I went to school yesterday feeling kind of bogged down by my cold.

"Ugh," I said to my student Kristy, as we walked down the hall after class.  "I'm not feeling well!"

She gave me a kind of sideways glance and picked up the pace.  Luckily, I'm a fast walker.

"I have a cold," I continued.  "Kristy, don't you feel sorry for me?"

She gave me a little eye roll smile.  "Not really," she said.

"WHAT?!"  I gasped.

"You get colds because you don't wash your hands enough," she explained calmly.

"So, this is my fault?!"

Kristy shrugged.  "Yeah," she said, heading up the stairs for science.

What a little booger!  I'll probably try to seem extra sad and pathetic today to see if I can eek out some sympathy from that kid.  Unfortunately, she seemed pretty committed to the discourse of self determination.