Up and Down Spring

I know it is coming. Spring is just around the corner. One day it is warm and the next cool. Rain one morning, thunderstorms late in the day and snow the next dawn as we awake. By evening the snow is gone and early spring flowers are pushing up through the soil barely. But they are there and daring to peek out at the hoped for warmth of spring.

So do we all.

This morning, Sunday, it is 40 degrees as we set off for church at 7:30; after church driving home it was 57 degrees. The high is forecast for 62 or higher. We will change clothes, have a great breakfast, and if we do not succumb to a late morning nap (!) we will take a ride into the country, something we haven’t done for many, many months.

I like to view the vistas of fertile but hibernating farm fields. In a few short weeks planting will be underway, and shortly thereafter small green shoots will break forth turning the brown earth softly toward a green tint. Spring will then be official and the great fertility of Illinois farm soils will begin the great crop life of corn, soybean and other crops needed to feed herds of hogs, cattle and dairy cows.

In summer we will experience the bounty somewhat but mainly in fall the harvest will be great. So a ride today at the end of February is to see the hazy blue skies hovering over the sleeping giant of awakening earth. It is something to behold. Many do not understand my excitement on days such as these.

Like spring our nation is stirring as well. We are discussing our future and what it should be like and how to gain access to it. We know we have the talents and skills to make good things happen but we also are aware that burdens lie in obstruction to realizing the gains so many need and deserve.

The argument most commonly heard is – “Get government and its regulations out of the way and progress will be evident!”

I don’t hold with that point of view. I think regulations have a role to play in our complicated society. Greed and manipulation by the power hungry among us need regulations to stem their natural instincts to take advantage of others. Left unchecked their greed will pummel the rest of us.

Food and drug regulations protect the purity and healthiness of our food supply and medicines. Snake oil salesmen may still exist but their job is much more difficult in this day and age to sell junk medicine to the public and take advantage of them. Although there are failures in this area, just imagine how many more failures there would be if no regulations existed to protect us?

Same with food purity, meat inspections and grading of crop quality. People would find ways to cheat others. It is the way of the world here at home and abroad. We may hope for goodness from each person but we know that without regulation, inspection and enforcement people disappoint us with their faulty take on ethics and honesty. It is what it is and thank God we have rules and regulations to protect us.

Need we even go into details about the financial system meltdown and mortgage debacle helped along by relaxation of banking regulations and investment industry safeguards? I think not; the memories from 2007 to today are so much with us!

And with education. What would it be like if only private institutions educated our kids? Do you honestly think everyone would be treated equally and gain access to the highest level of education to match their abilities?  I sincerely doubt that. Look at all the proprietary schools – colleges – and even universities that are private and selling degrees for all kinds of short term technical jobs. Do these students really gain a career from such schools? Do they learn how to learn so they can adapt to a changing career, changing technology and much broader concerns? Is all education vocational?

I think it isn’t nor should it be. Yes we need skills and talents taught to develop trades and abilities that are marketable within our employment circles. But we also need people educated to what is likely to develop over time that will challenge us to adapt much more fully to an unfolding world of experience and career. Learning how to learn is the real objective of education but too many institutions fail to do so. This leaves students stranded over time in useless, out of sync jobs.

Government can, does and should address this issue. Our state universities are tasked with this role. Many people do not understand the role but they benefit from it nonetheless as time marches on. Regulation, management, standard setting – these are the tasks that are thankless but necessary. Cutting budgets for such programs only hinders the effectiveness of government, and opens us all to disasters.

Political campaigns make life too simple. It isn’t. That’s why there are so many layers of issues, problems and solutions in need of public attention. Candidates for public office that don’t address this complexity do dishonor to the electoral process.

It wouldn’t hurt to add a huge dose of civility to this process as well! Oh, when will the November elections get here? Oh right; we are just transitioning from winter to the hoped for spring. November is fall and Thanksgiving time. Maybe that’s why Thanksgiving comes when it does? Whatever. I’ll be thankful for the campaigns being silenced by then!

February 29, 2016