Dear 2015,
I've only known you for three days, and since we are going to be stuck together for the next 362 days, I thought it would be a good idea to break the ice properly with a letter.
Your predecessor, 2014, did a fair job overall. However 2014, like the years before it, got pretty lax with keeping tabs on human ignorance, hatred and violence. I'm hoping that, as the new year, you'll be able to bring a fresh perspective to these continuing problems.
You have a tremendous and seemingly overwhelming job ahead of you, including but certainly not limited to:
-Engaging humans to embrace, support and protect diversity of all kinds across the earth to include humans, animals, plants and beyond
-Decreasing overall ignorance, short-sightedness, selfish tunnel vision and general blind trust in talking heads.
-At least starting the process of more evenly spreading planetary resources--including food, water, health care, education, innovation and creativity.
-Bringing together the great human minds and powers of the world to take steps to heal our earth. This includes addressing climate change, litter, pollution, squandering of resources and vanishing habitats.
-Curbing the terrifying human belief that violence is a road to peace. Whether the violence is between a parent and child, two adults, two groups of people or between two nations, you need to find a way to communicate the truth that violence is a road that can end in only one of two ways: more violence, or death.
These are the biggest tasks ahead of you, but there are millions, if not billions, of smaller challenges that need to be addressed. You might want to go ahead and get yourself a computer now, one with the biggest hard drive you can find, on which you can start taking notes and keeping to-do lists. I'd suggest getting a Mac, but that's just me.
On a personal note, please see what you can do about getting Taco Bell to open a franchise in Kyoto, Japan.
I wish you the very best luck in your endeavors as the New Year.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to let me know.
Best wishes,
Christina
Friday, January 2, 2015
Monday, December 22, 2014
'Tis the season?
Every year, since I've been alive at least, November, December and the first day of January have been slathered on television and in magazines and in newspapers as a time of togetherness, love, hope and peace.
And while we are all inundated with soft candlelight and spiritual traditions and a never-ending soundtrack of songs that include words like "jingle" and "peace" and "Santa", the sorrows of the world go on.
And this year is no different.
In fact, if anything, this alarming juxtaposition between our idealized holiday season and our (usually) painful reality is worse, and worsening.
I start each day by sipping coffee and scanning the internet offerings for the news of the day. And for many weeks now, the news of the day has become increasingly swollen with the human tendency towards ignorant, violent hatred. Innocent people strangled. Innocent people murdered. Innocent people being shot. Innocent people being killed by bombs in wars that increasingly seem to have had no beginning, and which will have no end.
As far as I can tell, with my Kindergarten teacher sensibilities and simplistic world view, the main cause for all of this ignorant, violent hatred can be summed up very simply:
People are different.
Differences are uncomfortable.
Differences are scary.
Therefore
People are scary.
People who are different from us are scary.
And what do humans do when something is scary?
The same thing all animals do.
We either fight, or we run away.
But I asked myself this morning, "Are we really that different?".
Not different in terms of opinion, or hair color or cultural backgrounds.
I mean different in the most basic way. How we are built. What we are made of.
So I looked up "human DNA" and "human genome".
I pushed past the shiny websites that offered simple explanations such as "Humans are 99.9% alike!" and "All humans are 50th cousins!". These proclamations might be true, but how true?
So I looked up scientific research.
I read a number of journal articles.
Then I went to the journal "Science".
And I found this:
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/291/5507/1219.full?sid=10817772-292e-482c-b589-7b6ef0a77cb5
So here, the biggest circles (containing 3 heads) represent 3 different continents (Africa, Asia and Europe).
The slightly smaller circles (containing 2 heads) represent people from 2 different continents who have identical DNA.
And the smallest circles, (containing 1 head) represent people with DNA from just one continent.
Very nice. But what does this mean?
In very simple terms, this means that people from 2 very different continents can have the same or similar DNA.
This means that all our perceived differences: the clothes we wear, what language we speak, what religion we follow are all rather arbitrary, shaped by the people and the social world around us.
This means that we can't just look at a person and really know them. We can't just look at a person and know that they are truly different from us.
For all we know, deep in the building blocks that make us up, we might have the same DNA as that person we hold in contempt, that person we are fighting, that person we hate.
I don't have the scientific evidence to prove that every human on earth is my cousin. I don't have the scientific evidence to prove that every human is 99.9% identical to me.
But I have a heart, and my heart tells me that we are far more alike than we are different. This holiday season as I read yet another news story about people hating and hurting each other, I can't help but feel that when we hurt and hate anyone, we are in many ways hurting and hating ourselves.
Perhaps someday we'll realize this.
Until next time.
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Perspective
In true teacher form, I vanished from my blog just before Halloween and have not appeared until just now, two days after my school went on winter break. And for this I apologize.
However, you can probably expect me to vanish again somewhere in early spring as I am writing reports and doing conferences. You have been warned.
So this morning I was standing at the kitchen sink making coffee, shivering in the icy air, watching my breath billow into clouds of steam. As I poured my electrically-boiled water into my coffee grounds that were shipped from Brazil to Japan, griping to myself about uninsulated houses, I realized something.
A huge number of us are pretty much spoiled.
Spoiled rotten I say.
Absolutely, distressingly, alarmingly indulged.
I am spoiled. You are spoiled. In fact, anyone able to read this right now is spoiled.
We are spoiled by the conveniences that we have come to expect as things we deserve, if not MUST HAVE.
Conveniences.
Such as:
1. Being instantly warm when it is cold. For thousands and thousands of years humans did not have electric blankets, insulated homes, central heating, electric heating, gas heating.
What they did have was fire, clothing hand-made from animal pelts, wool or hair. And they had each other to huddle against in shelters that might have blocked the wind and wet, but did not protect them from the cold.
And in fact, right now, as we stand on the brink of 2015, there are many people who still live like this. And these people live far away from us and they live right around the corner.
2. Being instantly cool when it is hot. Conversely, for thousands and thousands of years, humans living in hot climates or living in the middle of the summer heat did not have electric fans or air conditioners.
What they did have was the hope for a breeze, shade, and perhaps if they were very lucky an ocean, river, lake, pond or puddle in which to cool off and stay hydrated.
And in fact, right now, as we stand on the brink of 2015, there are many people who still live like this. And these people live far away from us and they live right around the corner.
3. Having food and drink instantly accessible when we are hungry and thirsty. Among the most important driving forces of life on this planet, the quest for food and sustenance is one of the most powerful. Like any other creature, humans have had to gather, scavenge and hunt for food, dependent on the whims of weather and chance.
And it is all too easy for many of us--living amid the luxuries of supermarkets and refrigeration and a world so tightly connected that I can stand in my Kyoto kitchen making Brazilian coffee--to feel like we deserve to have food and drink at our fingertips. And not just any food or drink, but EXACTLY the food and drink we have dreamt up.
In fact, right now, as we stand on the brink of 2015, there are many people who are on the brink of starvation, suffering from the diseases that follow famine. And these people live far away from us and they live right around the corner.
The list goes on...
--having access to clean water and safe, sanitary means of getting rid of our garbage and bodily wastes.
--having access to doctors, nurses, hospitals and medicines when our bodies or minds are sick
--having access to an education that prepares us to be thoughtful, hopeful, participating members of our society and world
--feeling safe in our homes and communities
All of these things and more are modern, "first world" luxuries my friends.
And sometimes I have to take a big step back and wonder how it is that I can be sitting in front of this computer, able to stretch my useless words across the world at a tap of my finger when millions of people in the world lack food, clean water and life-giving medicines.
How can this computer exist and function in the same world where children are dying from preventable diseases? How can I be using the power of the internet in the same world where somewhere not far from me a homeless person is huddled, freezing, hiding beneath a bridge over which the tourists and taxicabs and suited business folk race?
It is a strange, troubling world sometimes my friends. And sometimes we need to take a step back and realize how very unfairly lucky so many of us are.
Until next time...
However, you can probably expect me to vanish again somewhere in early spring as I am writing reports and doing conferences. You have been warned.
So this morning I was standing at the kitchen sink making coffee, shivering in the icy air, watching my breath billow into clouds of steam. As I poured my electrically-boiled water into my coffee grounds that were shipped from Brazil to Japan, griping to myself about uninsulated houses, I realized something.
A huge number of us are pretty much spoiled.
Spoiled rotten I say.
Absolutely, distressingly, alarmingly indulged.
I am spoiled. You are spoiled. In fact, anyone able to read this right now is spoiled.
We are spoiled by the conveniences that we have come to expect as things we deserve, if not MUST HAVE.
Conveniences.
Such as:
1. Being instantly warm when it is cold. For thousands and thousands of years humans did not have electric blankets, insulated homes, central heating, electric heating, gas heating.
What they did have was fire, clothing hand-made from animal pelts, wool or hair. And they had each other to huddle against in shelters that might have blocked the wind and wet, but did not protect them from the cold.
And in fact, right now, as we stand on the brink of 2015, there are many people who still live like this. And these people live far away from us and they live right around the corner.
2. Being instantly cool when it is hot. Conversely, for thousands and thousands of years, humans living in hot climates or living in the middle of the summer heat did not have electric fans or air conditioners.
What they did have was the hope for a breeze, shade, and perhaps if they were very lucky an ocean, river, lake, pond or puddle in which to cool off and stay hydrated.
And in fact, right now, as we stand on the brink of 2015, there are many people who still live like this. And these people live far away from us and they live right around the corner.
3. Having food and drink instantly accessible when we are hungry and thirsty. Among the most important driving forces of life on this planet, the quest for food and sustenance is one of the most powerful. Like any other creature, humans have had to gather, scavenge and hunt for food, dependent on the whims of weather and chance.
And it is all too easy for many of us--living amid the luxuries of supermarkets and refrigeration and a world so tightly connected that I can stand in my Kyoto kitchen making Brazilian coffee--to feel like we deserve to have food and drink at our fingertips. And not just any food or drink, but EXACTLY the food and drink we have dreamt up.
In fact, right now, as we stand on the brink of 2015, there are many people who are on the brink of starvation, suffering from the diseases that follow famine. And these people live far away from us and they live right around the corner.
The list goes on...
--having access to clean water and safe, sanitary means of getting rid of our garbage and bodily wastes.
--having access to doctors, nurses, hospitals and medicines when our bodies or minds are sick
--having access to an education that prepares us to be thoughtful, hopeful, participating members of our society and world
--feeling safe in our homes and communities
All of these things and more are modern, "first world" luxuries my friends.
And sometimes I have to take a big step back and wonder how it is that I can be sitting in front of this computer, able to stretch my useless words across the world at a tap of my finger when millions of people in the world lack food, clean water and life-giving medicines.
How can this computer exist and function in the same world where children are dying from preventable diseases? How can I be using the power of the internet in the same world where somewhere not far from me a homeless person is huddled, freezing, hiding beneath a bridge over which the tourists and taxicabs and suited business folk race?
It is a strange, troubling world sometimes my friends. And sometimes we need to take a step back and realize how very unfairly lucky so many of us are.
Until next time...
Saturday, October 25, 2014
So Easy to Fault, So Hard to Fix
Hello all,
Well, the news isn't good.
I could pretend the news IS good, of course. I could tell you about the wacky, hilarious things my students do and say. Or I could wax poetic about the beauty of Kyoto in the autumn.
But I can't do that. Because although I am thousands of miles away from all this, it would be irresponsible to pretend that the world is fine just because my immediate world is fine.
On Friday, October 24th, there was yet another school shooting. This time in Washington, just north of Seattle at a high school.
The victims and the shooter were all teenagers, 14 and 15 year olds. The same age as Aya. Not all that much younger than Patrick.
Already the news agencies are dithering about fault.
The shooter was just a bad kid.
It must have been his parent's fault for not 'raising him right'.
It must have been the school's fault for not being more 'vigilant about security'.
And, as always, hot on the heels of the news agencies, talking internet heads and magazine covers (the covers only, because everyone seems willing to spare a glance, but not spare 5 minutes to read), comes public opinion.
Predictably, the comments on the news websites follow the same lines as the news agencies, agreeing, disagreeing, cursing and insulting or just being trolls, making inflammatory comments and then slipping out of the comment stream to watch their mischief boil.
So whose fault is it?
I would suggest this is a pointless question. Fault can all too easily be assigned and people who are just as good and flawed and confused about all this as the rest of us can be held out as examples of bad teaching or bad parenting or bad kids.
I would suggest that a better question would be how can we fix this?
Implied in my question is the emphatic WE. Because if we have to assign fault, this is our fault too. As a society. As fellow human beings.
For something like this to happen, not just once but many times implies that something is broken.
And many things are broken, not just in the United States but everywhere to varying degrees, in various areas and with various heartbreaking results.
Families are broken, shattered apart by distance and the demands of jobs and social expectation. Sisters and brothers, cousins and grandparents turn away from each other because our society teaches and supports fragmentation and separation rather than tolerance and empathy.
Schools are broken, steering dedicated, enthusiastic teachers into test-driven curricula seemingly laser focused not to produce thoughtful, empathetic, curious and engaged members of society, but to produce non-confrontational drones who just want to survive the demands of school or work until they can live their "real lives". And the schools that have leapt out of this broken mold are too few and far between, and often too inaccessible financially, to kickstart the kind of change we need.
Society is broken when lethal weapons can be accessed by a teenager who saw himself as having no other outlet for his pain but to strike out.
Imbedded in all this are deeper issues and needs--recognizing that pain of all kinds is an unavoidable part of all our lives, re-educating ourselves and our children and teens that seeking help and support is not a weakness, but a strength, breaking down the pervasive and often damaging gender and social expectations that are so prevalent and powerful in teenage lives.
I've painted a pretty dismal picture. But we can repaint the picture.
We can fix this.
Not immediately to be sure. But the systematic problems can be addressed. Schools can be overhauled. Learning can be redefined for the future we are approaching, rather than swirling in a past we left behind long ago. Leaders, from government officials to school administrators, from teachers to parents, can re-educate themselves so that we can support our children and teens based on their real needs, and not on our prejudices, phobias and assumptions.
We can fix this.
The skeptics and pessimists among us would see no point in me even writing about this. As one commenter said "If nothing changed after Sandy Hook, then nothing will ever change." And the pessimist in me agrees to a point--change never comes quickly. People, it seems, have to keep getting hit over the head with deeper truths before they acknowledge that something is broken.
But this is no reason to stop trying.
And so, I try in the only way I can. I write.
Until next time....
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Rainbow....
White light
is nature's illusionist.
It seems so simple--just light.
But it's not.
Send a sunbeam into a prism
or a water droplet
or perhaps a tear
and it shatters into a hidden spectrum.
A paintbox so cleverly concealed
in our everyday illumination.
If so much convoluted beauty
can hide within the simplicity of light
How many more wonders are invisible
to our everyday eyes?
is nature's illusionist.
It seems so simple--just light.
But it's not.
Send a sunbeam into a prism
or a water droplet
or perhaps a tear
and it shatters into a hidden spectrum.
A paintbox so cleverly concealed
in our everyday illumination.
If so much convoluted beauty
can hide within the simplicity of light
How many more wonders are invisible
to our everyday eyes?
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Bang.
Hello all,
So yesterday I read an article that was making the lightning quick rounds of internet news sites, quipping talking heads and grumpy trolls.
This article described a teacher in Utah who went into the bathroom and proceeded to injure herself when her legally concealed gun went off, shattering the toilet and subsequently mangling her leg.
For those of you who don't know, in Utah it is perfectly legal for teachers to carry a concealed gun as long as they have the proper permit and training. And just so you know I'm not picking on Utah, this gun-carrying-teacher motif is spreading across the U.S., being discussed with serious consideration as a solution to the dangers of our modern society.
As it so happens, I am a teacher. I've been teaching for over 23 years. I have never felt the need to carry a weapon. Even during the times in my career when my school has had to go on "lockdown" status because some loony was in our neighborhood on the run from the law, even then I never said to myself "Gosh, I'd feel better if I had a gun in my waistband."
But I'm willing to give this whole "guns are protection" thing a think or two. Starting with the oft-quoted 2nd amendment to the constitution. Which states:
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
I'm not going to pretend I'm anything but a kindergarten teacher. That is what I am. I'm not stupid, but I'm not a lawyer, or a politician, or Stephen Hawking or Einstein or anyone with a huge IQ or deep thoughts or special training in Constitutional law.
I'm a kindergarten teacher. So first off, I looked up "militia". A militia, according to various dictionaries, is:
1. A noun
Fair enough. "Militia" is a noun. No argument there.
2. Refers to a body of citizens enrolled for military service, and called out periodically for drill but serving full time only in emergencies.
Okay, as far as I know, unless one is a teacher at the Naval Academy, most teachers do not qualify as engaged in military service. Next.
3. A body of citizen soldiers as distinguished from professional soldiers.
I'm pretty sure teachers do not qualify as either citizen soldiers or professional soldiers, no matter how much people may refer to teaching as "being in the trenches".
4. All able-bodied males considered by law eligible for military service.
This point could be debated if the teacher in question were a male of legal age for military service. But even then it would be a strange connection to make. Teaching=military service=yes, gun ok.
As for me personally, I may be eligible for military service (although I'm probably low on the list, being 47 years old, 5 foot 2 inches tall and not particularly prone to impressing enemies with my fighting prowess). But I'm pretty sure I'm not male, able-bodied or not.
5. A body of citizens organized in a paramilitary group and typically regarding themselves as defenders of individual rights against the presumed interference of the federal government.
Well here is the crux of it all, right? How do we define ourselves as citizens of any country? Does disagreeing with the actions or positions of our government give us the right to carry around weapons? I'm not talking about hunters hankering for venison here. I'm not talking about sport shooting. I'm talking about everyday people working in everyday jobs carrying around concealed--or in open-carry states, unconcealed--weapons.
Taking it a step back, even if we remove the word "militia" from the 2nd amendment, are guns and other weapons really necessary to the "security of a free state"?
Do we feel safer knowing that any time we go out our door--to get groceries, to fill the gas tank in the car, to walk the dog, to pick up our children from school--anyone, everyone around us could have a gun in their purse or in a concealed holster?
And just how much confidence do we have in our assessment about what makes someone "sane" and "in control"? Where is the line drawn when any of us rational,"normal" people have one too many bad days, with just a little too much stress? For the person carrying that gun, the gun becomes one of the many choices and tools that we all have to solve a problem, to meet the challenges of an emergency situation or to simply face another day. And how does one really judge a situation to merit using that gun, especially--for teachers--in front of children?
In the end, I'm one kindergarten teacher living thousands of miles away from my home country. And as I watch the swirl of fear, hate and intolerance grow larger every day, I have to wonder what on earth we will be coming home to, when the time comes for us to leave Japan.
But whatever we come home to, I do know this: I cannot teach my students peace, respect, tolerance and friendship if I'm carrying a gun in my pocket. No matter the intention to protect, that gun would negate and betray every good thing I tried to teach.
So count this teacher out.
Until next time....
So yesterday I read an article that was making the lightning quick rounds of internet news sites, quipping talking heads and grumpy trolls.
This article described a teacher in Utah who went into the bathroom and proceeded to injure herself when her legally concealed gun went off, shattering the toilet and subsequently mangling her leg.
For those of you who don't know, in Utah it is perfectly legal for teachers to carry a concealed gun as long as they have the proper permit and training. And just so you know I'm not picking on Utah, this gun-carrying-teacher motif is spreading across the U.S., being discussed with serious consideration as a solution to the dangers of our modern society.
As it so happens, I am a teacher. I've been teaching for over 23 years. I have never felt the need to carry a weapon. Even during the times in my career when my school has had to go on "lockdown" status because some loony was in our neighborhood on the run from the law, even then I never said to myself "Gosh, I'd feel better if I had a gun in my waistband."
But I'm willing to give this whole "guns are protection" thing a think or two. Starting with the oft-quoted 2nd amendment to the constitution. Which states:
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
I'm not going to pretend I'm anything but a kindergarten teacher. That is what I am. I'm not stupid, but I'm not a lawyer, or a politician, or Stephen Hawking or Einstein or anyone with a huge IQ or deep thoughts or special training in Constitutional law.
I'm a kindergarten teacher. So first off, I looked up "militia". A militia, according to various dictionaries, is:
1. A noun
Fair enough. "Militia" is a noun. No argument there.
2. Refers to a body of citizens enrolled for military service, and called out periodically for drill but serving full time only in emergencies.
Okay, as far as I know, unless one is a teacher at the Naval Academy, most teachers do not qualify as engaged in military service. Next.
3. A body of citizen soldiers as distinguished from professional soldiers.
I'm pretty sure teachers do not qualify as either citizen soldiers or professional soldiers, no matter how much people may refer to teaching as "being in the trenches".
4. All able-bodied males considered by law eligible for military service.
This point could be debated if the teacher in question were a male of legal age for military service. But even then it would be a strange connection to make. Teaching=military service=yes, gun ok.
As for me personally, I may be eligible for military service (although I'm probably low on the list, being 47 years old, 5 foot 2 inches tall and not particularly prone to impressing enemies with my fighting prowess). But I'm pretty sure I'm not male, able-bodied or not.
5. A body of citizens organized in a paramilitary group and typically regarding themselves as defenders of individual rights against the presumed interference of the federal government.
Well here is the crux of it all, right? How do we define ourselves as citizens of any country? Does disagreeing with the actions or positions of our government give us the right to carry around weapons? I'm not talking about hunters hankering for venison here. I'm not talking about sport shooting. I'm talking about everyday people working in everyday jobs carrying around concealed--or in open-carry states, unconcealed--weapons.
Taking it a step back, even if we remove the word "militia" from the 2nd amendment, are guns and other weapons really necessary to the "security of a free state"?
Do we feel safer knowing that any time we go out our door--to get groceries, to fill the gas tank in the car, to walk the dog, to pick up our children from school--anyone, everyone around us could have a gun in their purse or in a concealed holster?
And just how much confidence do we have in our assessment about what makes someone "sane" and "in control"? Where is the line drawn when any of us rational,"normal" people have one too many bad days, with just a little too much stress? For the person carrying that gun, the gun becomes one of the many choices and tools that we all have to solve a problem, to meet the challenges of an emergency situation or to simply face another day. And how does one really judge a situation to merit using that gun, especially--for teachers--in front of children?
In the end, I'm one kindergarten teacher living thousands of miles away from my home country. And as I watch the swirl of fear, hate and intolerance grow larger every day, I have to wonder what on earth we will be coming home to, when the time comes for us to leave Japan.
But whatever we come home to, I do know this: I cannot teach my students peace, respect, tolerance and friendship if I'm carrying a gun in my pocket. No matter the intention to protect, that gun would negate and betray every good thing I tried to teach.
So count this teacher out.
Until next time....
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Can YOU Tell Me How to Get (Back) to Sesame Street?
Hello all,
After another week of world-wide madness
-- shattered cease-fires and the imploding city of Ferguson Missouri, sensationalized but never-the-less heartbreaking celebrity deaths and people hurting each other in every way all over the planet just because they can--
I've decided to take a step back from it all and get back to my generation's socio-political roots.
Sesame Street.
Sesame Street first muppetted onto our television sets on November 10, 1969. I was almost 3 years old. The quintessential Sesame Street age.
Akin to the well-known adage (and book) "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten", Sesame Street gave me--and my fellow tots--some simple and absolutely true rules to live by:
1. We are all unique and special.
2. Learning is fun.
3. Absolutely everyone has feelings and needs to be liked, loved and cared for.
4. Try new things
5. Meet new people
6. Everyone--old and young, near and far, famous and unknown--loves to play.
7. Care.
In my head I can see the early episodes of Sesame Street that first opened my eyes to these rules. These are the same rules I try to model every day for my kids and my students.
Unfortunately we live in a world that seems to be operating for the most part according to a set of rules that are exactly opposite to these:
1. We are all the same and utterly disposable.
2. Learning is a chore to be endured
3. Absolutely everyone is apathetic and alone.
4. Stick to what you know.
5. Cling to those who agree with you.
6. Playing is pointless.
7. Who cares?
This is why at least once or twice a week I go on Youtube and I watch a few Sesame Street shows. Of course I watch the well-worn, well-known pieces of shows from my childhood. But I also watch the new imaginings that Sesame Street is creating--delightful spoofs of pop songs and current movies that leave me humming or chuckling--and quite often both.
I realize I'm not solving anything by watching Sesame Street.
Nothing is ever solved by watching.
Watching is passive.
But my momentary investments in passivity keep me mindful of those simple lessons that Sesame Street first taught me 44 years ago.
And armed with those lessons, I can turn off the computer, go out the door and do my best to teach them anew.
Until next time.
After another week of world-wide madness
-- shattered cease-fires and the imploding city of Ferguson Missouri, sensationalized but never-the-less heartbreaking celebrity deaths and people hurting each other in every way all over the planet just because they can--
I've decided to take a step back from it all and get back to my generation's socio-political roots.
Sesame Street.
Sesame Street first muppetted onto our television sets on November 10, 1969. I was almost 3 years old. The quintessential Sesame Street age.
Akin to the well-known adage (and book) "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten", Sesame Street gave me--and my fellow tots--some simple and absolutely true rules to live by:
1. We are all unique and special.
2. Learning is fun.
3. Absolutely everyone has feelings and needs to be liked, loved and cared for.
4. Try new things
5. Meet new people
6. Everyone--old and young, near and far, famous and unknown--loves to play.
7. Care.
In my head I can see the early episodes of Sesame Street that first opened my eyes to these rules. These are the same rules I try to model every day for my kids and my students.
Unfortunately we live in a world that seems to be operating for the most part according to a set of rules that are exactly opposite to these:
1. We are all the same and utterly disposable.
2. Learning is a chore to be endured
3. Absolutely everyone is apathetic and alone.
4. Stick to what you know.
5. Cling to those who agree with you.
6. Playing is pointless.
7. Who cares?
This is why at least once or twice a week I go on Youtube and I watch a few Sesame Street shows. Of course I watch the well-worn, well-known pieces of shows from my childhood. But I also watch the new imaginings that Sesame Street is creating--delightful spoofs of pop songs and current movies that leave me humming or chuckling--and quite often both.
I realize I'm not solving anything by watching Sesame Street.
Nothing is ever solved by watching.
Watching is passive.
But my momentary investments in passivity keep me mindful of those simple lessons that Sesame Street first taught me 44 years ago.
And armed with those lessons, I can turn off the computer, go out the door and do my best to teach them anew.
Until next time.
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