I thank you for including this detail about the students you work with. It puts much more creedence behind your unease with my opinion. I know that that population is incredibly more susceptible and vulnerable to domestic violence and abuse than the population at large. Also, I don't envy your job. My friends and colleagues who work in your field are better men and women than I. I can barely handle having a single adult student with relatively mild disabilities like tourettes or autism in a class, so how you deal with a room full of them is beyond me. Granted, I'm not trained for that, but nonetheless I would never elect to receive that training in the first place. Also, sorry if my cavalier use of the anachronistic synonym for special needs offended you. I probably would have avoided it had I known this was your fieldhouse.
Yes, this truism about adults vs children holds a lot of weight. I am, perhaps, somewhat guilty of the complicity you abhor when it comes to my willingness to involve the government in the lives of other adults. Children, I understand, are a different ballgame.
Also, one of the qualities I admire most about Canadians, along with your general easygoingness, is that, as a county, you value quantity over quality. Lennox Lewis is inarguably one of the top 5 heavyweights of all time; Arturo Gatti had the heart of a lion and is one of incredibly few lightweights that was entertaining to watch and his trilogy with Mikey Ward is the stuff of legend; Donovan Ruddock, according to Mike Tyson, hit harder than anyone he ever fought. He also had an unparalleled shovel hook, the likes of which have never been seen before or since he fought; and Tommy Burns is, in my opinion, next to Ali, one of the finest people to ever practice the sweet science. At a time in history when white boxers in this country were being arrested for boxing against non-whites, he fought against a Native American, a dozen Black boxers, and a Jew (he was the first heavyweight ever to defend his title against a Jew). He also went the distance with Jack Johnson, which is absolutely nothing to sneeze at (especially considering Burns was all of 5'7"), and speaks all that needs to be said about his talents as a boxer. Also, also, fun fact: He was married to a black woman at the same time in history when Jack Johnson was arrested for being married to a white woman. If you have (literally) two minutes, the recording of his 1907 title defense against Bill Squires is worth a watch. Trevor Berbick gets honorable mention for being the heavyweight champ that lost the titles to Mike Tyson, making Tyson the youngest heavyweight champion in history.
Snipers are another testament to the quality over quantity ethos of the Canadian people that I most admire. The list of longest distance confirmed sniper kills is unduly populated with Canadians. I don't know how the hell you guys do this considering you don't even manufacture your own rifles. It's truly incredible.
SS Vancouver was something I hoped to eventually get off the ground before the world stopped spinning. I suppose this doesn't mean much to you being, as you are, on the other side of the country so here's to hoping you make it out here some day soon.
You, sir, are a better man than I.
Isn't the whole 'flatten the curve' bullshit predicated on the notion that bodies are going to be piling up no matter what we do? Yes, yes it is, in which case let the bodies pile as they may and please stop acting altogether.
You know shit just got really real when Rip is marshalling a Brit against that ass.