There is a lot of reactionary behavior that takes place in the human experience. I don't mean on a grand scale or mere interpersonal relationships alone, but in the whole sceme of humanity today, yesterday, in the dawn of our species, and most likely for as long as we continue to exist.
Just because something is common doesn't make it bad, but it does make it common, and when discussing reactionary behavior, sometimes overfilled with emotion and anger. I do feel a good deal of emotion on the ensuing topic, and my thoughts are occasionally laced with some not-so-happy energy. However, allowing myself to act in pure reaction and not on the merits of what is best for myself and those around me would prove a good serving of foolish, especially when I've gone to lengths asking myself if that's what I'm doing before I do it!
Here I am....
In a technology training center for a public school district that like many districts in the United States is scurrying around trying to find a magic solution that doesn't exist to prevent cannibalizing itself due to budget shortfalls. As an educator who has been planning on a career in teaching since the 6th grade, I, like so many am quite concerned over the future of my job, but that isn't at the top of my worry list.
I try not to worry, but I can't help but wonder why the richest nation in the world doesn't have money for one of the most basic functions of an industrialized society??? How much more basic do needs get beyond the education of children, the basic food and shelter requirements of its citizens, and for that same citizenry, access to healthcare?
Without getting too carried away from what is on the top of my mind, I want to give a quick example that I believe we can all connect to.
Imagine that you're enjoying a beautiful, warm, and seemingly perfect spring day with your young child who just celebrated their 2nd birthday. Your spouse just got a big promotion and life couldn't get any better. While the toddler plays in their room, you decide to take a break from "playtime" to turn on the television and see what the networks have to offer since your sabatical to raise a little baby. Before you know it, the golden period of stay-at-home parenting has lost some luster as your now two and half year old is prone to tantrums and whining. You just can't take it sometimes and decide to put the kiddo down with their own tv to view some DVDs they received as birthday gifts! Days go by and before you know it, the Kindergarten teacher informs you that your dear angel is behind the class in reading and is not playing well with others. You can't wait to get home for a drink before CSI starts (it's a new episode!). Time keeps doing what time does, and while the drinks still taste great and you're constantly amazed with how the writers can keep coming up with such awesome plots... your now defunct marriage and effectively worthless relationship with your teenaged child are long established as issues you don't even want to think about... but it still makes you sad sometimes when you think about those first two years. You hate looking back...
I remember my childhood. Dad worked, mom raised us, and things were going pretty darned well. In addition to my childhood, I can also see the same present conditions that I believe MOST of us can see. I don't know how many more distractions can keep popping into existence in the forms of so much media and gadgetry, but I can safely bet my life that they will continue to come. In global comparrison, this society is a toddler, and us as her people may have turned the attentive eye of a good parenting body toward things that might not make us proud one day, and I'd hate to look back...
