Humans

We're one crazy race--the human race that is. (I did a presentation today on White Privilege and there's lots crazy about that..but that's for another time and another blog).

Ever have one of those days when people surprise you? Either in a negative or positive way? Either way you gotta laugh. I was having one of those days recently. I thought someone was initially being helpful and really this person was just needing to be right. Not helpful....I understand that fallibility in us as humans. We're wrong a lot. So needing to assert "rightness" seems...well... right...?? Our right??? Maybe it makes us feel superior. Maybe it's an alpha dog thing. Anyway, it struck me as funny. I actually laughed.

Then there are opportunities to laugh for joy. My neighbor cleared my driveway in a matter of about 15 minutes after the most recent storm. (It takes me 1.25-1.5 hours to shovel this driveway.) He refused to be paid.

I lived in Buffalo NY for three years. 110-150 inches of snow a year. I was pleased to find my driveway cleared a few times. My neighbor actually felt sorry for me after he saw me outside for the 5th or 6th time trying to keep 7 feet of snow off my driveway during a course of three days. I'd lost the will to shovel. I was so happy I didn't have to go outside yet again, I laughed in joy.

We certainly have a wide range of behavior towards each other.

Seeing things as humorous is often (but certainly not always--obviously) a good way to survive and thrive in the (human) race.

Opinions

Hi all,

I've been away for awhile mainly putting up a very basic web page and managing post-Adult Ed retreat/end-of-semester duties

I wish you a great New Year.

I've also been occupied with learning about the distortion of the media on certain subjects, signing petitions for a variety of causes and wondering what the United States will look like in 20 years. Will the rich continue to get richer and the poor get poorer? How will global warming affect us? How do we get our reputation back as good Americans and not "the bully nation?" Will teachers ever be respected as they once were a generation or two ago?

What is the role of the adult educator in all of this? I find it ironic that Adult Educators are needed more than ever and some AE programs have closed. We are necessary and yet marginalized in many settings. I've decided to focus on working on a couple of intiatives that interest me in order to make a difference and to stop worrying about what others think of Adult Ed. It's amazing what people say when they have no clue how challenging our work is.

I suggest you continue on your mission or find a mission and work on preserving the freedoms that our ancestors fought for. Work for fairness in voting, the first amendment, women's rights, the rights of people of color etc. Fight for environmental issues. Whatever you want. Look at alternative news sources such as www.alternet.com

Fight. Fight. Fight.

Our freedoms of speech, freedom to demonstrate against the government and women's freedom to choose whether to have a child or not are NOT freedoms to take for granted. Look at what happened to African Americans after the Civil War. Hard fought rights were essentially erased between 1865 and 1877.