Title possibilities are chasing each other round and round inside my head. There is so much to say. so much to do. Which would be the most meaningful title? A quandary indeed. but not as serious as the fact that there are so many titles from which to choose. We can begin with “Liar, liar, pants on fire” referring to a champion liar of the first order, Trump himself, and his uncanny ability to gin up lies, each more outlandish and preposterous than the one before, and worse, his inexplicable ability to get people to buy into the lies - simply astounding and frightening. Quite so. At least 12 lies within that bizarre speech Tuesday night - and counting.
Additionally, we have the statement within that same speech where Trump warns Hamas or else. Unless they return all hostages living and dead, the dead far more in number, at this point, all matters of hellfire will rain down upon them. That Hellfire to take the form of the Israeli army once again to enter Gaza to finish the job. It is good to finally hear an unequivocal statement of support for Israel and for what she must do emanating from the mouth of a President of the United States.
However, again, sadly so, this President is an unsteady fractured support beam upon which to rely. He's hampered in making long term decisions, as his increasingly demented mind is mercurial in ability and conduct, changing sides, taking back statements or making absurd decisions and setting this world afire. At present time, it behooves Israel to take him at his word. and go in and finish the job. Prevent yet another attempt to pour in a flood of those beasts entering Israel, to wreak havoc and slaughter, all those "militants and innocent civilians"! Bring back our hostages, as many as can be found and trash the joint. A true "never again". No more strangled babies. Starved people. Battered and raped women. Murdered elderly. No more. F*** the world if they disagree! Time already. More than time.
Another apt title might be "The Case of the Dangerously Dumb University", or "The University That Failed", Why do we persist in sending our children off to the myriad campuses of the enemy? There our children face a diabolical state of being. On the one side we have those who are battered and torn by words and blows. Blood curdling epithets, and threats follow in their wake as they walk the battlegrounds of the campus. Or these same children submit to brainwashing and allow themselves to be co-opted into standing on those lines, vandalizing the rooms and buildings of these universities, and call out for their own bloody demise.
University physical property is pillaged by those who channel the Vikings of old and the murderers of today. Our 'Institutes of Higher Learning" have failed us, denied our culture and inheritance, glorified cultures of others, even as the proper path is clear. All cultures, all histories should be presented, always outlined with truth - good, bad or indifferent. We have minds steady enough, enlightened enough, knowledgeable enough, and determined enough to halt this wayward train of thought in its tracks and engineer a quick reversal, back to the truths of the past buried deep. Develop a true inclusion, for once truth is up front and personal, the false underpinnings of prejudice, of virulent hatred will fall by the wayside. ALL will be accepted into the hall of humanity. We will inhale the lessons of the past which can help us build a better world today even as we actively pay attention to our sorting and evaluation, as we discard the chaff, and keep the meritorious, thus enabling an education positive in outlook and contribution to the future of ALL humanity, no more 'others'.
A mammoth task. One which must begin with the songs we teach our babies, the lessons we present in kindergarten. and all the facts and theories they learn as they progress through the educational system. That would include real time experiences, be it within classroom, the schoolyard and within any point of contact. Why not?
Desperately in need of relief, of a total reformatting of education, in its content and goals, why the hell not? Billions of dollars and zillions of hours every year are expended in a repetitive fruitless search. for the "New” way to educate. And the result? A refurbished barely changed system replicating much of the past with little of the future evident. Parents, teachers, senior educators all chase after that pot of educational gold, but the end of that rainbow always eludes us. We buy the same books with new covers. Over and done.
This world focuses on chat boxes and robots and tech and little technological advances. In so doing we forget that bottom and top and all around are humans. Their needs differ from those chat boxes. The more the intermingling we do with these robotic apparitions the faster we lose our humanity. A deep study would reveal the similarities of various cultures, the same desires, the same yearnings, the same fears, the same needs and motivations. Most probably presented in different manner, but naught is condemned or judged, but rather learned in proper context and with the progress of humanity in mind. Not chat boxes.
Is this possible? I think so. It will require our students to have open minds. and receptive brains. They will have to learn how to evaluate using understanding and avoiding preconceived judgmental thinking. Internalized must be part and parcel of the system and put into practice, lessening the dichotomy of classroom and life.
Bringing something like this to fruition needs more than money. Required are open minds of educators and parents. Adults will have to be taught new values as well, a possible retrenching of heretofore accepted truisms along with the ability to speak freely, creatively, with no fear of loss of job or pressure of any other kind. Obviously, our new educational system must be neither harsh nor rigid, and present change as sensible, logical and necessary, nor foreign to their lives. Sensible changes containing a flexibility within the structure but allowing, encouraging, of and for creativity and thinking out of the box.
A pipe dream? Maybe, but a glorious one, one I dreamed of, doodled about during many frustrating moments in my career. Always people eager to improve and innovate, and always those afraid to change, frightened of other ways of thinking, of change, of seeing children via different eyes, those stodgy, unable to move off a dime, who always bought the same texts with new covers. For them the world never changes. Enrichment. merely means more worksheets to complete rather than perhaps the creation of new sheets of new projects, of new ideas, new attitudes, of enrichment coming from out of the box, from a new direction with new possibilities.
Well. this posting certainly went in another direction, other than I had thought it would be. That's okay. At times I still enjoy dreaming, thinking of what could be, what could have been, what should be. Perhaps. with giant steps taken and bravery afoot we could actually engender a new generation of children. They will not seek trouble nor douse themselves in futile hate. Not to grow up as cruel adults unable to see the values within all. If we do not, we will continue. to grow crops riddled with flaws.
The result would be no change. or even worse. Simply look around the world. Wars. Bestial behavior. Total ugliness and a world bereft of hope. Truly the enemy of mankind is mankind, and we had better get used to the idea that we must make radical changes if we are going to continue to exist in civilized safe manner upon this planet.
Have we already begun to change in some ways in some places? Yes. but not enough. Too fragmented. Can we take the past and apply to today? Yes, that too. But I believe our goal is only possible if we put it all together plus more. Together create a world where the tomorrows are so much better than the yesterdays and the todays.
Perhaps -
On the morrow.
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