Education

When did teachers become the problem? When did teachers become the scapegoat? When did the teachers become the bane of our existence?

As with all professions, there are good and bad and mediocre teachers.

Suddenly, though, all teachers have become this greedy ill-motivated beings, who care less about educating our youth, and more about bigger salaries and retirements.

Wait. We are talking about teachers? In our country?

What?

Maybe I've been living in my little naive world. A world where all the teachers I have ever met have wanted to do the best job as humanly possible.

A world where all conversations I've ever had with teachers consisted of discussing what they are doing to get kids to learn and to make the experience interesting and fun, and all the red tape that was stopping them from doing this.

Talks about all the parents who were standing in the way of the education of the youth.

I dont recall ever discussing how much more money they can get. Or health care.

When our kids hear us undermining teachers as a whole, it diminishes their level of respect and their ability to learn from such teachers.

How do you learn when your parents are telling you how little the teachers care about you? How do you sit in the classroom and not feel and intense confusion, indignation, disappointment?

We need to give teachers all the tools they need to educate our youth. Not shackle them to test scores. Not require all sorts of things that teachers have vociferously denounced.

Why are we pitting teachers against each other?

Why are we pitting teachers against parents?

In all cases our kids are losing.

To conduct this fight in this way shows a disrespect for our youth.

When are we going to stand up against this? When are we going to step into the lives of our youth?

And start acting like role models instead of juvenile delinquents. 

Community is the Future

America was built on the concept of the individual. Immigrants came here to get a new start, to get away from oppression, to find riches, to have a chance to earn a living. We deeply value more so than anywhere else, our independence and individualism.

Yet, what helped our ancestors survive was community. And what will help us survive is still community.

The adage that "it takes a village to raise a child" is entirely true. We have taken the village out of that process, to the detriment of our children, and several generations now.

But we can build up community now. Everyday. In a myriad of ways. Be creative.

On my mind is a school levy that is up in Brecksville next month. The residents haven't passed a levy since 2004, and aren't keen on passing this one.

I cannot think of anything as important as our investments in education and our children.

But money is not really the point of my blog today. There are lots of real and imagined money issues at stake here. Lots of retired individuals live in this city. Rising taxes are a real threat to them.

There have been horrible attacks on the teachers themselves, as though they were money-grabbing zealots bent on the destruction of the city. The tone is vicious and bend the truth more often than not.

Division is never the answer. Ever. (unless its a math problem ...)

All arguments the harbour division are missing the point entirely. The point is we can already change things on our own without the school board or city, state or national governments.

There is a solution to our education woes.

As funding gets stripped away year by year. As programs (such as the arts) get destroyed and annihilated. As busing disappears. As companies leave and tax bases fade away. There is something we all can do.

Community.

Each of us, like it or not, are members of at least one community. There is a neighborhood we all live in. Many of us don't even know our neighbors.

It's time to meet them.

We all have special and unique talents and passions and availabilities. We have so much to offer each other.

Children can learn from neighbors. Neighbors can learn from the children.

And we can all help each other.

Neighborhood carpooling can be established to get kids to and from school and activities. Just as an example.

Yes, I'm talking about friendship, camaraderie, and bartering. It works. It's more effective than any private or government company or office.

Things like time banks are our future. (http://www.timebanks.org/)

Today's the day it starts. And you know, we have an even better opportunity. We have physical and digital communities and neighborhoods. We all have a larger sphere of friends and neighbors who can helps us, and we can help in turn.

It is truly a Love Revolution.

Viva L'Amour!

Tolerance

Tolerance and acceptance are big words - big catch phrases of late. I've mentioned them many times. It's hard not to.

These concepts have always been used as a way for us all to allow people to be themselves.

However, I read this quote from Sri Sri Ravi Shankar last night, that utterly changed my view on these words.

(from Celebrating Silence)

Neither accept people as they are nor tolerate them.

Many people think tolerance is a virtue but tolerance is actually a negative term. If you like something, you do not have to tolerate it. Tolerance indicates a deep sense of dislike that can at any time turn into hatred. It indicated a sense of separateness, small mindedness, a limitation of consciousness.

When you tolerate, it is a temporary state. Tolerance is a potential volcano. If you are tolerating, it means you are just holding on. Acceptance is also negative. You accept that which is not lovable. Tolerance and acceptance come with judgement and separation.

Questions: "But aren't we supposed to accept people as they are?"

If you do not love them, then you have to accept them. I tell you, do not accept people as they are. Just love them as they are."

---
This is what we are called to do. This is what our nature desires for us. This is what society desperately is waiting for. Of course, it isn't the easy option. It is the path of work, of constant struggle.

And of real enlightenment.

Animals

http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/can-animals-save-us/we-second-that-emotion

Read this article. Let's discuss. Animals lead exceptually emotional lives.

FAQ

Why am I vegan?

I am vegan because I have professed my life to the path of nonviolence. Plain and simple, Compassion is my faith. This is a goal which is a constant strivation to attain, and likely I never will be as compassionate as I hope to be. But I cannot partake of the flesh and secretions of animals without aknowledging and perpetuating the terrible violence that goes into not only the food iteself, but the mindset it takes in our society to commit such painful actions. I believe in a God of Love. There is no reason that any one of us needs to eat any part of animals to survive on this planet, and since there is a choice, I have chosen that of Compassion.

Nothing's changed in millenia, we are still having wars, more violently than ever. What's the point in protesting?

The arc of the Universe is long, but it bends toward Justice. The point of protesting is speak out against violence and injustice. I cannot control the outcome. But I can stand with all my heart for nonviolence. By not speaking out, for whatever the reasons, we side with the violent and unjust.

What can I do? Im just one person.

One is a powerful number. Everything in existence is just energy. We are constantly influencing each other in very molecular and vibrational planes. You can be 100% in every situation you're in. Again, by not doing anything, even if it's because you're overwhelmed, it is siding with the unjust and violent. It is our duty to stand up. The outcome is not ours to determine. But the outcome is guarenteed if we do nothing.

How do you stay positive?

It's because Im vegan. (Haha, just kidding). There is no other option. We are either filled with hope and Love or we are defeated. I refuse to live defeated, since that is a state we put ourselves in. We can really make large strides on the local level and in our own communities.     

Truth

Recently, I had a conversation with someone who insisted that his "facts were 100% accurate."

We all do this.

Our opinion is right, and we find whatever factual context we can to back it up. There is nothing wrong with this. The only point of contention here is that in this search for facts, we should eagerly look at the other side's facts as well.

And this is where it breaks down.

Usually, if we hear the other side's argument, we are either only half listening, or listening solely to argue. Or we are hearing their side skewed through a website or news outlet with a bias or agenda.

You see, we all have facts.

We all have truths.

As Bruce Van Horn stated, "one of the most important trips a man can make is that involved in meeting the other fellow halfway."

A good exercise I heard once is to sit with a few other people and have each person tell an experience. Any kind of experience. The one I was a part of asked us to speak of something that brings us conflict currently. A situation, a person, etc. These stories are supposed to simply be the facts, not coloured with observation - just what is happening. The other folks listen to this story. While listening, you don't think about what story you are going to tell. You just listen. (This is really hard!) You don't ask questions. You don't give verbal cues; you just listen.

Then, at the end, you share what you visualized, or what from each story stuck out to you.

It's a powerful exercise.

Each time we enter into a discussion with anyone, we really need to flip our objective. Too often we start a conversation with the goal to persuade the other side, or at least to defend our side.

Our true goal should be to gain knowledge. We should enter into every discussion with our minds open to being changed, challenged, or converted.

In order to take this step, we have to realize that the other person holds truth as well as you do.

Let us meditate upon the words of Frederick Ward Kates:

Beauty I have learned from the ugly, charity from the unkind and peace from the turmoil of the world.

Nonviolence

What is important is the journey.

I began this path on nonviolence, consciously, a few years ago. My eyes opened to other views and worlds, and a broader meaning of the idea of compassion during the course of about 6 months or so.

My father was diagnosed with the inoperable pancreatic cancer.

That day began as any other. Possibly a lunch meeting. Some errands. When I got home, my parents wanted to talk to me, both with tears in their eyes. And out came the news. And then we all went off to a show I had in Garrettesville. The moment was deeply surreal, and in fact, it took a few days before it really started to sink in. Actually, I'd be lying if I said it didn't really sink in until he began chemo. The days when he was violently ill became more prevalent than days when he felt good enough to take a drive or go out to get some food. He began wasting away, right in front of us.

And the doctors could care less.

As long as we were paying their invoices, of course ...

Like in the Truman show, when a stage light falls into Truman's way, and he has to question what is this that he thinks is his life, when he realizes that his world is not the full picture, so was I. Seeing the nasty side of humanity, the neatherparts of how we systematically treat each other, only made me question more.

With each question came, instead of an answer, more questions.

As we walk down our paths of enlightenment, which is where I feel we all are ultimately yearning to reach, the path is made out of questions, not answers.

The longer we stay on this path, the less important the answers become. Understanding is the gate to compassion and thus enlightenment. Understanding does not come from answers but the experience of questioning.

The act of questioning is a process. It is a life-long process. It is every bit as important in middle age or in our golden years as it is as a young person.

Where our questions lead us, we cannot tell in the present. We must trust the process, and that we are heading to our goal. But we have to make sure we are moving toward compassion. The only answers that are untruthful are ones that point to violence and intolerance.

Our own process will probably bring us to the same questions over and over again. They may resurface at different points along this journey.  And they might always lead us to the same conclusions. This is important to keep in mind.

We must also remember that it is a process. Having a major moral breakthrough today does not mean that we will never have to have that same breakthrough again.

A good example of this in my own life is the ideas of pro-choice vs. pro-life. I like this example, because people are heavily divided, and we rarely look at the other sides view of these very polarizing views. Plus, I believe a lot of views that we hold strongly to, might not even be our views. There are a lot of opinions we tout as our own that are actually the product of our parents, or society's brainwashing. I do not intend the word "brainwashing" to be as harsh as it sounds. Our society holds certain truths to be self-evident that we are strongly discouraged from questioning. And so we don't.

Now, I'd like to present an example of questioning that I have done recently. This came about through a conversation about Ohio's state house of representitives members calling a fetus to testify on one of the most extreme anti-abortion bills in the nation.

I am only going to address the abortion aspect of this issue. I do not want to get into the hypocrisy of those that use the term pro-life while supporting war, the death penalty and the eating of animals.

This has always been a difficult issue, and it has gotten even more so recently. As I have fervently devoted my life to nonviolence, it becomes at a very principled level, morally impossible to support any form of violence. In meditating on nonviolence, I am constantly aware of the violence inherent in our language and phrases. And many other places.

Does this mean that I am perfect? Of course not. I am far from such a title. Am I any furhter along my path than other people? I think that's an impossible question to answer as we are all on a different path, though it might be similar. It's also not the question we really need to be asking, I don't think. We should not care about where we are on our paths, especially in comparison to others. This is not a competition. Everybody reaches the goal. Everybody wins. It might be soon or it might be one thousand lifetimes from now.

But my goal should be to constantly question.

While I can't morally supoprt abortion, I feel at some level unable to morally oppose it. The problems for me arise in the context.

Many abortions are the result of situations caused by our society. Though the individual does make a decision, it is a lot of times a decision that our scoiety has given her no alternative to.

The societal context here is that what is needed, is not the outlaw of abortions, but the prevention of the situation that could lead to this outcome. This is a difficult and complex problem. There is not one magic answer. Education is very important. As it is to realize that people, especially young people, have very strong natural urges and hormones. This does not mean we need to accept that excuse, simply to understand that it is an obsticle. Also is the issue of parental involvement. When parents don't care, there is a good chance that the child will be more likely to act out, or to follow their natural urges for their own pleasure.

This is certainly not entirely the fault of the child. Economic issues and poverty also play a very large role. When our society creates a system where people in poverty cannot escape its heavy grasp, where education is poor, where employment is not viable or not enough to sustain, where for various reasons children may be forced to be on their own without either constructive role models, or parents deeply over-worked to the point of being unable to pay as much attention as they'd like, we have a broken system that creates outcomes. Violence is part of this outcome, as well. Which is why it is important to work at fixing these problems, rather than demonize all who find themselves in these situations. In fact, I feel we need to be more compassionate for people in these times.

I feel it a moral disservice to ostrasize and make illegal the act, without offering valid alternatives.

Making abortion fully illegal (even when the mother's life is at risk, or in the case of rape or incest), will not get rid of this act. Just as outlawing cocaine has not made it disappear, or alcohol, as history pointed out dramatically in the prohibition.

Without education, economic changes, and societal understanding, people unready to have children will find themselves in this situation. Especially as teen pregnancies rise, and puberty hits earlier and earlier (thanks to hormones inherent and added to the diary products we encourage our children to ingest), people find themselves in a nealry insurmountable situation. They are outcast by the churches, by the school, possibly by their parents. Too often, I hear of communties and governments calling rape victims "accusers" instead of victims. It seems our society, to a great extent, would rather pass judgement rather than try to help each other.

And now we face the only alternatives, such as organizations to help the people who find themselves in this situation, and they are continually underfunded or unfunded. How do you tell a 15 year old who made a bad decision that they need to have that child, but they must do it completely on their own. Perhaps because the organization that helps teen mothers learn to be parents has lost its funding, and needed to shut its doors. Plus, is it the government's place to make a law about this? What is the punishment, jailtime? To look to locking up people as an answer is not a path of compassion, as there is little help in jails to help people fit back into society, especially those that could fit into society with some counciling, job training, and education. It also can't be some sort of councilling, since there is no funding for that, especially in our current financial climate, and to mandate more unfunded programs only leads to to continuance of the cycle.

If we focus on the context, then I feel issues like this will diminish. Perhaps it's learning to look at the big picture, even when we're in the very thick of the trees. It's not easy. Difficulty is not a reason to back down though.

At the same time, I can't say that we should encourage people to have abortions. And so it goes, the more we look into this situation, and most situations.

These are examples of questioning I think we all need to go through on ALL of our opinions.
   
I also think it's important to note that we do not have to agree with someone's point of view. But we have to look at it. To actually try to understand it - beyond the talking points. We need to find the context, and understand that person's reality. That is really tough, but very important nonetheless.

I know I find myself putting that person in my shoes, at least as much I put myself in that person's shoes.

It's my hope that this prompts some good discussion. And helps people to begin questioning, to continue questioning, and to realise that not knowing the answer isn't a bad thing.