Can we continue the miracle?
Published Brownsville Herald December 31, 2006
The time of “Peace to men of good will” is still upon us and the three Magi are about to present gifts; though the advertising and Mall displays are changing to clearance sales, and the crowds at the favorite clubs and restaurants are starting to drop off. Like most folks I really like this time of year because I see bright smiles and happy attitudes everywhere.
This season was special to me because of the “Miracle on Calle Jacaranda” I described in my last column. I have had nothing but enthusiastic comments about the “miracle article” and it is rapidly becoming one of the most popular on my web site for re-reading and reprints. I prey that our optimism will not be disappointed. When I came to Brownsville from New York, well more than two decades ago, I was impressed with how courteous and respectful every one was. In fact I was shocked when I was driving down a two lane highway and as I approached a vehicle going much slower the driver pulled onto the shoulder and let me pass. My New York stunted brain had a tough time processing that.
Now, twenty-two years later, I am still in awe of the decency that generally pervades the community. It is astounding that here when someone asks how you are doing they genuinely care. It always raises my spirits and I reply that “if I was doing any better there would have to be two of me!” I have come to love the Rio Grande Valley as it is much like the rural community of my youth, complete with foibles. Political sides are focused on overbearing leadership, mismanagement of the school system or perceived corruption, ignoring one place or another with public infrastructure and on. All politics is local politics and very similar from one place to another.
What really concerns me more than the issues that will persist as long as there are two people on Earth to disagree on how things should be done, is the viciousness that pervades the public discourse today in general and is growing in our community. Political or community leaders or rulers are described as evil, criminal or worse because they advocate a point of view or act on an issue that is not in agreement with the particular “mainstream” that the individual belongs to. Rather than take the time to research the issue and determine independently what the issue really is, the perspective described by “the crowd” or “Comedy Central” is taken to be the absolute truth.
In reality the truth is somewhere between what the different postures would have you believe and especially in real life that truth changes and evolves. One cause for this lack of civility, is a sense powerlessness in evaluating a set of circumstances and making a judgment independent of the crowd.
Judgments as to what is the more likely truth seem to be necessarily what the crowd thinks. Determinations and actions based on the information, alternatives in the event there are more ways to consider things, and consequences of those determinations and actions are just not thought all the way through – they pass right into emotion. The ability to think is the result of real exposure to the liberal arts of good literature, music and art which seems to have gotten lost in today’s education.
If one reads about how issues are dealt with whether it be a non-fiction record of one person’s view of the past or a fictional record of what might have happened the ability to think is greatly enhanced. Through out history humanity continues to make the same mistakes – Are we really following the same path as the world followed in 1938 when Hitler was on the rise; are we really facing an apocalypse as the President of Iran says is their mission in his speeches to his countrymen? Was Hitler responsible for killing the groups of people that he blamed for his problems or is that just a conspiracy?
Without a well founded view of the real records of human thought – the literature of the ages – how can we evaluate anything? The result of all of this is that since a rational analysis cannot be made of a situation the individual responsible is somehow evil as is anyone supporting him; not unlike the thinking responsible for blaming witches for the wrongs that befell early communities.
Today’s schools focus on the accumulation of technical skills and information and forget that one needs to know how to think and then put those thoughts into action. When that is not successful the focus is expanded to remove expectations of achievement and reward successes so that the young will not feel hurt. The result is that there are less and less consequences for poor behavior. A student may never come to school but may receive credit in a class for proficiency or get a score of 50% on an exam not taken. More and more young folks are finding themselves in trouble when all the signals given do not spell out an expected standard of behavior and a specific and appropriate consequence for a mis-behavior that will not be overruled by a board member or higher manager.
As a law enforcer, Ilearned that a preponderance of violators had no foundation of boundaries and expectations, nor any expectation that there would be real consequences for poor behavior. It has just gone out of style. Self realization and self expression mean nothing, if the individual has no point of reference as to where he is and where he wants to go. Few young folks finishing high school or even college today have a defined goal with a plan as to how to achieve that goal and expectations along the way. As a dad I know that everyone needs a set of boundaries and expectations to live by and develop goals with. That knowledge will replace the current insecurity born incivility with confidence and sense of purpose. An individual “moral compass” will help guide our young folks.
This is by no means an indictment of education but a challenge to the community to find out for your self what is really going on and consider the circumstance not the individual. For our future and indeed our survival, we need to rethink how education accomplished; how the information is provided and how the abilities to make use of that information are inculcated.
Perhaps the educational system could strategically retreat to a point where we were doing well and do it over. We need the arts to return, in order to fully develop thinking skills and a set of boundaries and expectations to encourage a confidence and sense of order. We can help the “Miracle” that began this holiday season by really thinking things through, not focusing on personalities; and placing more importance on real education not just learning data!