Still Trying to Process

Still Trying to Process

     Friends. I.CAN’T.EVEN.  I’m still trying hard to process everything I heard and learned at the Bridging to Resilience Conference I attended in Overland Park, KS last week. 

     I am humbled to have been in the company of such brave and courageous young people, who shared their stories of hope.  I think that’s the thing that has hit me the hardest.  These young people, who have experienced poverty, abuse, homelessness, addictions, bullying; the list could go on and on.  These young people bravely got up on the stage, in front of nearly 400 people, and shared their stories.  Now their stories of courage and of hope, and of resilience should be a lesson to us all!  These teens are nothing short of amazing!

     The brave women, who were part of a parent panel, who also shared their brave stories; stories of how their poverty, their addictions, their abusive situations, impacted the lives of their children.  They shared the hard work they each put forth in order to have a better life for themselves and their children.  In addition, they shared very real, very painful ways that we, as educators, put them in difficult spots.  Home visits (“Do you want me coming into your home and passing judgment?  Even if that judgment is unintentional, we can see it on your faces.”).  Classroom requests (“Billy needs a sack lunch for the field trip...tomorrow.  Folks.  I don’t have dollar one in my pocket to do this on such short notice.”)  We do these families such a huge disservice when we don’t seek to understand their circumstances, friends!  So powerful!

     Because I’m still processing, I’m going to leave this blog here, for now, and blog more later, as I continue to process.  These people are the ones that touched me the most.  These once-broken, resilient, courageous people who shared their most personal stories with those of us blessed enough to attend this conference.

What Kind of World Are We Leaving Future Generations?

What kind of world are we leaving for our children and grandchildren?  We are very quickly becoming a nation that has little regard for human life.  Upset over a break up?  Shoot up your high school.  Don’t like someone whose beliefs or the color of their skin is different from yours? Kill them.  Is this really the world we want for future generations? 
Where is empathy?  Where is “love your neighbor as yourself?”  Where is talking through problems, issues, concerns?  Where is responsibility? 

We are becoming a world where the only way we communicate with each other is through electronics.  I can't begin to tell you the number of children I see on electronics when I go to the grocery store!  Instead of giving them electronics, talk to them about environmental print, colors, shapes, counting, sorting.  I could go on and on!  Will it take more time?  Yes! Are you building relationships with your children? YES! What's more important?  Getting your shopping done as quickly as possible, or building relationships with your child(ren)?  Not too long ago, I was in a store when I saw a grubby little boy ask his mom if he could have a book.  Yes, A BOOK!  Do you know what his mom said to him?  "Go put that damn thing back!  You know I can't get you that and still get my cigarettes!"  True story!  Put down your devices, think about your child,  and TALK and LISTEN to one another.  The art of human conversation is on a rapid decline.  No one listens to each other any more.  We’re all too busy on our electronic devices.  Relationships aren’t important anymore-just things.  It’s a crisis in our very culture.  What is it going to take to turn this culture crisis around? It’s becoming a culture where things are more important than people.  Where life holds very little value.  We need to build up and value our relationships with one another. I’m very worried for future generations.
This quote is taken from an emergency room doctor: “It is the result of a "crisis of culture", a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on luxuries and vices while refusing to take care of one's self. It is a culture based on the irresponsible credo that ‘I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me’.”
We need to teach our children the importance of relationships with other human beings, that it’s okay to be different, that it’s okay to look different, that it’s okay to have different likes and dislikes, without having huge arguments about who’s right and who’s wrong!  I explicitly teach my students the difference between fact and opinion.  “Mrs. Jenkins!  _______ says my picture is ugly.”  Fact or opinion?  It’s just someone else’s opinion and if you like it, that’s okay, while then teaching the other person that it’s not okay to say mean things to their classmate, how to disagree, and the art of apology.  Those are all things our children need to learn.  Maybe if we can teach them these things, the world they will live in, as adults, will be a less cruel place to be.