Say “Bless You” – Get Detention!

Before I begin this article, I must first quote the words of a great orator, John McEnroe – “you have got to be kidding me??!!”

As we all know, political correctness run amok has become commonplace in today’s society – particularly when it comes to religious expression. It has obviously reached the point that those who seek to purge religion from the public arena in all forms have totally abandoned subtlety in their modus operandi.

Steve Cuckovich, a health teacher in California has decided the common colloquialism “God bless you” is no longer acceptable to him in his classroom. According to Cuckovich, “it’s not got anything to do with religion, it’s got to do with an interruption of class time.”

Really??!

So when someone sneezes in Mr. Cuckovich’s class, the century’s old courteous response “God bless you” is evidently off the table (ironically in a health class) because it…. “disrupts class?”

REALLY??!!

I was a classroom teacher for 15 years, elementary through high school, and had my share of sneezing kids. Not once did someone saying “God bless you” after a mighty rushing wind cause a disciplinary meltdown. Not once did it throw me off my lesson plan, cause any of the students to break out into a spontaneous riot – no alarms went off – it was even a point of levity when someone’s sneezing style sounded somewhat humorous!

As a person who has not only run several successful classrooms, but also has taught several classroom management workshops to other teachers, I can comfortably say that if your disciplinary skills are so fragile that you have to ban the commonly unsolicited, yet expected retort from a student’s sneezing like, “bless you”, then perhaps you need to seek out a good workshop on classroom management (I know of a good one) or perhaps you may need to seek out a new profession.

OF COURSE this has to do with religion!

Cuckovich went on to explain that the out of date “blessing” was first used when it was assumed that people who were sick were demon possessed. Now that modern medicine has disproved that with their infinite wisdom (the same ones who killed off the father of our country by “bleeding” all the bad blood out), there is no longer the need for the words to be uttered.

So if we are to follow the true meaning behind the ban, that this is not allowed because it may have religious implications – and that violates the first amendment – then I suppose that a 9th grader in California saying “bless you” when someone sneezes, is equivalent to Congress passing a law establishing an official religion?!!

HEY! Our problems are solved!! Let’s just get these kids to balance the budget, fix Social Security, repeal Obamacare, the works!! Tissues for everyone!!

Why am I so worked up about this? One phrase comes to mind – death by a thousand pin pricks. This is another small, yet stupid example of how politically correct we have become. A Jewish carpenter turned Savior once said, “you strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.” Can someone rescue common sense from its exile? Please?