Who’s the Foe?

Loaded the groceries into the car in the parking lot. Large pickup truck in front of the car, revving his loud stoked engine, truck with huge oversize tires, a mudder, maybe. Driver was late teens or early 20’s, mouthing “…fucking old people…”  Evidently he wanted our car out of the way so he could more easily forward through our spot and exit the lot. His vehicle, after all, was a behemoth.

Foul mouthed and impatient. He treated the older person with disrespect. Who was the foe in this equation? The old person doing his thing steadily and purposefully, or the young guy who wanted the world to move out of his way?

And who should do what about that? Anything? Would it matter?

Ansel Adams made this statement:

“It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.”

Adams lived from 1902 to 1984 and was wildly popular because of his black and white landscape photography. His time preceded the huge gains made by America’s Environmental Protection Agency. So much has been done to protect and preserve the environment since his early days. Still, more needs to be done. Back then, however, he could not believe how stubborn government leaders were in protecting the environment. And of course still more needs to be done.

But in his day he realized our own government was the enemy of sorts.

Inside government circles there are others questioning friend and foe, the identify of…..  Take for example, Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Senator (Democrat). She recently said:

“If Wall Street can borrow money at .075% interest…so can college students. We need to stop treating students as profit centers.”

Indeed! Student loans not only earn the stated interest paid by the student, but also the benefit to society they will later bring in enhanced family earnings, taxes, and healthy economic development. Society gains by several measures when as many students as possible seek self improvement through education.

The other aspect of Sen. Warren’s statement is this: interest rates are all over the board. Truth be told, trillions of dollars are unused and just sitting, That is the primary reason interest rates are so low. Yet auto loans still perk from 4% to 8%, and home mortgages also run mostly from 4.5% to 7.5%. Why? Many dollars are begging to be borrowed. Good and provident purposes of the loans will provide new housing, new cars, and all of the attendant financial benefits pertaining to both of these markets. Yet interest rates charged belie that market reality.

Another example of friend or foe:

“…Hiding your children from a crazed gunman in Newtown and getting shot while protecting them...You adore educators when they’re using their body to shield your kids from a falling wall in the middle of a tornado in Oklahoma.

But let that teacher have the nerve to ask for job security or reasonable pay or a manageable workload and all of a sudden we’re crazy union thugs.” ~Andy Dicker

A dedicated teacher.  A good teacher. A teacher who cares and follows through to help students see the world as fully as possible, as potentially fulfilling for the student’s life over the long haul. Teachers who study continually to be sure they are learning the latest in their field, and developing effective methods to teach students. Learning about negative learning environments so they can be overcome for the benefit of the kids.  These are how we want to feel about teachers overall and the teachers for the most part fulfill our expectation. Yet we often don’t want to pay the full freight for them.

My experience has been consistently good with teachers. Almost every one I've known or been associated with has been excellent and well worth their salary and benefits. Yet at budget time we short them reasonable compensation year after year.

Who is the foe in this relationship? Who is the friend? The public record would suggest the opposite of what we want to say is true.

I think it is easy to sweep problems under the rug. It is easy to ignore the rowdy, disrespectful youth, to turn away from teacher demands, to place unreasonable demands on our government representatives – both elected and professional – but we cannot do that forever. There comes a time we need to take notice of these issues and allow them to be solved. If we think we cannot afford some of these things, then reduce the budget elsewhere while the high priorities are attended to appropriately. Don’t fight reality.

The more we allow good things to go smothered with negative and complicated situations, the longer we allow those problems to fester and grow, the bigger they are the more difficult it is to solve them.

Let’s be realistic and learn who the true friends and foes are so we can get back to doing the things that matter for the good of us all.

March 6, 2014