Update

Lately I have encountered time issues and, as a result, the frequency of this blog will become a little erratic and the posts, maybe, a little shorter.  My future efforts will be towards increasing member support through my Patreon account.  If you would like to see more about what I’m doing there, click here. 

Thanks, again, for being a reader.

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The Blues

Can a country have the blues?  Of course, and we’ve got it.  A lot of good things happen in the good old USA, but we have what seems like more than our share of ugly and sad shootings.  I have several thoughts on guns, some of which I’ve shared before, and ideas on how to stop some of this nonsense.  I would also guess, so do you.  It all gets to be blah, blah, blah—what’s the fuckin’ point?

Some day we will figure this out, just not anytime soon.

Our schools are dangerous and ineffective.  Teachers are demonized for working hard with low wages and trying their best to teach unteachable children.  Public education may have run its course, time to try a different approach.

My experience with school was a mixed bag of great joy and great sadness.  I had success and felt the shame of failure.  All in what, at the time, seemed like a sheltered environment with caring adults ready to assist with amazing support.  There were exceptions (a long list of gym teachers who should never had been allowed to be around children) but most of the people in my school memories were exceptionally kind and generous.

Not sure teachers have changed, but there is no doubt that our attitude about teachers and education have changed.  We now demand results, like we’re dealing with a plumbing problem, not the unbelievably complicated problem of how to educate kids who carry around in their pocket access to the most destructive information ever offered to children, who live in an environment where everyone is busy and bemoans the future like it’s a curse.  The joy of childhood has been stolen by adults.

We, adults, have messed things up.  How often do you hear someone talk about the wonderful future that awaits these kids?  Politicians talk in angry voices about how awful everything is, without even a hint of what they might do to make it better. 

What does the future look like to a twelve-year-old?  A smart twelve-year-old will see a world on the verge of destruction, climate change, nuclear war set off by one of the loonies running a country, no clean water, food shortages, viruses; the future is not pretty.  How does it feel to live in a world with such a bleak outlook?

Adults, all adults, need to talk to children about the great opportunities that lie ahead to make a better world.  One not dominated by wealth but fairness.  One not dominated by elites but by compassionate leaders.  One of the biggest lies this country was founded on was “All men are created equal”, every kid knows that is not true; but we should be saying, we can make it true.  Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is not some abstract ideal, it is an achievable goal for everyone.  But we can not accomplish any of that in a world dominated by hate.

Education is still the key to a better future.  Not an education conducted by cult leaders or con artists, but education that focuses on the future and the greatness that can be achieved with open minds.  I don’t know what education will look like in the future, but let’s hope it will focus on creativity, imagination, objective facts, compassion, understanding and forgiveness.