With that out of the way, to all the people outraged over Wake County schools’ latest reassignment plan, get over it.

I am sure that having your child shuffled from one school to another is an inconvenience and a disruption for the entire family. And it’s admirable that you are standing up and fighting for what you believe is best for your child and family. But the fight is fruitless.

Reassignment is a fact of life in Wake County. It has been for years and it no doubt will be for years to come. It’s just a rung below death and taxes on the things to count on in life.

Among the many baffling aspects of the outrage is that year after year, people continue to be surprised when reassignment proposals are released.

Those most surprised are usually people who have relocated to the Triangle in recent years. Rather than direct your anger at WCPSS, take a look in the mirror. You should have researched the school system, which no doubt would’ve revealed the reality of reassignment. To think you might have been able to avoid it is naïve.

After the initial shock wears off, people mobilize and plan protests under the auspices that they need to save their child’s livelihood and preserve the sanctity of the nuclear family.

But really, it’s a cause taken up by people who could make better use of their time.

Rather than pitch a fit because you don’t get your way, focus that energy on a worthwhile cause and making a real difference. Volunteer at a community kitchen, the Boys & Girls Club, a battered women’s shelter, Relay for Life, an AIDS organization or any other charitable endeavor. Imagine the impact you could have on your community and other people if you fought any of those causes with the same vigor with which you’re organizing protests over where your kid is going to school.

The most troubling thing I have come across in following the issue from the sidelines is that some people are wary of a plan that would double Oak Grove Elementary’s percentage of low-income kids from 9 percent to 18 percent, beginning in the 2008-09 academic year. Part of the education process is learning to work with all sorts of people. If anyone truly believes that they’re going to encounter people just like themselves in a professional environment, they are sadly disillusioned.

If you want to isolate your child throughout his or her childhood and adolescence, he’s in for a very rude awakening when he gets to college and has a randomly assigned roommate. And he’s going to be crippled by that lack of diversity.

Rather than be so upset and fight the change, accept it and make the transition as seamless as possible.

Furthermore, rather than be angry that your child might switch schools, be thankful you live an area where a premium is placed on education and a very good education is available to every young person in Wake County.

There are areas around the country with underfunded school systems barely getting by and providing students with lackluster educations. It could be a lot worse than that.

Be thankful you don’t live in a war-torn area of the world, where parents are more concerned with whether their child will make it to and from school alive. Or that you don’t live in a country where kids are shepherded off to work in factories.

Looking through that prism, having to go a few miles out of your way isn’t such an inconvenience anymore, is it?

Contact Tim Candon at 460-2606 or tcandon@nando.com.