fandomhigh | Battles That Changed History, Second Period, Friday 2/19

"I couldn't possibly hope to cover the entirety of the Crusades in the time we have today," Steve said, "and I know spring break's just around the corner. So let's go with the very bare basics: the Crusades were a series of wars fought over about two hundred years for control of an area known as the Holy Land, especially the city of Jerusalem. Muslims had control of the area; Christians wanted control, arguing it was theirs by right because it was, yes, holy in their religion. Of course, the area was also holy to the Muslims, who were already living there, and then there were the Jewish people, who had it first before the waves of conquest started coming, and these other two religions--Christianity and Islam--grew out of theirs. The Jews are pretty much being persecuted by all parties at this time, so the fight is between the Christians and the Muslims, both of whom claim God has given them this land. Kingdoms rise and fall based on success and failure in these wars; fortunes are poured into them; whole generations of men go and fight and die. Incredibly stupid and terrible things are done. And guess what?" Steve leaned forward over his desk. "We're still fighting over it. It's not settled yet.

"So, what can we learn from the Crusades? One, if you've lost the war once, don't go and fight it again and again and again for two hundred years. Two, people get irrational when religion is involved. Three, if people are living somewhere, and have been living there for quite some time, generally speaking it's not good manners to show up and tell them it belongs to you by divine right. In other words, use some common sense. I hope you will also use some common sense on your spring break; now you can discuss the Crusades amongst yourselves, then go enjoy it."

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Steve didn't take well to being sworn at by a teenager for doing his job as a teacher and pointing out that missing a lot of classes was generally a bad idea, but one thing he wasn't known for was his temper. He also had no idea 'they come first' wasn't in reference to family members. He could, however, lecture with the best of them, so he frowned and said, "I'll thank you not to swear at me again, Miss Hathaway, or you will receive detention. I don't ask for much, I don't think most of you are that enthusiastic for the subject, and I don't expect half of you to remember anything I said here two weeks after your final exam, but the fact remains that I am your teacher. I expect you to show up, to act like you're paying attention, and I will be treated with some respect. I understand that your family must come first. I was just reminding you that if you miss too many more classes, your grade will have to suffer. If it becomes a 'pattern' you may even fail my class. Apparently you don't care, and I can't make you. I wasn't even trying to make you. I was simply telling you. There is a difference, Miss Hathaway."

She ground her teeth, trying to listen to that internal voice that sounded like Dimitri that was telling her to calm down and walk away. That the teacher didn't have a clue what she was talking about nor did he care.

"Thank you for telling me," Rose shot back, rage and sarcasm heavy in her voice. "Give me detention or not, I don't care, but maybe next time you remind someone, actually give a damn enough to find out if it was a pleasure trip or something that just might be more important than a lecture."

The hurt and grieving teenager took priority over the self-control she'd been trying to learn, and rationality apparently had second place here.

He was pretty sure he'd said something about understanding that family emergencies did come first, but he wasn't about to get into an argument with a teenaged girl. For one thing, that would be stupidly undignified, and for another, in his experience you couldn't actually win with teenaged girls who were determined to be offended by you. "Miss Hathaway, you're not listening to me, and I can see you don't intend to. Last week was on the Battle of Hastings. Read about it if you like. Don't if you don't. Please leave now."

It was true. Teenaged girls were the worst people to get in arguments with. Especially when they were convinced they were hurt.

"Happy to," she snapped, spinning around to leave, her hair flying out behind her. So much rage, so little outlet.

Edited 2010-02-20 00:15 (UTC)

Battles That Changed History, Second Period, Friday 2/19

Re: Talk to the Teacher

Re: Talk to the Teacher

Re: Talk to the Teacher

Re: Talk to the Teacher