Ethic Soup

A Young Gymnast's Prayer

Now as I warm up for this meet,

I pray my competition I can beat.

And if I fail amidst the cheers,

I pray I can hold back my tears.

And one more thing success or not,

I pray the creator of the beam be shot.

                             --author unknown

 

Three-year-old Cancer Patient Auctions His Art To Pay Hospital Bills

Liam Myrick of St. Louis is just three years old and he has a tumor on his kidney, a stage four neuroblastoma.

A VULNERABLE PRESCHOOLER

He's undergoing excruciating chemotherapy. About a week ago, Liam had a bone marrow stem cell transplant and must stay in his room at the St. Louis Childrens' Hospital and visitors must wear masks, so as not to infect the vulnerable preschooler.

Liam began painting artwork as part of his therapy. His mother, Shawna, said  that when Liam started painting "he didn't care about the fact that in a couple hours they're going to come in, poke around and it's going to hurt. He just lives for the moment," reported News 13 of Orlando, FL.

EXPENSIVE MEDICAL CARE

His parents are already facing more than $500,000 in bills for his hospital care.

So, to celebrate Liam and his art, the Myricks are auctioning his paintings on Facebook to help defray the costs of his medical expenses.

School Principal Jumps in Icy River to Rescue Boy

Cocheco River in New Hampshire

HERO GWEN RHODES 

When Gwen Rhodes went to work last week, she had no idea that she would be celebrated throughout the country as a hero. Rhodes is the principal of a New Hampshire elementary school, Gonic School, on the outskirts of Rochester, NH.

If I had a child in elementary school, especially a child who has special problems, I would move Heaven and  Earth to have Gwen Rhodes (pictured right) as the principal of that school. And, if I was a parent of one of the children in Gonic School today, I would know that my prayers for my child's school experience had been answered.

RESCUES BOY IN ICY RIVER

Principal Rhodes risked her own life in order to save the life of a student. She jumped into the frigid Cocheco River to save 10-year-old Andrew Brown, who had fallen through the ice, reports Huffington Post.

Andrew, who has autism, ran away from a teacher after a morning recess. He ran through the woods behind his grade school and onto the frozen river. The teacher and principal Rhodes ran after him and saw Andrew stop on a section of thin ice and then fall through the ice.

 YOU WERE ON THIN ICE SON

Rhodes ran onto the river's thin ice and reached the little boy, making use of tree branches along the river bank to pull the boy and herself to safety. The chilling experience left them both with hypothermia and bruises, but alive. Left, Andrew warms up in hospital.

"They were both up to their chests in water," said Lieutenant Dennis Dube, Rochester Fire Department, reported by Reuters. "(Rhodes) saved us from performing a very technical rescue," Dube said. "We're calling it a very brave act. Normally we don't condone such a thing, but she was stuck in a hard place there."

WOW!

Not only did Gwen Rhodes rescue a boy who could have drowned, but she became a role model for us all, and through her example, we are inspired. We want to believe that those who watch over our children are willing to risk their own lives to save our child. And, maybe, should we be desperate for help ourselves, someone will be there to help us, too. Yes, Virginia, there are good people in this world! 

Does your child's teachers and school principal follow their codes of ethics?

CLICK & READ:"School Administrators Code of Ethics" 

CLICK & READ: "Code of Ethics Assn. of American Educators" 

                              

  by Sharon McEachern

Pox Parties and Chickenpox Lollipops: Dangerous Substitutes for Vaccinations

"Chickenpox" Copyright by EthicSoup.com

 

SOME PARENTS act as if they've never heard the old admonition "Don't take candy from a stranger." They're giving their kids pre-licked lollipops, infected with chickenpox and mailed to them by strangers they met on the Internet. Yikes!

Before there was a chickenpox vaccine, prior to 1995, parents sent their kids to 'pox parties,'  where moms would arrange play dates with infected children. Hopefully, the kids would catch varicella, the herpes virus that causes chicken pox, and develop immunity.

WANNA CHICKENPOX LOLLIPOP?

Now some parents are going to social media sites, like Facebook, and using the Internet to expose their kids to the disease. How? They pay other parents for lollipops infected with the chickenpox virus. For example, infected lollipops were recently advertised at $50, overnight delivery from Nashville, reports the New York Times.

Wow! At $50 a pop, I can see a kid sick with chicken pox, her hands in mittens so she won't scratch and leave terrible scars. She's in bed, next to a big box from which her Mom retrieves sucker-after-sucker, saying "Now lick this one, Honey."

 

Football Coach Brands Bullying Victims 'Queer' and 'Cry Babies'

A high school football coach in Wyoming was forced to resign as coach following controversy over a sexist and homophobic questionnaire he gave to his teenage players called the "Hurt Feelings Report," reports the Casper Star-Tribune.

BULLIED KIDS AT RISK

This a time when bullied kids are committing suicide and massive campaigns to end bullying are emphasizing that kids must tell someone what's happening to them.

Yet, this sarcastic survey demeans any potential complainer who's been bullied in school as a "little sissy and "girly-man," while it calls the bully a 'Real Man.'

And, don't you know that's what the coach calls himself? Although, parents must have better descriptors.

Ohio Pastor Asks Young Trick or Treaters: 'Wanna Comic Book with Pictures of Children Dying?'

Kids love to be scared on Halloween -- most of the time, kind of. Okay, not really! Just pretend.

FRIGHTEN THE LITTLE CHILDREN

Should they have to fear a church minister who has decided to scare the bejesus out of little children who just want to go trick or treating and get some Halloween candy?

That's stooping pretty low. Get religion children -- mine -- or you'll die. And here's some pictures of how you'll die. Sweet dreams!

No wonder more and more people are leaving the church. When a pastor doesn't even show common sense in how to treat and protect kids, you gotta wonder what his church is teaching in Sunday School.

The preacher is Rev. Kenny Cousar of the Northview Baptist Church (pictured below) in Hillsboro, Ohio.

Nostalgic Halloween Photos with Vintage Trick or Treaters

 
Trick or treat,

Smell my feet

Give me something good to eat!

 

If you don't

I don't care

I'll pull down your underwear!

 

Jack-o-lantern smiling bright

Witches flying in the night

Ghosts and goblins, cats and bats

Witches with their funny hats

A full moon can't be beat

As we go out to Trick or Treat

 

Vintage Halloween Witches: Photos, Poems

 

Witches

The witches don their pointed hats,

The witches croak and croon,

The witches ride their broomsticks,

Away beyond the moon.

 

The witches don their flowing cloaks,

The witches stir their brew

The witches chant their magic spells,

All the dark hours through.

 

The witches stroke their big black cats,

They comb their locks of gray,

Yet when the first faint daylight comes

The witches hide away. 

 
 

Barbie Loses to Bratz Doll: Mattel Needs $315 Million to Appeal Federal Ruling

 

I can hear the loud raspberries being blown from the Botox-pouty lips of the Bratz dolls (above) aimed at, and showing contempt for, the Barbie dolls.

MATTEL STOLE TRADE SECRETS

Surprisingly, that's what has happened when the world's biggest toy maker, Mattel, tried to ruin much smaller MGA Entertainment, the makers of the Bratz dolls. 

It's been a long legal battle, with a series of court cases beginning in 2004. That's the year that MGA attorneys introduced into evidence a Mattel memo that warned of a "rival-led Barbie genocide."

Whoa! Talk about doom! 

"This is war and sides must be taken: Barbie stands for good. All others stand for evil."

DOLLS MEAN BIG BUCK BILLIONS 

No, they were not talking about human beings. They were beating their chests about dolls. Actually, the chest-pounding was all about money, of course. Globally, Mattel sells $3 billion Barbie-branded (below left) merchandise annually, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

 

A Swimmers Prayer: A Teen's Poem from "Teen Ink"

 

Creative talent is an asset we need to encourage every time we can, especially when found in kids. To not do so is unethical. A little recognition goes a long way in inspiring the talented to continue their