Challenge and Possibility

Busy times. Even for a retiree. Family doings and household chores. Significant birthdays and chaotic public news. Cycles of news. A wave of happenings and opinions about those happenings endlessly crashing onto the beaches of our consciousness.

How to process it all. When to think new thoughts. When to think big. And when to just shut down for a while and rest the mind.

We watched the Olympics. Not a lot, but several hours here and there. Thrilled by the energy and skills of the competitors. Disappointed by national standings, especially America’s. Yet, in the end, it was sports that won, athleticism and personal discipline. That focus is where it belongs, not on national honors or brand identity. The Olympics is about the global community coming together to display its commonality. That we are the same the world over is a message we all need to learn. It is not about nations separated by ideology or walls or even mountain ranges. Or which nation is superior to another.

My mother turned 104 last Saturday. Although that is a major accomplishment for any of us, she is not happy. She is very tired and wants to go ‘home’. She is very much aware she is consuming resources others could use for better purpose. Regardless of her thoughts, her body simply won’t quit. And her kids are aging towards a long future as well. Yikes! I don’t want to last that long. It is burdensome and exhausting. I understand her thinking on this. And yet life goes on. Day after day after months of the same.

Current events unfold daily, the most exciting being the outcome of the Parkland, Florida school shooting. Here the victims that survived are now the heroes. They have taken a leadership role not because they wanted to, but because they had to; if not them, who? I feel pride for their sense of community and duty. Proud that they might step up and lead the world to a better place. Idealism aside, these young people are articulate and willing to stand up and be counted. And there seems to be little brashness about their demeanor. Pride I have for them. Yes!

Awakenings on other fronts as well: women’s issues ought not be a surprise; they represent 50% of the population of the globe, for God’s sake. Why shouldn’t they assume the mantel of their natural power and grace? They have reason to speak their truth and we ought welcome it.

Respect for the planet and its resources is gaining natural ground. Citizens everywhere are supporting commonsense policies and regulations. Government support would be nice, but it is not necessary for success. It is we the people who can do this. The power has always been with us. Only the outcome is needed for definition; once known, it is natural how we achieve it.

The same in education. What we need and want as an outcome may be more attainable than we thought. It is personal, education. The student and a peer student. The student and teacher. The student and family. Those are the primary ingredients for exploring life and world and then making sense of it. Respecting discovery for its own value and what it informs our brains, that is education. Unshackle it for commonsense and desired outcomes.

Embracing change seems more natural today than it did only a year ago. We know change happens. Rather than fight it and delay it, welcome it. Anticipate it. Prepare for it. Encourage it. Youth see it and know it to be good. It is exhilarating when confronted with the right attitude. It is depressing and exhausting with the wrong attitude. And that leads to fear of the unknown with no realization of what that fear costs us.

Better to cast off fear and breathe in fresh ideas and potential. That’s what we ask of our young people as they grow into adulthood. We were asked to do that in our youth. We were expected to take on the challenges. Why not them? And why should we burden them with expectations of a dated nature? We have had our chance to run the world. We haven’t done that great a job. So now it is another generation’s role to play.

I, for one, am excited and enthused with this prospect. They have the energy. They have the appreciation of education, and they see the world as it is and can be. Both perspectives are needed. The reality and the possibility – a golden opportunity to live life better and on its terms.

It’s a good thing. A very good thing.

February 26, 2018