I just watched the "Obama at school" video that everybody was raving about a few weeks ago. It's really hard to believe that there were parents out there actively preaching against it.
What? He said, basically, "study, do your homework".
Wow. What a concept. It isn't as though almost every president (and his wife for that matter) has done this.
And, even that I'm writing this makes no sense; it's so damned basic.
you've got assholes and kids that try. You've got people that pick on people and those that get picked on, etc., etc. There are those that weak and need our strength to go forward.
That's my key to survival. I try everyday to empower people, mostly young people. I've had many failures, and at times, it deeply disheartened me. But for each person I was able to reach, I found a bit of myself in them, and thus, empowered myself to go on. I'm a social worker, have been for nearly two decades. It's a low-paying, difficult, sometimes harshly challenging career. When I was a high school student I excelled at just about every subject (except sports). I made decision in college and later in grad school that made my family quite irate, because they knew I would never drive a nice car or own the best home. At times, I must admit, it hit me hard as a brick when I realized those things would not come to me. Never-the-less, I continued to try to help people, just folks, your everyday man, woman or child.
Like Obama alluded to his his speech, I was not only challenging myself or my future, I was challenging the future.
So, with mostly democratic and liberal readers of these blogs, I accept that all of you understand where I'm coming from. But for a few, you may rave on about the "president brainwashing our kids".
Well, I know my son watch the address and, believe me, not being a fan of brainwashing, I dearly pray for an exception in the case.
It has been a very long time since I was really touched by a speech given by a politico. I have grown older and much more jaded. The last 30 years of my life have been, arguably, the most difficult period in this country's history. Excuse me to those who survived the Great Depression and WWII, but at least, in my estimate, people seemed united. The last thirty years have seen a division among our citizens, unmatched. So, this atmosphere, this zeitgeist, if you will, has formed my social and political ideologies.
When the President of the United States gives a speech (in my life-time), I have expected to be angry, ashamed, demoralized, and the list goes on. But this time, it was different. No, he did not outline the plans for a New World Order (thank God), but he was genuine, remarkable in his integrity and passionate, not about over-throwing Castro or making the stock-market soar, but about children, a class of kids like millions of others around the world. And, I hope some of it sunk in. The United States, sadly, is behind many nations that the UN rightly calls "third-world" in the quality of education our children receive.
Rightly, I think, then, I expect this president to do anything and everything to further our success in education. He stated to those children that he expected them to "do their homework and listen to their teachers". I expect, as all likely would, that he, too, do his homework and listen to the the very learned men and women who have given up their lives to join the ranks of his advisors.
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