First they came for the teachers…?
November 6, 2007
Hello, everyone reading this -
I've been doing a great deal of thinking about what is happening these days in our city, our schools, our country, the human world, generally.
Thank you to a friend for "First They Came For the Jews."
Aren't we all Jews, Communists, trade unionists? Sometimes I remember to remind the kids I try to teach and guide that we all are, as the Jefferson Airplane (or were they Jefferson Starship by then?) so movingly, achingly put it:
"We are golden, we are stardust."
That means every human on this planet and everything else is related intimately, breathing the same air in and out of our lungs, gills, etc. We are all made, literally, of the same material in different forms and combinations.
All of us are formed, ultimately, of that same "stardust." The differences between us are negligible, insignificant.
Why hurt anyone else? They are “us,” and “me,” in a real sense.
I've decided to read up on the general concept of "attacks on education," trolling Google for writing on said topic. It's been instructive. New Zealand, England, a passel of African countries, the religious right in this country, Reagan, Mexico . . . those who want power OVER other humans and entities, rather than the power to live and create joyously, in partnership with others, human and otherwise, set about to either murder, enslave or zombify thousands and millions of humans.
Denial seems to be the prime mover on both sides of the misery.
The victims of the power-hungry are usually unable to cope with the magnitude of the threat. So we hope for the best, rationalize the torment we're living through, ignore the worse suffering of our neighbors and colleagues, deny that it's harming us so grievously. "It won't happen to us" goes into effect because we don't feel and understand and live the reality that we're ALL stardust and sometimes golden.
The power-hungry are likewise in denial. If THEY felt and understood their inherent and inescapable connection to everyone and everything, they'd have no reason to endlessly accumulate money, things, the ability to rule and harm other human creatures (and others)... Look at the ubiquitous photos of the mayor and the teachers' union president. Do they LOOK like content, joyful, peaceful beings? I don't think so. I think the self-hatred and terrible, terrible inner conviction of their own unworthiness is as apparent in their faces, their eyes, as it is in their actions that cause only unspeakable misery to millions of people living in our city.
The suits and fat cats don't know they're stardust and golden. That would be enough for them. If their denial burst apart, they’d be “us,” we would be “we,” and we could all play happily together in the sandbox and painting corner.
Denial, denial.
Last rumination. I've read a bit lately proclaiming that teachers ought to be held to higher standards of morality and ethics than any other category of people. Why?
There is a fluctuating number or licensed teachers. There are exponentially more mothers, fathers, guardians, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandfathers, grandmothers, babysitters, doctors, etc. Especially the parents, the two biological entities that decided it was a good thing to create and put onto the earth a new, helpless human creature.
Why are not these folk held to high standards, licensed, scrutinized, tested, watched, hounded, sent for professional training? Why is not every single parent, guardian and family member made subject to the same conditions and expectations, if not greater, than what teachers took upon themselves?
Professional teachers spend, comparatively speaking, little time with children. Other adults, most notably family members, are the very containers children grow within from conception to death.
So why us? Why do we take upon ourselves burdens that no one else does?
It used to be, long ago and seemingly far away, that we were beloved, revered, needed and adored just as favorite and marvelous adult family members were cherished, respected, needed, adored.
What happened?
- Sari Slater
New York City
