I have been thinking. Always a dangerous proposition, especially when I am coming out of back to back "comas" (deep sleeps which I cannot arouse from) triggered by my food intolerances. It is in these recovery times from these "comas" that I cannot do anything but sit, and read and surf through Facebook.
I have discovered a disturbing sub-culture through Facebook. It is a portion of the population who have an opinion about everything, but most often about the less fortunate of our society. Their opinions are stark and judgemental and seemed to be fueled by sound bites, bits of life captured by Facebook and opinion masquerading as "unbiased news" on Fox News.
I have been fortunate in my life to have been exposed to a multitude of lifestyles throughout my childhood and adult life.
As a child I was exposed to:
In the Peace Corps, I experienced:
Because of all these experiences, I believe I am rich. I have experienced so much personally, that I feel that I can speak wisely and with a familiarity that is lacking in many people about a variety of subjects. The greater the variety of experiences one has the more they know the hearts of others. The more they know the hearts of others, the possibility of compassion and empathy is increased. Much of the information that is shared on the following subjects is hearsay and often just plain wrong. I think that in the following areas, a more open mind and a wiser, more considered opinion can be obtained with fair ease that will end up increasing your life experiences which is only to the greater good, personally and as a citizen of the world.
Welfare EVERYBODY has an opinion about welfare. I have heard the same damn story of the woman in line with T-bones and two lobsters, getting into her Escalade while talking on her I-Phone, so many times I could just puke. Yes there is abuse. Trafficking of food stamps is at an all-time low of 1.3cents to the dollar. The average monthly SNAP benefit per person is $133.85, or less than $1.50 per person, per meal. www.feedingamerica.org.
A Little Welfare History:
Education:
As I was a teacher, I truly do not know what the "real" opinion regarding teachers is, though we all know the Meme "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." Anybody who has gone through our education system and had a gifted teacher, knows that a real teacher is born, not created by the educational system..
My personal concern about teaching is that because education is considered a political football, scant attention is paid to the tons of research on how the brain learns. Money and time are devoted to measuring educational gains. Personally, I don't think real education can be measured. What you end up measuring is collections of facts.
To really understand education, and be knowledgeable in the discussion, I think everybody could benefit by volunteering in their neighborhood school, then volunteer in its financially polar opposite. Then you will understand how economics drives education in this country. And there is no greater ambassador for comprehending economics than the children themselves. The benefit of volunteering is two fold, creating an understanding of what it takes to educate a child, and a true comprehension of whom we are asking teachers to educate. The educational challenges have changed monumentally as learning disabilities and the educationally challenged are absorbed into and have changed the face of our educational system.
Racism
Unless you are in the minority, I don't think you can understand racism, and how it is still ingrained in our society. Even if you yourself are considered a "minority", that doesn't mean that you can't be as insular and nationalistic as we whites can be. To this end, I suggest the following: make yourself uncomfortable. Go to the part of town, the state, the country where you will be a minority. Go to ethnic fairs. Be brave. Be bold. I promise you will learn something. We live in a part of the country I call white bread. We made it a point of honor when our kids were growing up that we would travel as much as possible so that the only faces they saw weren't just white ones. And here I come to something that is a volatile and uncomfortable discussion for Americans. Our own special brand of racism toward and disdain for Native Americans. We have a fair population in our town, safely ensconced in the poorer part of town. Travelling through the towns in the heart of the reservations is very discouraging. I just ask that you open your mind regarding this. The government is supposed to provide health care and education. On all statistical measurements we as a government have failed our native populations. Despite the casinos, power plants and the random fancy hotels, there is not the occupational diversity on the reservations that builds a thriving and self-sufficient community. Alcoholism, rape and sexual assaults, suicides, poverty, high school drop-outs, automobile deaths, all are at unacceptable rates.
General Compassion and Courtesy
So, unrelated to class, economics, race, geography, is one's general attitudes and manner towards those in the service industry who wait on us. As a former waitress, I have always felt that every person should be a waitress or waiter for at least one day in there lives. Perhaps this should be expanded to all in the service industry. I don't understand people who are rude and demanding to people in this category of employment. If you are truly an American, than you are supposedly a staunch supporter of egalitarianism: a belief in human equality especially with respect to social, political, and economic affairs. If you are secure in your own ego and humanity, you do not need to lord it over others, to demean those just because they are waiting on you. There is a growing movement to remove the practice of tipping from eating establishments, to include tips in the price of the food items, therefore the financial benefits are given to the cook, the dishwasher as well as the waitperson. In restaurants where this is tried, service from the cook on down improved.
Read and Question: Don't accept what you read at face value. Go to other sources. And question, question, question.
And of course Travel: The more you travel, the more you expose yourself to different climates, different foods, different cultures. New synapses are formed in your brain when exposed to the different and new. You understand that your way is not the only way. Your view of the world perhaps narrow.
I challenge you to maximize your life's experience. Go to different places, think a different way. Place yourself in the way of life so that you are embraced by it.
Namaste
Kismet
September 2013
I have discovered a disturbing sub-culture through Facebook. It is a portion of the population who have an opinion about everything, but most often about the less fortunate of our society. Their opinions are stark and judgemental and seemed to be fueled by sound bites, bits of life captured by Facebook and opinion masquerading as "unbiased news" on Fox News.
I have been fortunate in my life to have been exposed to a multitude of lifestyles throughout my childhood and adult life.
As a child I was exposed to:
- life as a minority. I was involved in sit-ins in whites only restaurants in mixed race groups at the age of five
- I heard Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream" speech in the Lincoln Memorial
As a young adult, I was exposed to:
- Life in Poverty. When I was four and five, we lived in Housing Projects in Washington, D.C. I distinctly remember the smell in the hallways: mold, mildew, natural gas and old food. In my memory, this is the smell of poverty, though I have been chastised by others who thought differently.
Post High School I experienced:
- Life again as a minority. I was a Teacher's Aide in High School in a Kindergarten class that was 100% Hispanic and Spanish Language dominant.
- Life in the Education System as a Teacher's Aide.
- Pushing gender stereotypes as a young woman riding a motorcycle as her primary means of transportation.
- The challenges of being female in a male dominated society. In my dating, I was constantly thwarting off sexual advances with varied success as I wore my heart on my sleeve.
- continued experience in the classroom with as many as 35 students, bilingual and multi-racial, predominantly Hispanic,
- being a waitperson at a restaurant.
- date rape
In the Peace Corps, I experienced:
Post Peace Corps, I experienced:
- Life in a third world country
- the Education System in a third world country
- extreme poverty
- political instability
- the resilience of human nature
As a post-graduate School Occupational Therapist I:
- Life as a common manual laborer
- Life as a Teacher of Special Needs Children
- familiarity with migrant workers
- Life in extreme poverty. My students lived in the Colonias, illegal outposts with no infrastructure, no road maintenance, no electricity, no water. They lived in school buses and refrigerator boxes. If they were really lucky they lived in sparse adobe walls with electricity, but no municipal services such as garbage, and water.
- worked with children with special needs and their families. By the time I stopped working, 85% of the children I worked with were Autistic Spectrum Disorder or manifested autistic like behaviors.
- Acted as an Advocate for the families with Special Needs Children in their interface with the Public School System and in some cases with the legal system.
Because of all these experiences, I believe I am rich. I have experienced so much personally, that I feel that I can speak wisely and with a familiarity that is lacking in many people about a variety of subjects. The greater the variety of experiences one has the more they know the hearts of others. The more they know the hearts of others, the possibility of compassion and empathy is increased. Much of the information that is shared on the following subjects is hearsay and often just plain wrong. I think that in the following areas, a more open mind and a wiser, more considered opinion can be obtained with fair ease that will end up increasing your life experiences which is only to the greater good, personally and as a citizen of the world.
Welfare EVERYBODY has an opinion about welfare. I have heard the same damn story of the woman in line with T-bones and two lobsters, getting into her Escalade while talking on her I-Phone, so many times I could just puke. Yes there is abuse. Trafficking of food stamps is at an all-time low of 1.3cents to the dollar. The average monthly SNAP benefit per person is $133.85, or less than $1.50 per person, per meal. www.feedingamerica.org.
A Little Welfare History:
- In 1996, the welfare system was given back to the individual states.
- TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families...welfare) requires all recipients must find work within 2 yrs. of receiving aid. Single parents must work 30 hrs./wk, 2 parent families are required to work 35-55 hrs./wk.
- The type and amount of aid available to individuals and dependent children varies from state so there is no longer one source nor one set of requirements.
- Most states offer basic aid such as health care, food stamps, child care assistance.
Education:
As I was a teacher, I truly do not know what the "real" opinion regarding teachers is, though we all know the Meme "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." Anybody who has gone through our education system and had a gifted teacher, knows that a real teacher is born, not created by the educational system..
My personal concern about teaching is that because education is considered a political football, scant attention is paid to the tons of research on how the brain learns. Money and time are devoted to measuring educational gains. Personally, I don't think real education can be measured. What you end up measuring is collections of facts.
To really understand education, and be knowledgeable in the discussion, I think everybody could benefit by volunteering in their neighborhood school, then volunteer in its financially polar opposite. Then you will understand how economics drives education in this country. And there is no greater ambassador for comprehending economics than the children themselves. The benefit of volunteering is two fold, creating an understanding of what it takes to educate a child, and a true comprehension of whom we are asking teachers to educate. The educational challenges have changed monumentally as learning disabilities and the educationally challenged are absorbed into and have changed the face of our educational system.
Racism
Unless you are in the minority, I don't think you can understand racism, and how it is still ingrained in our society. Even if you yourself are considered a "minority", that doesn't mean that you can't be as insular and nationalistic as we whites can be. To this end, I suggest the following: make yourself uncomfortable. Go to the part of town, the state, the country where you will be a minority. Go to ethnic fairs. Be brave. Be bold. I promise you will learn something. We live in a part of the country I call white bread. We made it a point of honor when our kids were growing up that we would travel as much as possible so that the only faces they saw weren't just white ones. And here I come to something that is a volatile and uncomfortable discussion for Americans. Our own special brand of racism toward and disdain for Native Americans. We have a fair population in our town, safely ensconced in the poorer part of town. Travelling through the towns in the heart of the reservations is very discouraging. I just ask that you open your mind regarding this. The government is supposed to provide health care and education. On all statistical measurements we as a government have failed our native populations. Despite the casinos, power plants and the random fancy hotels, there is not the occupational diversity on the reservations that builds a thriving and self-sufficient community. Alcoholism, rape and sexual assaults, suicides, poverty, high school drop-outs, automobile deaths, all are at unacceptable rates.
General Compassion and Courtesy
So, unrelated to class, economics, race, geography, is one's general attitudes and manner towards those in the service industry who wait on us. As a former waitress, I have always felt that every person should be a waitress or waiter for at least one day in there lives. Perhaps this should be expanded to all in the service industry. I don't understand people who are rude and demanding to people in this category of employment. If you are truly an American, than you are supposedly a staunch supporter of egalitarianism: a belief in human equality especially with respect to social, political, and economic affairs. If you are secure in your own ego and humanity, you do not need to lord it over others, to demean those just because they are waiting on you. There is a growing movement to remove the practice of tipping from eating establishments, to include tips in the price of the food items, therefore the financial benefits are given to the cook, the dishwasher as well as the waitperson. In restaurants where this is tried, service from the cook on down improved.
Read and Question: Don't accept what you read at face value. Go to other sources. And question, question, question.
And of course Travel: The more you travel, the more you expose yourself to different climates, different foods, different cultures. New synapses are formed in your brain when exposed to the different and new. You understand that your way is not the only way. Your view of the world perhaps narrow.
I challenge you to maximize your life's experience. Go to different places, think a different way. Place yourself in the way of life so that you are embraced by it.
Namaste
Kismet
September 2013
