dedicated to your students, you should be very proud of the difference you have made in the lives of those you taught.

[turock]

The idea of throwing orchids out still strikes a raw chord in me. I love to "save" things. All my pets were rescues, and many of my plants are too. I'll hang on to a rootless orchid until it literally falls to pieces.

The same goes for my other plants. I have a beautiful Ficus benjamina tree that I regularly prune. But, I can't bring myself to throw the cuttings away, because I know they'll root. So now I have 12 new ficus, which will need pruning soon.

And once, while at my local nursery, I saw that one of the "mother of thousands" succulents had dropped a lot of its tiny baby plantlets, so I snuck some of them into my pocket and took them home. Boy did I get Divine retribution!! Every one of those plantlets grew up, and dropped pups into all my other potted plants. Before I knew it, I had a thousand 'Mother of thousands'. And you can't kill them no matter how hard you try.

I sold most of them at a garage sale (yes, now I'll get Divine retribution for foisting them off on some poor unsuspecting souls). When the sale was over, I found some of their pups lying on the garage floor, so I scooped them up...

... and put them into pots again.

Sigh. I just can't bring myself to throw something away that wants to live!

I did actually sell every plant I put into my garage sale, though, including several ficus! This could turn into a lucrative obsession.

[estación seca]

thecompulsiveplantrescuelady.com

You could supplement your income.

[turock]

Originally Posted by estación seca

thecompulsiveplantrescuelady.com

You could supplement your income.

Is there such thing as an SPCA for plants?
...Yikes, don't encourage this train of thought!