American bald eagles

Posted by Janice on December 9, 2008

One of the interesting things about being a sub driver is that sometimes I get a bus run where I have a bus aide.  I like to listen to the aide talk to the children as I’m driving the bus.  Sometimes I learn something, sometimes I find amusement in hearing the aide talk about things that she thinks she is an expert on.  Today was a case in point, I had an aide on today’s bus.  She was talking to one of the kids about the American Bald Eagle.  I don’t know how the subject got started, but there it was.  What I found interesting was that the aide was telling the kid that only the male bald eagle has a white head, that the female has a brown head.  Well, I was pretty sure that she was mistaken about that, but she claimed she had read a book about them and it really isn’t a good idea to challenge someone else’s “expertise” when you are behind the wheel of a bus and there is no way to “prove” or “disprove” anything at that moment.

I did, however, come home and look up the American bald eagle, because my curiousity was now piqued.  I was glad to see that I was right, both of them have white heads.  I don’t know if I’ll ever see that aide again or not, and I don’t know if I’ll bother to inform her of what I found out.  Sometimes people get aggravated when you point out to them that they were mistaken, and I really don’t see the benefit of doing that.  I used to tell people all of the time when they were mistaken, and I learned that is a good way to alienate yourself from other people.  So I’ve started trying to just say “oh really?” and let it slide.  What do you think?  Is that a good thing, or a bad thing, to “let it slide” for the sake of keeping the peace and getting along with other people?