The other day I attended an meeting at my Church, they have decided it was time to make some much needed changed to the religious education of the middle school youth program. It was time to re-evaluate how they approached the faith formation of youth, what books to use, if any, what grades will be changed and how do we change it… All questions that need answers, along with a million others.
The process of change is hard, as everyone knows, no one likes change, and God knows the Catholic Church does not come to change easily, this is true for the local parish as much as for the Vatican. Change with in the Church is a slow moving process, and for the most part I thing that is a good thing. The Church is not an institution that should change with every new fad in faith. Her traditions and teachings must remain constant, the stability of the Church is one of her strong points. But sometimes even the most simplest of changes take time. Lets face it, the Church moves slow.
Well, back the the meeting, my parish has decided that change is needed, that we must approach the youth is a format and fashion that appeals to them, and I’m sorry, most of what is currently offered as “religious formation” is nothing but memorization of religious facts. Really, facts = faith? Knowing the prayers of the faith is important, memorizing bible passages is important, but does that make one faithful?
Lets look at it in a different light…
Learning math, 2+2=4, does not make me a mathematician, it makes me able to add, subtract and do the simple math needed to navigate life. It also introduces me to math, allowing me to explore it more deeply, if I choose, and maybe I will become a mathematician latter in life. If not no harm, I now know how to add 2+2.
So, as a math teacher (I am not one) my job would not be to create mathematicians but rather to foster the desire to become one. I teach the basics and leave the rest up to the individual.
Much is the same with most things taught, The object of teaching is to pass on the knowledge, not to create new experts.
The exception to the rule…
Once a path has been chosen, such as Doctor, than the object become creating a new expert. So far I would assume that most would agree with me, education, in is simplest form is to pass on needed information, not to create new experts.
Object or Action
I look at it like this, The object of Faith Formation is not to create new Theologians or Priest, but rather to foster the desire to grow more deeply in the faith. Another way to look at it, Are we creating Theologians or Catholics?
Theologian is an object, a noun
Catholic is an action, a verb
The point of faith formation is not to create nouns but to foster verbs.
I would rather see the youth excited about the faith than to see them recite a prayer, yet have no attachment to the faith. With the basics of the faith instilled in them in a new and exciting way we will be creating a new generation of dynamic Catholics, Catholics that are on fire for knowledge, and some will become the new Theologians and Priest and others will be the new laity, the laity that is involved in parish life, that look at the parish as part of, not separated from, the family dynamics.
What will happen at my local parish, will we see the change that needs to come, or will continue to look at faith formation in the same old way? Only time will tell, but with the grace of God and the working of the Holy Sprit we just may…
We all have created resumes in our life, it includes our education and work experience and sometimes we include the clubs and organizations we belong to. It is a must to get a new job. Our résumé is our foot in the door, it opens up the opportunities to a better job for ourselves. It is our work life history. But is it our history, does it truly represent us?
Leonardo’s résumé
Leonardo sent the following letter to Ludovico Sforza, the ruler of Milan, in 1482:
Most Illustrious Lord: Having now sufficiently seen and considered the proofs of all those who count themselves masters and inventors in the instruments of war, and finding that their invention and use does not differ in any respect from those in common practice, I am emboldened… to put myself in communication with your Excellency, in order to acquaint you with my secrets. I can construct bridges which are very light and strong and very portable with which to pursue and defeat an enemy… I can also make a kind of cannon, which is light and easy of transport, with which to hurl small stones like hail… I can noiselessly construct to any prescribed point subterranean passages — either straight or winding — passing if necessary under trenches or a river… I can make armored wagons carrying artillery, which can break through the most serried ranks of the enemy. In time of peace, I believe I can give you as complete satisfaction as anyone else in the construction of buildings, both public and private, and in conducting water from one place to another. I can execute sculpture in bronze, marble or clay. Also, in painting, I can do as much as anyone, whoever he may be. If any of the aforesaid things should seem impossible or impractical to anyone, I offer myself as ready to make a trial of them in your park or in whatever place shall please your Excellency, to whom I commend myself with all possible humility.
Our resumes tell our potential employer all about our work life, who we are, what we have accomplished, normally resumes are short, one to two pages and direct, to the point, leaving out the fluff. How often do you update your résumé, this exercise is in valuable, something that we should do yearly. refresh it, refine it and redefine our work life.
We should be doing the same with our personal life as well, create a Life Resume, listing our accomplishments and our goals, defining ourselves in short and concise statements, leaving out all the fluff. What would your personal Life Resume look like? Would it include lots of personal development or social activities or would it be more traditional education and institutional? Would your Life resume include diverse hobbies or more mundane tasks?
Our life is an ever-changing series of events, we are not the same person today as we were yesterday, our life experiences shape us, change us and help us to grow. By sitting down and creating a Life resume, we will see the changes, see the growth, by organizing our life in to sections, categories, we will learn how we define ourselves.
Life Resume Outline:
Profile:
This heading would include your description of yourself, weight, sex, age, birth date and other vital statistics. Use this section as a starting point, include the current date.
Professional Experience:
In this section include all your work experiences, from paperboy to CEO. List your accomplishments and responsibilities. Include your starting age and ending age.
Life Experience:
In this section include life events, Baptism, Conformation Graduation from High School, Wedding, birth of Children etc.… Any milestone event in your life.
Education:
This section should include only formal education, completed or not completed. Indicate your age at time of completion or age when you took courses
Personal Development:
This section would include seminars, Continuing education courses or just for the fun of it courses offered at your local community centers. Indicate your age at the time of taking
Hobbies:
Include all hobbies from past to present, indicate your age of start and end From stamp collecting to master crafts maker.
Goals:
This section should include all your goals, from a young person up till now. Indicate your age at the time of the goal. Include everything from wanting to be a cowboy to taking over the world.
Achievements:
This section should list all your life achievements, from winning the spelling bee to closing that major deal. Include your age at the time of the achievement.
Completion of the Life resume may take you some time, and in truth, you are never finished with your Life Resume, it is a living breathing document. But the first “draft” should include as much past history as possible. Why include events that have already gone by, to show you how much you have already accomplished. We have done more than we often times give ourselves credit for, Why include your age, to show a progression of thoughts and growth. For example, if I stated that in 1976 I wanted to be a cowboy, I would have to do the math to figure out how old I was and in truth, it seems to far in the past, but stating that when I was 10 I wanted to be a cowboy, the year does not matter, but the age places my goal in the right context. I can clearly see a growth for Cowboy at 10 to owning my own company at 20. Simple is better, the less math I have to do, the better.
Creating and maintaining your Life Resume will help you bring clarity to your life, showing you how you have grown and evolved, and were you may be stuck. You will start to see patterns develop in your life and you will learn to appreciate and celebrate the little life achievements as much as you do the big life achievements.
Make a point to review your Life resume at least once a month, and when you edit it, include the date of edit, create a history of your Life Resume. Never remove information, only add, if information was incorrect, correct it, but leave the incorrect information intact, use Microsoft editing tools, to use the cross-out tool to remove the unwanted information, (example)
Goal: I want to be a cowboy Spy, age 10
Why keep the old or incorrect information, to show your progression, your thought process. As we continue to edit our Life Resume, we will begin to remember facts. As we begin to remember Life facts, we will start to gain a more clear picture of our past, as our past becomes more clear, we may need to correct our facts. And understanding our past, gaining a clearer picture of our past will help us define our future.
Good luck with this project, and I will post mine on this site and on the Guided Insight Life Coach website soon. You may want to consider using a Life Coach to help you create and define your Life Resume, they can help you add clarity to your visions and goals.
It has been 25 years since the space shuttle Challenger exploded upon lift-off, and our space program has never truly recovered. After the tragic explosion President Reagan comforted the American public but also pledged to continue with space exploration. With the second space shuttle tragedy President Bush began the process of grounding the shuttles altogether. With only three more flights scheduled, Americas domination in space is set to end. And along with it our investment in our future is also set to end.
Our vision of one day traveling space, the final frontier, like Captain Kirk of the USS Enterprise is becoming a pipe dream. The reality of it ever happening is becoming less and less. America needs NASA and all her innovation, the space program has saved lives made our day-to-day living more pleasurable and is a source of pride for all Americans.
One of President Obama’s fist acts as President was to reshape and refocus NASA, with the directive to become a quasar diplomatic are of the US government.
“Bolden: I am here in the region – its sort of the first anniversary of President Barack Obama’s visit to Cairo – and his speech there when he gave what has now become known as Obama’s “Cairo Initiative” where he announced that he wanted this to become a new beginning of the relationship between the United States and the Muslim world. When I became the NASA Administrator – before I became the NASA Administrator – he charged me with three things: One was that he wanted me to re-inspire children to want to get into science and math, that he wanted me to expand our international relationships, and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with predominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math, and engineering.” (source)
NASA as an outreach to the Muslim world, really, that’s our space program. Yes President Obama also had some ambition that also included space, but the simple fact that NASA is not in public relations with the Muslim world sets a new tone for our space program. One that is not space oriented, but rather one that is diplomatic in nature.
This is a new tone for NASA, one that is as far as you can get from the tone that JFK set for America:
“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth.” (Kennedy’s Speech: + HTML Excerpt, + PDF Excerpt, + Full Text) (source)
The American space program is part and parcel to American exceptionalism, we must continue to spend time, talent and money in this endeavor. American needs NASA now more than ever, we need something to place our dreams in and we need to see achievements that we once thought were impossible. The Space Program has given us many modern technologies, such as:
1. SATELLITE TELEVISION: Our world would not be the same without the satellites now in orbit around the Earth – all thanks to the space program. They not only give us satellite broadcast television and radio but also power telecommunications including mobile phones and terrestrial TV networks.
2. SAT NAV: The global positioning system on which our in-car navigation systems are based was developed by the US Department of Defense. They would not exist without the space satellites.
3. GOOGLE EARTH: Mapping was never as accurate as the images we can now get thanks to satellites which from space can even see a dog in your back garden.
4. VIRTUAL REALITY: NASA-developed research and advanced technology devices allow users to project themselves into a computer-generated environment. When coupled with a stereo-viewing device and appropriate software, it creates a feeling of actually being there.
5. ARTIFICIAL LIMBS: Prosthetic limbs are not new but advancements in space robotics are being adapted to create more lifelike, functioning limbs.
6. DIALYSIS: Modern machines to do the work of the kidneys – for patients waiting for or unable to have transplants – were developed as a result of a NASA-developed chemical process.
7. MRI AND CAT SCANS: NASA did not invent magnetic resonance imaging but it has contributed to major advances thanks to research into computer enhancement of pictures sent from the moon. Digital image processing has led to enhanced images of human organs.
8. BREAST CANCER SCREENING: A silicon chip originally developed for NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope makes the testing process less painful, less scarring and less expensive than traditional biopsy methods.
Heroes … Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin
9. ULTRASOUND TO ASSESS SKIN DAMAGE: An advanced instrument uses ultrasound technology to assess the depth of burn damage immediately, improving patient treatment and saving lives in serious burn cases.
10. EAR THERMOMETER: Removing the need to use intrusive, mercury-based thermometers on newborn babies and critically ill patients, the ear thermometer uses infrared astronomy technology to measure the amount of energy emitted by the eardrum. This is how NASA measures the temperature of stars and planets.
11. ATTENTION GETTER: Techniques used to measure brain activity in NASA pilots are being used to improve attention spans for children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
12. ROAD SAFETY: The cutting of grooves in concrete to increase traction was developed to reduce space shuttle accidents on runways. It is now applied to roads and has cut US traffic accidents by 85 per cent.
13. IMPROVED RADIAL TYRES: Goodyear developed a fibrous material five times stronger than steel for NASA to use in parachutes to land the Viking explorers on Mars. They expanded the technology to produce a harder-wearing radial car tire.
14. LANDMINE REMOVAL: Surplus rocket fuel is used for a flare that can burn a hole in the case of a mine and burn away its explosive content.
15. STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS: NASA software engineers have created thousands of computer programs to find imperfections in aerospace structures and components which has proved invaluable in air safety.
16. WATER FILTERS: Water-cleaning technology has existed since the early Fifties but NASA came up with ways to filter it in more extreme situations. The activated charcoal with silver ions used in commercial filter systems cleans the water and kills bacteria.
17. FREEZE-DRIED FOOD: NASA carried out extensive research to reduce the weight of food to be carried on missions. The result was a method for cooking food, freezing it quickly, then slowly heating it in a vacuum chamber to remove the ice crystals. The end product weighs one fifth of the original, while retaining 98 per cent of its nutrition.
18. TEMPER FOAM: NASA developed a soft, high-energy-absorbent padding to improve crash protection in aircraft. Now ?memory foam? is used in mattresses, pillows, military and civilian vehicles, sports safety equipment, amusement park rides, furniture and artificial limbs.
19. SCRATCH-RESISTANT LENSES: A modified version of a process developed by NASA involves coating the lenses with a film of carbon that helps avoid scratches and decreases friction and reduces water spots.
20. RIBBED SWIMSUITS: The swimsuit worn by Olympic sensation Michael Phelps was developed with NASA technology. Aerodynamic research came up with material which give 15 per cent faster speeds than any other swimsuit thanks to small, barely visible grooves that reduce friction and drag.
21. AERODYNAMIC GOLF BALLS: Technology is behind the design of golf balls with 500 dimples in a pattern of 60 triangles which allows the ball to maintain its initial speed longer and produce a more stable flight for better accuracy and distance.
22. ATHLETIC SHOES: Moon-boot material has been incorporated into running shoe midsoles to improve shock absorption and provide better stability and motion control.
23. PERSONAL ALARM SYSTEMS: A pen-sized ultrasonic transmitter used by prison guards, teachers, the elderly and disabled to call for help is based on space technology.
24. SPACE PENS: Most pens depend on gravity to make the ink flow to the ballpoint. The space pen was developed for the gravity-free space environment so that the ink cartridge contains pressurized gas to push the ink towards the ballpoint, so you can write upside down.
25. CORDLESS POWER TOOLS: The household and DIY products firm Black & Decker came up with a portable drill capable of extracting core samples from below the lunar surface during the Apollo missions. The same technology has been used on cordless miniature vacuum cleaners. (source)
Think cell phone, microwaved dinners and the computer I am using to post this blog. NASA may not have invented all of them, but it is because of NASA and the innovations created for our space program that I am able to post to the net at all.
So instead of looking to high-speed trains as an investment into America, look to NASA. I would consider that to be a nobler investment, and one that would have a far greater impact on American than a train that can get me from Detroit to DC in 1 hour. With NASA fully funded and achievable goals the sky truly is the limit for the American Dream.
It is hard to believe that it is July already, it seems that Christmas was just last week, and now here we are into the Summer of 2010. How time really does fly.
As of late I have have been thinking about time, its passing mostly. How it is hard to believe that my dad passed away over 13 years ago or how my mom has been gone for over 3 years or even that my dog George has been gone 5 months already. Time, it just keeps on a passin’ me by…
It may be that I am getting older and my immortality is becoming something I am thinking about. But I’m only halfway to 88, so I’m not that old, am I? Or it could be that I am just in a very melancholy mood, just drifting along. Time keeps on drifting into the future, that’s what the song states, but me, I keep on drifting into the past.
the other day I was watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, I love that movie, and was remembering when I first saw it. How I thought that the car was real and could do all the wonderful things shown in the movie. How simple it all was. I remember seeing it at the drive in theater, eating popcorn from a large brown paper grocery bag and drinking town club soda from a bottle. We brought our own snacks along with us, much cheaper that way. I remember the little play area in front of the screen were us kids could swing and play and they even had a free train ride. So much simpler back than.
I think that’s what I am looking for, the simpler times. In today’s world of complex, the simpler gets lost. I miss that, I crave it and I try to recreate it in my life today. Sometimes I achieve it, like when I spend the day at Greenfield Village or Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island. But they are sadly to far between visits and the complex invades my time.
Simpler is better it seems to me. Take new math, what was wrong with the old math, 2+2=4 in both, so why make it more complex? Look at our family life, everyone needs planners and play dates and taxi service and social networks and ipods and this pod and that pod. To complex! What ever happen to just going out and finding a pick-up game of kick ball or baseball, simpler is better.
I don’t know, maybe I am just getting old, and I just want things to slow down, but I am only 44, that’s not old. But maybe I am.. Who knows. But I think its more than that, I think I am on to something here, I think life has become to complex and the American Life needs to slow down and return to a simpler, less complex, time. We need to rediscover the fun in just being together as a family, we need to experience the joy of a good old fashion picnic or a day exploring the small towns and villages that surround us.
I remember how I use to love being with my family, my mom and dad and all my brothers and sisters. I remember vacations and outings with a smile on my face and warmth with in me. The simplicity of it all was magical! As I got old I remember enjoying just spending time together, maybe taking a Sunday drive or just sitting around, the complexities left behind, no text messaging, no cell phone calls and no laptop and wireless for my social networking. We just spent time, eating, drinking and laughing together. Today is much to complex, this idea of instant contact and constant updates is out of hand. We place ourselves upon pedestals of grandeur and market ourselves and important. We update or twitter, just incase someone wants to know we are eating a hotdog or we facebook the world to let them know we just finished the dishes, and all the time fooling ourselves that people truly do want to know or need to know.
To complex and to self absorbed, I prefer the simplicity of times gone by, I prefer the face to face over the facebook to facebook. Sure I have a facebook account and I check it daily and update my status. I have a blog, as you well know, and update it I even have a linked in account and a 4marks account. I use email and texted messaging and only use a cell phone, no landline at all. And yes sometimes I get caught up in all the complexities of the world, but I truly long for the simplicities of yesterday.
I long for the days when once again I would believe that a car can fly and magic was real. I miss the times of long summer nights spent outside playing four corners or a game of whiffel ball.
Romans 12:3“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”
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With school being out, and so much in the news about so many school districts having to cut back or close schools I thought I would offer some help to them.
1. As for cutting the over all budget follow the following steps
Remove the socialistic system that hampers the teachers and the schools from best serving the students (i.e. cut the unions out)
Fire all incompetent teachers and administrators, NOW, no arbitration, no review, your gone!
Remove all sill programs that use up tax dollars, there is no need to offer free condoms in schools, they think they are old enough to have sex, than they are old enough to purchase there own.
Return all power to local districts, with the tax dollars feeding directly into their budgets removing the state and federal level of involvement
2. As for adding funds to the budget
Allow the schools to sell marketing spots, keeping in mind that all marketing campaigns would have to be okayed by the schools and parents
3. As for the curriculum
Remove classes that should be up to the parents/caretakers to teach (i.e. sex Ed)
Allow local districts to determine the curriculum that meets the needs of their schools, the state nor the federal government should be involved in this. Local mayor or township officials should be charged with executive authority.
Allow schools to develop curriculums that meets the needs of the student body and surrounding area. In a more urban environment the needs are different than a rural, so why should the state or federal government dictate the curriculum.
4. Other innovations and ideas
Allow tax dollars to be spent by the parents/care takes at what ever school they decide is the best for there child. If the local public school works well for them so be it, if its the local Catholic or Jewish school so be it. Education of the child is up to the parent not the state.
Return to local smaller schools, truly community based. Allowing the students to form stronger bonds with the community and each other. If your thinking that this will increase the cost of educating our children, with the elimination of unnecessary positions and other wasteful programs such as bussing (no need in neighborhood schools)
Remove all state and national testing. Test are not true and accurate evaluations of the abilities of students. Nor are the fair to the teachers or educational system.
Allow the free market system to dictate what school programs work and don’t work. As parents exercise there ability to choose the school they wish to send there child to, the under performing schools will have to revamp or close down and the tax dollars dry up.
The education of our children should be paramount to us all. Our future as a town,city,county,state and country depends on them all. As we continue to monkey with the education of our children, trying this new way verses this new way we are jeopardizing the future of our children and ourselves.
The new math accomplished only one thing, confusing all us parents and gardens who learned the old math. The age of a new and kinder school (i.e. not flunking any one, no bad grades etc..) accomplished a few things 1) we now have a generation of illiterate graduates 2) and a generation of people who truly believe they should get what ever they want because they are want it.
We have failed!
We have failed our children, we have robbed them of the opportunity to learn and grow. We have allowed the liberal minded tree hugging pacifist to dictate the education of our children. We have allowed the socialistic teachers unions to control our children and indoctrinate them in to the liberal army of drones to do their bidding. We have granted all access control of our family unites to the very people who wish to destroy it, and we do it with smiles on our faces as they pick our pockets for every last dollar.
The current state of education in this country is in a crises, we are failing to prepare our youth for the world that is out there. Instead of educating them on the founding fathers or the advances the American way of life offers to millions of people, we show them Al Gores “An Inconvenient Truth”. A documentary that has been proven, in a British court, to contain at least 7 out-an-out lies! When we should be teaching our youth respect and honor we are teaching them the many ways to use a condom or how to self pleasure yourself. As we sit back and demand that our students are tolerant of all, we teach them to hate any who’s views are not that of the liberal mindset.
We have failed our youth!
We have allowed the passage of time to decay a once great system, once a system envied by the world and now a system that soon, if things do not change, will be envied by no one and used as an example of what not to do. Education is not to be used as a political grandstand, nor is it to be used as a replacement of the parents or guardians who are charged with caring for them. We, the American public must take a stand, a stand for our future a stand for our children!
A system that is intent on political correctness over the truth is a system destined to fail. The current sociopolitical atmosphere is charged and waiting. The storm of true reform is brewing over the horizon, just out of sight of the naked eye. The rolling thunder of a revolution can be heard in the cafes and town halls all over this great nation. The lighting of reform will strike soon and the rains of educational purification will cleans the system. But this storm will not arrive until we, the people, stand and take charge of our children and there education.
The days of Reading Writing and Arithmetic are long behind us, but we can get them back, he just have to want it bad enough. I know I do, do you?
God Bless
Paul
Zechariah 14:9“The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name.”
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Any one who has read my blog in the past knows I love Albert, and I love his wisdom. This is yet another great quote from Mr. Einstein.
He is not really talking about math here, but life in general. All to often we get hung up in the little issues of our daily lives, and fail to see the major issues of the people around us. Basically we sweat the small stuff and Albert is telling us not to. Good advice.
All to often we take the simple and make it complex, I think we do that to make ourselves feel better. This way we don’t have just basic issues but major ones. Almost like a status symbol “My issues are bigger than yours, so I must be more important”… How silly we humans can be…
In today’s world we need to simplify not complicated. Simplistic is better. The KISS method is needed, Keep It Simple Stupid…. Words to live by!
I have a habit of over simplifying everything, I break everything down to the simplistic and go from there. To me, if it is a fact at the simple level it’s a fact at the complex level. Lots of people don’t agree with me, but I figure they just like to complicate their lives.
Me, I like to live a simple life.. I’m not totally there yet, but I am working on it. Once again good old Albert has the solution, always consider that your issues are not as complicated, not as bad as someone else’s. As I always like to say “For the Grace of God go I”.
One of my favorite people to look to or to quote is Albert Einstein. I think is because we both are so much a like…. (I’ll let that one sink in a bit before I move on…….)
Truthfully I do see a lot of similarities between us, no I am not as smart as him, no were near, but we both share a thinking pattern. For anyone who reads my blogs or knows me personally will know that I am a person with an imagination and a positive attitude. Albert also has this trait, and I have quoted him several times, in fact I have a small postcard of his hanging in my office and I have read biographies on him. I find him to be a very interesting person. I have no ability to understand his math or his logic (most of the time), but I can understand his outlook and his way of dealing with the world. Today as I was thinking I should blog about something, but I didn’t know what. I didn’t want to blog about politics again, not because I don’t have anything to say, because I do, but because both of my blogs are not primary political they are primarily spiritual. So my latest rant concerning Obama will have to wait…. So what than do I blog about. As I often do when I don’t have a solid idea I will look up quotes on the internet (God’s gift for writers block). What I found was this quote from Mr. Einstein:
The important thing is not to stop questioning. -Albert Einstein
I like that, in fact I teach that… I have from the start, I have always valued questions. To me if you are not questioning that you are dead, dead to the topic at hand, dead to the presenter, dead to the faith, dead to what ever it is you are not questioning.
To an insecure presenter or teacher the questions may come across as attacks, as if the questioner is challenging there domain. And they very well may be doing just that, and that’s ok. Hell if it was good enough for old Albert, than it’s good enough for me!
My overriding passion is my faith and teaching my faith to youth. In fact this will be the first time since 1990 that I will not be actively involved in a teaching ministry, but back to my point… My passion is my faith and the passing on of my faith (teaching). Part of this passion is also learning more about my faith on my own and taking formal classes. It is the process of questioning my teachers and my students that grow and learn more. It is the process of questioning that allows my mind to explore other areas it normally would not travel. It allows me the freedom to play the “devils” advocate in the name of knowing.
Questions are what makes America a land of the free, if were are not allowed to question of government, than we are no better than and no different than present day Cuba. Our ability to place our public officials under the microscope of public questioning is our key to freedom. My ability to question my faith is what makes my faith mine is my ability to question her teachings and to question my understanding.
Albert got it right, The important thing is not to stop questioning.
Think about a toddler and there constant why? why? why?, it is their ability to ask why that allows them to grow, why should that be any different for a pre-teen or teen, a parent of grandparent. Our ability to grow never ceases, just our own limitations placed on ourselves do. We have that same power as the curious 3 year old, the power of WHY… That power to change the course of events is not limited to the mind of a 3 year old, it is innate in all of us, it is our nature to question. God created us to question and he celebrates us when we do so.
A single question has changed the course of history, a single question can place common scene on it’s ear and turn right to wrong and evil to good. The power of a question should never be over looked nor should it be played down or belittled.
The question was asked of Jesus, “Are you the Messiah, the King of the Jews?” and all of history was changed for ever. The question was asked, “What is the price of liberty” and a new nation was born.
The ability to question is our basic right as part of humanity, to stop questioning is to stop participating in humanity. Teacher and politicians and parents that stifle the questions of those they are charged with not only stifle that individual but also all of humanity.
Just imagine if:
Edison never question electricity
Ford never question the assembly line
Jefferson never questioned Liberty
It is the questions that have created the humanity we know today. With each stifled question our next Ford, Edison, Einstein or Jefferson might never be able to ask that all important, life changing question.
If we do not allow questions, than who will question poverty, hunger, global war’s and the outer limits of space or the inner limits of the mind? Sniffle one is the same as stifling all.
The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, ‘What’s a kid going to learn from someone who decided His best option in life was to become a teacher?’ He reminded the other dinner guests what they say about Teachers: ‘Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.’ To emphasize his point he said to another guest; ‘You’re a Teacher, Bonnie.. Be honest. What do you make?’ Bonnie, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, ‘You want to know what I make? (She paused for a second, then began…) ‘Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they Could. I make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor. I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their Parents can’t make them sit for 5 without an I Pod, Game Cube or movie rental. "You want to know what I make." (She paused again and looked at Each and every person at the table.) ”I make kids wonder… I make them question. I make them apologize and mean it. I make them have respect and take responsibility for their Actions. I teach them to write and then I make them write.. Keyboarding isn’t everything. I make them read, read, read. I make them show all their work in math.. They use their God-given brain,not the man-made calculator. I make my students from other countries learn everything they Need to know in English while preserving their unique cultural identity. I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe.. I make my students stand, placing their hand over their heart to say the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, One Nation Under God, because we live in The United States of America . I make them understand that if they use the gifts they were Given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life.’ (Bonnie paused one last time, then continued.) ‘Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, with me knowing money Isn’t everything, I can hold my head up high and pay no attention because They are ignorant… You want to know what I make? I MAKE A DIFFERENCE. What do you make Mr. CEO?’ His jaw dropped, he went silent.
Me, I am a teacher, in my daily job an din all I do. I have always practice the concept of using every moment as a teaching moment. Now please don’t get me wrong, I don’t quiz or question the youth about everything we do, I don’t spend time looking for the hidden teaching moment, but I approach all I do as a moment to teach and to learn.
I do make a difference because I choose to, If I was that Mr. CEO in the story above, I could have held my head high and stated that I to teach, but also if I was that Mr. CEO I would have never equated money with usefulness, I understand that the two do not go together.
Can you say you teach, for that sake of our children and of this nation I pray that you respond with a yes.
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as if the questioner is challenging there domain. And they very well may be doing just that, and that’s ok. Hell if it was good enough for old Albert, than it’s good enough for me!
It is the questions that have created the humanity we know today. With each stifled question our next Ford, Edison, Einstein or Jefferson might never be able to ask that all important, life changing question.
