Being the Change I Wish to See

I’m honestly confused about the whole issue of waiting to welcome veterans home at the end of the Iraq war, even though some will be redeployed to Afghanistan. There were huge parades welcoming WW II vets home from Europe even though fighting was still going on in the Pacific.

Thank goodness St. Louis, MO, stood up and did the right thing. They had the first parade welcoming Iraq war veterans home last Saturday, January 28, 2012. At the end of the parade was a jobs and benefits fair for veterans.

Some veterans were moved to tears just because their home town thought enough of them to formally welcome them home with a parade and public celebration (2 min.):

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In my opinion, we should be celebrating our veterans exponentially more than we are currently. Just having people tell them thank you makes such a big difference. Anytime I see a veteran, I put out my hand to shake his or hers, and say “thank you for your service”. Their faces light up and they smile. Some won’t say anything, and some will tell you a little about where they served or how many deployments they’ve had.

The biggest question I get when I stop a vet and shake his or her hand is how did I know they were serving. My dad served for life in the Navy, and I know what military people look like, how they carry themselves, and many are still wearing their dog tags (biggest giveaway). I tell them about my dad if they ask.

Iraq was a separate war from Afghanistan. It’s end needs to be celebrated. We should celebrate again when our personnel come home from Afghanistan. There should be more parades on Veterans’ Day, and we should especially make an effort to publicly remember our fallen on Memorial Day. One thing that makes America so different from the rest of the world is we are a country because patriots fought and died for us to become a country. We’ve fought to protect our freedoms many times since then, even though what counts as our freedoms is still evolving.

I would like to see the replies to Paul Rieckhoff’s tweet to New York and Boston mayors. We have no problem throwing a big parade for our football teams, but we have to wait and consider whether it is right to throw a parade for our veterans? Come on!

Iraq turned out to be a preventive war which prevented nothing. Preventive war is actually imperialism, and it is illegal. There are three types of wars: reactionary, preemptive, and preventive. Reactionary war describes the Afghanistan war and Pacific theater of WW II. We were attacked on our own soil. We responded. Preemptive war is when you know another army is about to attack or invade you, and you attack them first. But preventive war is imperialism, as in the footsteps of Alexander the Great or Genghis Khan.

Over 4000 American service personnel died in this unnecessary war. Because we asked so many to fight and die in a preventive war, we owe Iraq vets a special thank you.

Technorati Tags: Celebrating Iraq war vets, Iraq war, St. Louis parade, U.S. casualties Iraq

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Imagine (by John Lennon)

The Staten Island PS 22 Chorus did a fabulous performance, and I am again reminded of the vital importance of the educational value of music and other non-core activities in school. The arts fill in the humanity of the core curriculum kids must learn. Without arts and humanities, they have no context or meaning for all the facts they are taught.

Imagine has always been one of my favorite songs, and I believe the ideas expressed are achievable. I hope it comes to pass sooner rather than later.

I believe the people taking to the streets around the world today to peacefully protest dictatorial governments to the large and growing economic inequality gap between the richest 1% of the population and everyone else has finally started the right conversation.

In the U.S., protesters turned the question of why are the poor so poor into why are the rich so rich? How did that happen? The vast majority of us work very hard at our jobs and we don’t get rich. Why not? Those are better questions.

After the last 30 years of trickle-down economics (the economics of greed), the only thing that trickled down is growing economic stress on the middle class, and the middle class shrinking into poverty with stagnant income as wealth trickles up.

It’s become a crime to be poor in this world. What did the poor ever do to anyone to attract such hatred and wrath? Perhaps remind the non-philanthropic mega-rich just how rich they are and how unfair and unjust that is? Do they see how unsustainable the current condition of our planet and its inhabitants has become?

Could greed be educated out of, or at least tempered significantly, in greed-prone people with strong, mandatory programs in the arts and humanities? (By mandatory, I mean students have to pick at least one thing they like, and they can change their minds if their first choice doesn’t work for them).

Could teaching 4th graders to explore their musical and artistic talents give them something far deeper and more meaningful than any amount of money? Could teaching literature and a love of reading make kids more aware and empathetic of the human condition? Could kids who are talented in writing, painting, drawing, singing, dancing, etc., use their gifts to better the world? Yes.

Perhaps the greedy are greedy because they have nothing to fill some void within them. No amount of money can produce the feeling of sheer ecstasy at playing a piece of music beautifully, or nailing a performance on stage. Nothing beats the deep sense of accomplishment of writing or painting a masterpiece, or performing a character in a play with perfection. All these examples are about deep love, and it is intangible. Money can’t buy the love the arts directly feed our souls.

We still need the laws back that prevent the greedy from chewing up the world and spitting it into oblivion, but putting the arts back in schools might help, too.

Technorati Tags: arts and humanities, Education, Education reform ideas, greed, peace, Poverty, Social Change, the 99%, top 1%

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