I started receiving emails for some kid's parents from his teachers. He wasn't doing well in school and they were concerned. His father and I have the same name but they had the wrong email address. I let the first one slide and didn't reply.
The second one came in and I got concerned that his teachers would think his parents didn't give a crap about his education. I finally replied back and let them know they had the wrong email address. I also mentioned that this kid was probably a really good kid and I too didn't do well in school. I offered some suggestions on how to reach him and recommended some good books for when he gets older. I ended the email with one valuable piece of information I thought would help this kid no matter what path he chose. That was how to use +/- and quotes to sift through search results in Google.
I thought that would be it but I got a reply from one of his teachers.
He suggested I volunteer at a school and share my story. Oddly enough, they are only a couple hours away. I've now agreed to come and talk to the school.
I want to do something for this kid too. In my first email, I recommended getting the kid a black and white Kindle, as my issue with reading books had to do with the text from both pages overwhelming my eyes. Things would just start to blur and I'd end up reading the same thing 5 times. E-ink is just easier to read. So, I'm thinking about buying the kid a Kindle.
The one thing I don't want to do is have the kid alienated or pointed out. Having the same last name as this kid will just have to be a coincidence. The teacher is going to check with the kid's parents to make sure they are ok with me donating something.
Damn it, if anything I did as a dumb kid can help another kid out, then this is more than an accident.
That's it. I just wanted to share the story because the whole situation has me jazzed up.
-Jeff
The second one came in and I got concerned that his teachers would think his parents didn't give a crap about his education. I finally replied back and let them know they had the wrong email address. I also mentioned that this kid was probably a really good kid and I too didn't do well in school. I offered some suggestions on how to reach him and recommended some good books for when he gets older. I ended the email with one valuable piece of information I thought would help this kid no matter what path he chose. That was how to use +/- and quotes to sift through search results in Google.
I thought that would be it but I got a reply from one of his teachers.
He suggested I volunteer at a school and share my story. Oddly enough, they are only a couple hours away. I've now agreed to come and talk to the school.
I want to do something for this kid too. In my first email, I recommended getting the kid a black and white Kindle, as my issue with reading books had to do with the text from both pages overwhelming my eyes. Things would just start to blur and I'd end up reading the same thing 5 times. E-ink is just easier to read. So, I'm thinking about buying the kid a Kindle.
The one thing I don't want to do is have the kid alienated or pointed out. Having the same last name as this kid will just have to be a coincidence. The teacher is going to check with the kid's parents to make sure they are ok with me donating something.
Damn it, if anything I did as a dumb kid can help another kid out, then this is more than an accident.
That's it. I just wanted to share the story because the whole situation has me jazzed up.
-Jeff