Eye of the Tiger

Rocky slowly got up from the mat, planning his escape. He hesitated a moment and thought. Things were not going well. What bothered him most was being held,especially since the charge against him had been weak. He considered his present situation. The lock that held him was strong but he thought he could break it. He knew, however, that his timing would have to be perfect. Rocky was aware that it was because of his early roughness that he had been penalized so severely--much too severely from his point of view. The situation was becoming frustrating; the pressure had been grinding on him for too long. He was being ridden unmercifully. Rocky was getting angry now. He felt he was ready to make his move. He knew that his success or failure would depend on what he did in the next few seconds.

Yeah, sorry, that intro. was probably more confusing than those talks from youth speakers where they just launch into reading something out of New Era without even telling you what, or why. So, I read this passage in my textbook today as an example of...constructionism, I think (I guess I'll have to review that before quiz time). Apparently there are two perspectives here that you can take. Rocky is a fighter or a prisoner.

Now the intention of this example was to clue us pre-service teachers into the fact that students interpret and learn new things based on prior knowledge. If there is little or no prior knowledge on the context or relevance of the reading, you can expect minimal comprehension. La de da, quite obvious and boring. However, what I found interesting is that this passage, from both the perspective of a fighter and a prisoner, describes the recent events in the life of my brother's little kitty...whose very name happens to BE Rocky.

A few days back Rocky developed a very red and goupy eye. I happened to be at my brother's house this weekend and got to take a look at it for myself. We didn't suspect that it had been too serious. Perhaps it was just an infection that an antibiotic eye cream could cure. So we took him to the vet on Monday and it appeared that trauma and not an infection was the cause, and that we had to see a specialist. Upon taking Rocky to the specialist, it was determined that the cut in his cornea was very likely caused by, none other than his favorite sparring partner Apollo. I don't think I need to tell you who is who:



They do so like to playfully gnaw at each other, and roll around with the occasional swipe of the paw to the jaw. And thus there came to be this claw shaped wound to Rocky's eye. Ouch. But Mr. Rocky is a tough Italian Stallion. He hasn't shown any behavior that would indicate that he is having pain, not even when the lab tech. administered these eye drops which she warned us would cause him to violently foam at the mouth. Luckily, that didn't happen, and he purred and played with us as usual.

The good news was that the blow did not puncture his lens. That would have actually guaranteed the removal of his entire eye. In this case though, there was the option of surgery, or medical treatment (with unknown success expected). Matt decided to just get the medicine for now and see what happens. If the eye doesn't heal enough by tomorrow morning, I'm pretty sure that surgery will be highly recommended so he won't have to lose the eye.

It turns out that the medication and visit alone were over $500, so it obviously becomes a question of money where surgery is concerned. Suddenly the idea of pet insurance that we so readily scoffed on the way to the vet didn't seem like that bad of an idea anymore. Anyone without any sort of savings really wouldn't be able to make these sorts of decisions, and would be confined to...even putting the animal to sleep over an injured eye. This just reminds me that the more assets we have in any sense (money, knowledge, etc.) the more choices and ethical responsibility we have.

Anyway, right now Rocky is separated from Apollo, and he can't go outside. He also has one of those cones around his neck so that he doesn't touch that eye of his. So sad to see it. His meals are supposed to be portioned too, like rations. Poor little prisoner. I hope that his eye will heal, and that surgery won't be necessary. If it is though, I hope it works out all right. He is a sweet, loving kitty, and deserves it.

Having said all that, I can't resist the impulse to post this: